Netflix polluted our out-of-home sites to promote new series: Toxic Town.

 

Have you ever known a brand to ‘pollute’ their own advertising campaign? Netflix did just that with the launch of their much-anticipated four-part drama series, Toxic Town. Using data from Accuweather to display air quality readings on our Hammersmith High Street site, the billboard ‘pollutes’ when throughout the day when the air quality is deemed as poor, causing the image to be partially clouded, in this dynamic campaign.

 

Toxic Town tells the story of toxic poisonings in Cosby, and stars Jodie Whittaker, Robert Carlyle and Aimee Lou Wood, and Netflix have utilised digital displays to promote the series around the UK.

 

Our Hammersmith High Street site, as well as screens in four other cities in the UK, will link to real time air quality ratings and display these directly to passersby, indicating if the current air quality in the area is ‘excellent’, ‘fair’ or ‘poor’.

 

Connecting and collecting data from Accuweather, the visibility of the poster will increase or decrease depending on the reading. In areas with reported poor air quality, the entire image will be obscured by a white smoke.

Telling the story of one of the biggest child poisoning cases in the town of Corby, Toxic Town retells the scandal of the mishandling of toxic waste being transported from a local steelworks which polluted the town’s air and resulted in a large cluster of children being born with life-changing limb differences. At the time it was the largest case of child poisoning since the thalidomide scandal, and the first case of its kind to prove a link between airborne toxins and birth defects.

 

Not only this but the four-part series shines a light on the challenges posted by air pollution more generally. Our Hammersmith High Street site supports this by giving passersby the opportunity to see the air quality around them at that exact moment. The site has provided Netflix with a key opportunity to hits hoards of both shoppers and vehicular audiences throughout the campaign duration. Covered in publications such as Campaign, Famous Campaigns and the Express online, the series has received acclaim and topped the streaming charts as well as gaining an impressive 100 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.