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CGI and FOOH (faux out-of-home) ads
A CGI ad uses computer-generated imagery to put something on screen that was never in front of the camera. FOOH, short for faux (or fake) out-of-home, is a CGI ad made to look like a real outdoor ad or street stunt. Usually a real street is filmed and something enormous is added in CGI, and the clip goes out on social as if a passer-by had filmed it. Tuio, a creative agency in Bucharest, has made CGI, FOOH and DOOH videos for 10 P&G brands in 11 markets since 2023, 40+ of them in 2023-24 alone, resizes included. Our Starbucks clips pulled 7.2M views in Romania in September 2023.
What we’ve made
Since 2023 we’ve made CGI and FOOH films for P&G, Starbucks and Fashion Days in 15 markets.
- 40+ CGI, FOOH and DOOH videos for P&G in 2023-24 alone, resizes included. Ten brands in two and a half years, 11 markets in all.
- 7.2M views of the Starbucks #PSLinvasion clips in Romania in September 2023 (TikTok 5.6M, Instagram 1.6M), with paid media behind them. The brand’s most successful content in the region up to then.
- 16 Starbucks Holiday films for 8 capitals in 8 languages in 2024, from one pop-up storybook built once. In Romania the teaser and launch film drew 2.2M views between 5 November 2024 and 3 January 2025.
- 10M Facebook views for Casa Pompiliu Eliade, the first of four Oral-B iO Monumental Care films, released on 15 May 2024.
- 1.2M TikTok plays for the Starbucks Rewards metro FOOH clip, posted on 10 May 2024, plus 410K+ accounts reached on Instagram.
- 4 CGI films for Fashion Days between December 2023 and December 2024.
How a FOOH film gets made
A FOOH film is real footage with one impossible thing in it. Ours are usually made like this:
- The idea puts the product somewhere it can’t be, on a street or landmark people know.
- We scout locations, and legal vets them before anyone films.
- We shoot plates, HDRIs and drone footage on location.
- The object is modelled in 3D, from the real product where there is one. Compositing, edit and sound design happen in-house, with AI in the workflow wherever it saves time.
- We cut 9:16, 4:5 and 16:9 versions for each platform. For several markets the asset is built once, then gets a new plate and voiceover in each city.
- It goes out looking like phone footage, and the comments argue about whether it really happened. Starbucks’ own recap said that argument made the PSL clips go viral.
Where FOOH runs
FOOH runs in social feeds. Ours have gone out on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, some with paid media behind them (#PSLinvasion) and, for two Oral-B films, a TikTok TopView. When the media plan includes screens, the same build gets a DOOH version, as Pantene’s “Golden Week” truck did in Bucharest in March 2024. Lenor’s “Perfume Therapy” ran as 3D DOOH at the Marriott Warsaw and Hanza Tower in Szczecin.
Markets so far: Romania, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Greece, the UK, Italy, Spain, Germany and France for P&G, plus Bulgaria, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary for Starbucks.
Selected work
The four cases below are P&G across Europe, Starbucks in Romania and eight capitals, Oral-B iO’s Monumental Care in Bucharest and Fashion Days.
Our work for P&G started with Pantene in Serbia and Romania at the end of 2023. In June 2024 vitamins and balloons burst out of the real Pantene billboard at Universitate in Bucharest, with DOOH alongside. From 2024 the briefs also came from P&G’s European teams, who wanted social video that stops the scroll and still sells the claim. For Pantene Bond Repair, in September 2024, a golden helicopter lowers the bottle onto Trafalgar Square, Piazza di Spagna, Puerta de Alcalá and the Brandenburger Tor. For Herbal Essences in 2025, chamomile covers Big Ben and the London Eye while tourists film.
For Starbucks #PSLinvasion, in September 2023, we took over four Romanian landmarks with Pumpkin Spice Latte: pumpkin hot-air balloons over the Palace of Parliament, a mechanical pumpkin on top of ASE, a Ferris wheel in Tei park and a pumpkin avalanche on the Transfăgărășan. The Parliament clip alone did 1.3M TikTok plays.
In August 2024 AmRest, which operates Starbucks in Central and Eastern Europe, asked for one Holiday campaign for all its markets, with a “strong local touch” in each. Every market picked the same one of our three concepts, a pop-up storybook, so we built it once and landed it on plates shot in eight capitals. In Budapest we painted out a construction site. Their Communication & PR Manager on why they briefed us: “We loved your previous work: PSL, Rewards, so we thought there’s no better team to take this challenge!”
In the four Monumental Care films for Oral-B iO, released between 15 May and 17 June 2024, a giant brush cleans a real Bucharest facade and the restoration spreads across the building. The pressure sensor and smart ring stay in shot, and when the sensor turns red, the cleaning pauses. In August 2024 the same 3D brush played DJ in Oral-B’s FOOH film for Untold, cut with real crowd footage.
Fashion Days never asked for the first one. In November 2023 we sent them a Christmas tree made of boots for a Bucharest boulevard, and they posted it on 15 December 2023, the day we delivered. Three more CGI films followed by December 2024, among them a Black Friday film in which the corner tower of the Grand Hotel Continental becomes a curved screen.
Frequently asked questions
What is FOOH?
FOOH (faux or fake out-of-home) is a social video made to look like an outdoor ad or street stunt: usually the street is filmed for real and the giant product is added in CGI. It runs in social feeds such as Instagram and TikTok.
Is FOOH real? Are those videos real?
Partly. On our P&G shoots, for example, the plates, HDRIs and drone footage are filmed on location, after legal has vetted the locations. Only the stunt is fake.
What is the difference between CGI, FOOH and DOOH?
CGI (computer-generated imagery) is the technique, FOOH is a social video format made with it, and DOOH is a real digital screen in a real place. One build can do both: Pantene's Golden Week truck in Bucharest ran as a FOOH film in March 2024 and had a DOOH version.
How is a FOOH video made?
A FOOH video is location footage with a 3D object composited into it. We usually film plates, HDRIs and drone footage on a street people know, after legal has vetted it. Then the object is modelled in 3D, and compositing, edit and sound design happen in-house, cut to 9:16, 4:5 and 16:9.
Where do FOOH ads run?
On social: our FOOH films have run on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, on brand channels and some with paid media behind them. The #PSLinvasion clips, for example, ran on Starbucks Romania's Instagram, TikTok and Facebook between 5 and 20 September 2023, with paid media. Where the media plan includes screens, the same build can run as DOOH.
Does Tuio make FOOH outside Romania?
Yes. We're based in Bucharest and have made CGI and FOOH films for P&G in 11 markets, including the UK, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Greece and Poland. For Starbucks Holiday 2024 we made 16 films for 8 capitals in 8 languages, with a plate shot in each city and a voiceover in each language.
What drives the cost of a CGI or FOOH ad?
Scope drives it: how many locations and plates we shoot, how many markets and languages the film goes to, how many cuts each platform needs and whether it also runs as DOOH. A model built once can be reused: the Starbucks Holiday 2024 pop-up book went onto plates shot in 8 cities, and the Oral-B iO 3D model came back for the Untold FOOH film.
Let’s make something unboring together!
Tell us about your brand, or the street you’d like to take over, through our contact form. We answer within one working day.