The Red Cross’ Inspiration

I ran into the campaign pictures put up for Bay Area at Coolz0r’s marketing thoughts blog. The Bay Area Red Cross have a billboard truck set up by at Justin Herman plaza that has a post-modern post-apocolyptic-earthquake scene on it, that when viewed from the right perspective looks like all hell broke loose.

The campaign generates different opinions. The disagreeing voices play around the argument that the ads are not good because viewers must be at the same spot as the camera was to get the whole picture. Coolz0r, on the contrary, said this required initiative from the viewer actually symbolizes what the Red Cross wants you to do: “Come closer, take action, see what could happen and give blood so they can help if it happens.”

I completely agree with his assessment on this campaign. I think these truck billboards are great. To me, first, the creative display technique is incredibly valuable and innovative, which is rarely seen in the Red Cross’s previous campaigns. It can be seen as a piece of modern art and very visually attractive.

For its function value, the ads can definitely trigger interaction with viewers. Viewers have to spend some time figuring a fit spot to appreciate the picture as a whole, and then they will be amazed by the natural blending between the real city scenery and the man-created earthquake scene. At the very moment, viewers, at lease me would think something unexpected that is hid behind the seemingly peaceful everyday life. Messages like “Help the Red Cross to prepared for the unexpected disasters” are send out during this process.