Interactive billboards have now become a trend among advertisements, and they are quite effective. Out of all these catchy ads, today, we present a unique one that has had a remarkable effect on the population. A Pharmaceutical company in Sweden decided to utilize an interactive billboard to discourage smoking in public.
The company Apotek Hjärtat has already used interactive billboards for advertising, but it was their anti-smoking campaign that went viral. Smoking is already, at a record low in Sweden as it is banned in restaurants, bars, and malls.
The location of this billboard is at the very busy Odengatan Plaza in New Stockholm. Every time a smoker passes by the billboard, the man on the advertisement coughs with annoyance and disgust. The technology is pretty simple, a smoke detector to recognize the presence of a lit cigarette. The ad then continues to show a selection of anti-smoking products offered by the pharmacy chain.
Watch the billboard cough at smokers.
The advertisements are designed by the advertising agency Akestam Holst. The locals have reacted to the campaign in a very positive way. With so many anti-smoking campaigns, smoking has relatively reduced, particularly in the Scandinavian countries. It is, however on the rise in China, where 68% of the men smoke.
As the ad uses only a smoke detector, it might cough even when a smokey car passes by.
The interactive billboards are not new, though. The same pharma chain has used them in an advertising campaign for their beauty brand, ‘Apolosophy,’ in which the woman’s hair swirl with the wind from arriving trains.
Kit Kat has also used touch-sensitive billboards that vibrate when people lean against them, giving a quick massage to relieve stress.
With the interactive advertisements becoming a trend, we can expect to see even better and more creative ideas in the future.
How do you think these campaigns may be improved? Comment below!
