In any subway station in any city in the world, commuters can read a dozen billboard ads. Why the hell would they? They are wallpaper in every sense of the word. Instead, commuters are watching funny cat videos on their smartphones, playing Candy Crush, or texting, ‘luv u more, miss u already, buy milk on way home.’
Swedish ad agency, Akestam Holst, and production company, Stopp, worked out that a billboard should do something other than be there, to earn the right to be noticed in a commuter crowd.
Their billboard for Apotek Hjärtat’s Apolosophy hair care products might at first look like a big print ad like all its siblings, with its every-ad picture of everywoman with quite nice hair. But wait until a train approaches. The hair in the billboard picture responds to the gush of wind that arriving trains create. It blows around as if windswept by the train – just like, and at the same time as, the hair on commuters’ heads.
The ad was originally intended to be one day stunt but was so engaging the media company, Clear Channel, kept it live for five more days. Kudos all round for showing that billboards have so much potential than being used as wall decoration or canvases for graffiti artists.
