The Montreal office of advertising agency Taxi has created an iPhone app that allows users across the world to report the location of potholes.
The app, which can be downloaded for free from Apple’s app store, launched Canada-wide last week and is now functional around the globe.
“The app works in Calcutta, Oslo, wherever you are,” said Dominique Trudeau, executive creative director at Taxi Montreal.
Trudeau said the app demonstrates Taxi’s ability to be creative with technology. “For sure, it’s an ad for us. It’s a way to promote our savoir-faire and our skills.
“When you do something that’s timely, it matters to people. Technology matters today in advertising. And utility (matters) – something that’s usable, that you can do something with.”
To mark the introduction of the pothole app, Taxi created a street installation in Montreal depicting a car jammed front-first into a massive pothole, its back end sticking up into the air.
Trudeau said the stunt, like the app itself, was designed to generate positive buzz for the agency. “The moment we put a car in the street, everybody took a picture,” said Trudeau. “That image went totally nuts over the web.
According to Trudeau, the pothole app has been downloaded 10,000 times and roughly 6,000 potholes have been reported by consumers using the app.
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