smart | The Dancing Traffic Light | 2016
Waiting at a Crosswalk Became Entertainment / smart "The Dancing Traffic Light"
Waiting at a crosswalk is boring, so people cross on red anyway. smart figured: why not make the waiting itself fun?
The problem
Jaywalking is a major cause of pedestrian accidents in cities. To launch its new compact car, smart wanted to position itself as "a brand that solves urban problems" — and needed to actually prove it, not just say it.
The insight
Nobody likes waiting. So why not turn the wait into entertainment? It's the same approach as VW's Fun Theory (the one where they turned a staircase into a piano) — using play to change behavior.
The idea
smart installed a red traffic light in Lisbon that danced along to music at a crosswalk. Nearby, they set up a dance booth where a Kinect sensor captured people's movements and reflected them in real time onto the red figure on the signal. It was first rolled out on four traffic lights. The fact that they modified actual public traffic signals already makes this bold.
What happened
81% of pedestrians started waiting for the light instead of crossing against it. The campaign won two Wood Pencils at D&AD 2015 and also received a Red Dot Design Award.
Afterthought
Notice that smart's car never actually appears in this campaign, and the logo barely shows up either. Yet what sticks with you is the feeling that "this brand is seriously trying to make cities better." The idea itself is simple as an equation — the real strength is the guts to actually pull it off out in the real streets. That's what builds a brand.
