Critics Welcome brought the art of longform copy and humor together through thoughtfully crafted posters. From tapping into cinema cliches, to printing tropes, to pop-cultural references, each OOH poster was unique, offering a different criticism. Each element on these posters – the story, the fonts, the colors, the paper quality, was crafted to be absolutely mundane so more people could criticize them and be reminded of their love for criticism for films.

Chicago has been home to some iconic film critics. Siskel & Ebert were the two most famous critics in America known for their sharp and biting wit and heated arguments. They were from Chicago and would write for Chicago newspapers every week. The duo became a sensation in American pop culture and turned everyone in Chicago into a film critic. The idea came from this insight – Chicagoans love film criticism. After our campaign went live, people brought back mentions of them on social media.

Chicago International Film Festival is the longest running competitive film festival in North America. It aims to enrich Chicago’s cultural environment by presenting film in contexts that encourage discussion and debate.

So for the 59th edition of the festival, the brief was simple. To create an engaging OOH poster campaign that invites those who love debating films – the film lovers, the critics, to experience the film festival this year.

Inspired by Chicago’s famous film critics, Siskel and Ebert, the OOH posters promoting the 59th International Chicago Film Festival were written to criticize themselves through longform formats. The writing was scathing, ruthless and hilarious to engage the readers, and tickle their cynical and funny bone. From tapping into cinema cliches, to printing tropes, to pop-cultural references, each OOH poster was unique, offering a different criticism.