‘Snowden’ campaign surveils Toronto shoppers

DentsuBos and Cieslok Media evoke Big Brother state for Elevation Pictures

With Snowden playing at the Toronto International Film Festival, its Canadian distributor Elevation Pictures is promoting the film about the famous whistleblower with an eye in the sky.

Snowden YDS4

Elevation, working with its agency partner DentsuBos, is using in Toronto’s Dundas Square with a live security camera that tracks individual pedestrians walking nearby.

The film is director Oliver Stone’s retelling of how the world became aware of the U.S. government’s mass surveillance activities through Edward Snowden, who leaked documents about widespread surveillance to the press.

Footage of the public square is routed to one of its digital billboards. After tracking an individual through the area with some added graphics that are designed to evoke a surveillance state, an ad for the film appears across the bottom of the display.

Some of that captured footage will also appear in national television and digital advertising (with radio and further out-of-home executions rounding out the media buy).

The billboards in Dundas Square are managed by Cieslok Media, which collaborated closely with DentsuBos on the work.

Jon Freir, executive creative director at DentsuBos, said the campaign seeks to fall in-step with Snowden‘s main themes and make people feel uncomfortable with the idea of a “Big Brother” state.

The execution runs in Dundas Square until Sept. 18.

See all comments Recent Comments
PeachesMcGee

This is one of the best and most unique activation’s I’ve seen coming out of Canada in a long time. Kudos to all involved and I cannot wait to see this movie.

Wednesday, September 14 @ 3:56 pm |

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