How design and promoting assist New York rebuild
Back in August, the American author, investor and podcaster James Altucher wrote a LinkedIn article entitled "New York City is forever dead. Here's the why" about the effects of the coronavirus on the city's closings, its shops, their culture, their food and their space mourned. The piece went viral and the response to it became heated. Many people, including Jerry Seinfeld, who wrote a comment in the New York Times calling Altucher "a little bit of plaster," agreed with their feelings. Claiming New York was not dead (although he wrote from his Long Island home outside of downtown), Seinfeld said it was the energy, toughness and love people have for the city that kept them alive after Covid will get.
To communicate that passion, Charles Fulford, Executive Creative Director at Candid, a DTC telemedicine brand, wanted to put the size of New York City in the spotlight and bring something positive to the streets. "Our brand is based on the idea that good health releases self-expression and helps people gain confidence and move towards their dreams, which is a perfect fit for this city's brand," says Fulford. "So we put together the" Smile On, New York "campaign in a few days and with an extremely small team."
Smile On New York campaign by Candid
Fulford and his team created a "Mini-Festo" and worked with Halo from Lyft mounts intelligent LED screens on top of ridesharing to display targeted ads) to get the word out of New York using yellow cabs. "We created over 50 different animated creative elements that were neighborhood smiles and were triggered by the location of the taxi," explains Fulford. "We added static OOH to the campaign as well as a social engagement component that captured the 'reasons to smile' of real New Yorkers who were hilarious, and we turned into a creative taxi too."
For example, if a cab drives through the theater district, the screen will say "Smile # 187: Your sopranos are winning Tonys," or if it rolls into the Upper West Side near Central Park, the screen will read displayed: "Your local's park is 842 acres. It's simple, fun, and effective, and essentially acts as a love letter to New York with a little technology.