Singapore — National Heritage Board (HNB) set their bus shelter ad ‘on fire’ in a recent exhibition campaign titled, Witness to War: Remembering 1942. Working alongside Clear Channel Singapore and Carat Singapore, a smoke machine was built to fit inside one of their bus shelters at Plaza Singapura with a smoke triggered message – a creative production done to garner publicity for the exhibition that will be opened to public till 25 March 2018.

Commuters standing by the bus shelter would initially only be able to see half of the ad showing minimal details such as the date, establishment and social media links. 15 minutes later, the screen would fog up to reveal the full details of the exhibition, leaving commuters with an element of surprise. The execution was done by installing a smoke machine that emitted smoke at a 15-minute interval from 7am to 11pm, controlled by an electrical panel with a pre-set timer. After which, the in-built ventilator would disperse the smoke lingering within where the screen would eventually turn back to black.

“The most creative form of outdoor advertising takes a message and amplifies it in an unexpected manner. The client wanted an out-of-the-box idea that would steal commuters’ attention, so we masterfully combined history and creativity with an eye-catching approach to replicate a ‘witness’ to war simulation – all in a 2.2m x 1.4m panel,” says Amanda Woo, Head of Commercial at Clear Channel Singapore.

“With a confined panel space to work with, we broke the boundaries and decided to give it a go at something that has never been done before. The initial set up of the smoke concept was a challenge that took us a great deal of time to finally perfect the execution but with that said, this is one of the campaigns we’re really proud of. Moreover, it’s the first time this has been attempted in Singapore”, she adds.

The creative execution strategically located at Plaza Singapura is near National Heritage Board, where commuters would find the exhibition just a stone’s throw away from where they’re standing. Based on Clear Channel’s video analytics platform, that shelter garners an estimated 250,081 views on a weekly basis ranking it one of the key high traffic bus shelters.

Media Agency: Carat Singapore