IBM | People For Smarter Cities | 2013
The Day an Ad Became Part of the City / IBM "People For Smarter Cities"
A billboard becomes a bench. A roof. A ramp. Why does something so simple move us this much?
The problem
IBM had been pushing the concept of the "smarter city," but ideas like this rarely reach ordinary citizens — they tend to get brushed off as just another corporate slogan. The challenge was figuring out how to make an abstract concept feel real to people actually walking through the city.
The insight
The answer turned out to be surprisingly simple: stop talking about it, and let people use it instead. A billboard that's actually useful is one you can't ignore.
The idea
Ogilvy Paris created billboards whose tops bent to form shelter from the rain, billboards that folded out from the wall into seats, and billboards that covered stairs to become ramps. Rain, stairs, a lack of benches — these small everyday problems in the city were solved by the billboards themselves. Just a bend here, a peeled-back edge there. That small difference turned "smarter city" from an abstract idea into something people could actually touch with their hands.
What happened
The campaign won the Grand Prix in the Outdoor category at the 2013 Cannes Lions. It launched first in London and Paris, and IBM reportedly planned to expand it to other cities as well.
Afterthought
A billboard, usually treated as an eyesore, becomes something people are genuinely grateful for — all through a small bit of ingenuity. That shift alone quietly answers the question of what advertising is even for.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2013
