Aer Lingus: The Art of the Irish Exit

A cheeky exit worth watching

We’ve all done it. Slipped out of a party without saying goodbye. No dramatic exits, no drawn-out farewells, just a smooth ghost out the side door. It’s what’s fondly known as an Irish Exit.  Aer Lingus turned that very idea - the “Irish Exit” - into a bold, witty OOH campaign to launch their new direct route from Nashville to Dublin.

With creative courtesy of Uncommon Studio, this campaign wasn’t just an ad; it was a breadcrumb trail across Nashville, inviting people to take the ultimate Irish Exit… to the airport.

A phrase turned full-flight narrative

The genius of this campaign lies in the simplicity of its hook. Rather than defaulting to the usual Irish branding tropes (think pints of Guinness or rolling green fields), the campaign found its power in a bit of shared slang.

The term “Irish Exit” is already common across the US, used to describe sneaking out of a social event without saying goodbye. It’s funny, relatable, and, in this case, a perfect metaphor for a spontaneous getaway. The campaign transformed the term into a literal call-to-action: skip the goodbyes, grab a bag, and fly to Dublin. 

Aer Lingus took this idea and ran with it. Bar signs, road signage, stickers, billboards, branded luggage tags, and influencer content all played into the narrative. Lucy Jameson, co-founder of Uncommon Creative Studio, comments, “We wanted to create a campaign that will truly disrupt the city of Nashville at this pivotal moment for Aer Lingus as they launch this new flight route.

"Nashville is known for its thriving nightlife and live music scene. But there comes a time on every great night out when all you want to do is call it a day, and veryone knows that there's no better way to save yourself from those painfully long goodbyes than by making a swift, sneaky Irish Exit."

The creative wasn't just clever, it physically guided people from Nashville’s nightlife hub all the way to the departure gate.

Why it worked: cultural fluency meets clever placement

This campaign is a textbook example of how smart OOH strategy turns creative into experience. Rather than relying on tired Irish clichés, the campaign found its hook in shared language; that’s what made this feel less like an airline ad and more like an inside joke between friends.

The direct route between Nashville and Dublin took off on the 12th of April, the same day as the billboard campaign launch. As Lucy Jameson from Uncommon put it, 

“We really wanted to own Nashville.” 

Own it they did. The campaign turned the Irish Exit from a cultural quip into a literal route out of the city. Destination: Dublin.

Instead of isolating the media to airports or travel hubs, Aer Lingus mapped placements across the city, each piece of signage becoming a chapter in the story. Directional signs popped up in busy bar districts. Posters took over high-footfall areas downtown. Floor decals and bag tags showed up where you’d least expect them.

It worked because the placements weren’t random. They made sense. They spoke to people where they were and guided them toward where they could be.

Design that blends in, stands out

One of the most charming and strategic elements of the Irish Exit campaign is the signage itself. 

Rather than designing flashy, overly branded visuals, Aer Lingus and Uncommon opted for something that looked... real. The signs mimic the familiar style of highway exit markers: teal backgrounds, clear white lettering, straightforward arrows, and distances to the airport. They look just official enough to make you do a double take.

This design choice wasn’t just for aesthetics, it was functional. By mirroring real road signage, the campaign blends seamlessly into the urban landscape, playing into its narrative of a spontaneous escape. It’s witty without being overbearing. A casual passerby might catch one out of the corner of their eye and wonder, Wait, is that a real exit?

You don’t need bells and whistles when the concept stands by itself. The brilliance of “Irish Exit” is how instantly gettable it is for the American audience. There’s nothing to decode, no QR codes or complicated visual metaphors.

It’s a clever use of low-fidelity believability in creative. The signs look like they belong to the city, not an ad agency - and that makes the idea of ditching your bar stool for a direct flight to Dublin feel all the more real.

Where programmatic DOOH could’ve taken it even further

While this campaign used static OOH formats and physical signage to excellent effect, it also opened the door for dynamic, reactive possibilities - something programmatic DOOH is built to handle.

Imagine this:

• Creative variants by suburb or neighbourhood. Want to hit only late-night revellers within a 10km radius of the airport? Find your target audience, and adjust your campaign to suit.
• Time-based triggers: morning rush commuters see “Make your Irish Exit before the next meeting,” while late-night pub crawlers get “Now’s your chance to Irish Exit this bar... for real.”
• Distance-countdown ads on digital screens leading toward the airport, reinforcing the journey narrative.
• Weather-triggered ads: when it rains in Nashville (or gets too hot to handle), serve a “Cool off in Dublin” creative.

All of which could be optimised in real time. No slow approvals, no rebooking media. Programmatic DOOH makes a bold campaign even bolder. It’s fast, flexible, and puts control back in the hands of marketers.

Steal This Strategy: Key Takeaways for Brands

Whether you're launching a new product, a new route, or just want your campaign to leave a mark, here are some lessons to borrow from Aer Lingus:

• Start with something familiar. Cultural jokes and references lower the barrier to entry, and makes your campaign instantly memorable.
• Build your media like a journey. Don’t just show up once, guide your audience somewhere.
• Use OOH for what it does best. It’s public, physical, and hard to ignore. Don’t waste that opportunity.
• Simple creative wins in OOH. One core message, one strong visual hook, no overthinking.
• Don’t stop at the billboard. If the budget permits, take it one step further. Tie OOH into your broader experience with sampling, PR, influencers, and digital extensions.
• Make it flexible. With programmatic tools like CAASie, you can test, tweak and scale, without locking into one-size-fits-all plans.

If you’ve got a clever hook and a city (or a country) to conquer, CAASie makes it easy to run campaigns your way. By pairing smart creative with flexible tools, you can pull your own Irish Exit… straight into your next campaign success.

Whether you’re building a breadcrumb trail to the airport, launching a tour, or rethinking how your brand shows up on the street, we’ll help you exit the old way of doing OOH.

Let us show you how flexible, fast and fun programmatic OOH can really be.