We are a nation that lies across multiple time zones with wildly varying weather patterns. As the East Coast braced for hurricane season, the West prepared for wildfire season. California remains on guard for the 'Big One,' and states in the Great Plains keep their storm shelters well stocked for when the tornado siren blares.

In a world of advertising clutter, brands are continually challenged to break through a myriad of messages to engage consumers. The power of outdoor advertising not only lies in its size (it’s kind of hard to miss a 14x48 foot billboard), but in its ability to extend beyond the box – quite literally with embellishments. Outdoor can’t be skipped, fast-forwarded or blocked and when you add a little something unexpected to the canvas, it’s a natural human response to do a double take. We feel compelled to translate the optical illusion.

With fall's arrival comes the nice warm, fuzzy stuff – apple-picking, pumpkin patches, winery tours and family football Sundays. AND the scarier stuff – creepy clowns, plunging temperatures and the relentless, nagging thoughts, "What should I be for Halloween?!", "How do I outshine my neighbor with 3D ghost projections?", "Is there a clown living in my sewer?"

On any NFL game day (Sunday, Monday or Thursday), you'll find football fanatics engaged in debate, touting off stats -- yards, catches and conversions, building fences with their hands and smearing war paint on each other's faces. Brands have smartly aligned their messaging with the passion and the hunger (literal stomach-growling hunger) of today's football fan. For when there's love for the game, there is also love for the gear, the sponsors, the field, the feuds and the food. The only thing fans don't like - waiting until the next game.

Whether they're home-bound, warm-weather bound or off to a destination less charted, holiday travelers are in countdown mode to take flight this holiday season. The "planners" have their gifts wrapped and stealthily stowed, passports and other travel docs secured, and their new hard shell luggage primed for its carousel debut.

As the world's top marketing minds converge in New York for Advertising Week (including some of our own execs), we're sharing a few groundbreaking campaigns from the past year that illustrate how out-of-home is an engaging and effective component of the modern media mix. Take a look.

Business class upgrade...king suite...comped steak dinner – sign me up! Everyone loves perks, and the travel rewards business counts on it.

Last year, mysterious billboards began popping up nationwide displaying a simple ghost icon on a yellow background. Teens and young adults were likely among the first to recognize the logo for Snapchat, the mobile app that allows users to share videos and pictures that disappear after viewing:

When you think of Dallas, what comes to mind?  Probably the Cowboys - the team and the real ones, Reunion Tower, JR, the Mavs and...a landmark waterfall?  That's right, Dallas is home to a landmark billboard with a 45-foot plunging man-made waterfall along I-35 on Goat Hill.

Coca-Cola has launched a new global campaign uniting Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coke Life under a refreshed tagline: "Taste the Feeling." The reboot replaces "Open Happiness" which Coke has used since 2009.

New outdoor ads feature Instagram-like photos capturing simple, "feel good" moments of people enjoying their ice-cold Coca-Cola.