Category: Emerging Trends

QR Codes: Travel Back in Time to Graffiti

QR Codes are now being used to preserve graffiti for posterity by photographing the graffiti before it is removed. After the graffiti has been cleaned off by local authorities or a building owner, a QR Code is placed in the exact location which leads to the original image of the graffiti. In this way, a mobile phone with a QR-Code Reader can be used to travel back in time. Here, “time travel” means scanning a code on a cleaned wall to see the photo of what used to exist there.

How the “time travel” mechanism works

The system is straightforward: capture the artwork while it exists, then replace the physical mark with a digital pointer after it disappears. The QR code becomes a permanent address for a temporary piece. Because the code stays put while the paint does not, the link between place and memory survives removal.

In cities where street art is constantly overwritten, cleaned, or redeveloped, lightweight digital markers can preserve cultural memory without freezing the city in place.

The real question is whether you want to erase the mark, or keep a findable trace of it in the same place.

This is the right preservation trade-off: let surfaces change, but keep the memory retrievable where it mattered.

Why it lands

It respects ephemerality instead of fighting it. Graffiti stays transient, but its trace stays findable.

Extractable takeaway: Preservation becomes compelling when it is tied to a precise location and low-friction. If people can access “what used to be here” in the exact place they are standing, the archive feels like part of the city rather than a separate museum.

It puts the archive back on the street. The documentation is not hidden in a database. It is anchored to the exact wall where the work lived.

It makes discovery participatory. You have to scan, which turns the passer-by into an active retriever of the past, not just a viewer.

Borrowable moves for place-linked archives

  • Anchor digital content to a precise physical spot. Place is the interface, not just the backdrop.
  • Design for “after removal”. If the thing you love will disappear, make the replacement object carry the memory.
  • Keep the interaction simple. A scan is a smaller ask than an app download or a long URL.

A few fast answers before you act

What problem does this solve?

It preserves the visual record of graffiti that is likely to be removed, while still letting the city clean or repaint surfaces.

Why use QR codes instead of a normal plaque or sign?

A QR code can point to a photo archive and scale cheaply. It also keeps the physical footprint small.

What makes this feel like “traveling back in time”?

You stand in the present at a cleaned wall, scan the code, and instantly see what used to exist in that exact location.

What are the key dependencies for this to work long-term?

The linked image hosting must stay live, and the code must remain readable and not be removed or damaged.

How could a city or brand adapt the idea?

Use location-linked markers to preserve temporary culture. Murals, pop-up installations, event posters, even construction hoardings, while keeping the interaction one-step simple.

McDonald’s digital billboard game

Menu items bounce and fly through a digital billboard screen. If you are quick enough to capture one in a cell-phone picture, it is yours for free at the nearest McDonald’s.

The idea. Speed turns attention into reward

DDB Stockholm creates a clever and simple interactive billboard game for McDonald’s that turns a familiar format, the outdoor ad, into a real-time challenge with a tangible payoff.

Here, “interactive” means the challenge happens on the billboard itself and the phone is only the capture tool.

The real question is how you turn a two-second glance at out-of-home into an action people will actually complete.

This is the right kind of interactivity for out-of-home: visible, no-download, and tied to local redemption.

How it works. Capture the moment

  • Menu items animate across the billboard screen.
  • People try to “catch” an item by snapping it with their phone camera at the right moment.
  • The captured item becomes the proof that unlocks the free product at the nearest McDonald’s.

In high-traffic urban environments, out-of-home works best when the interaction is obvious in seconds and the reward is immediately redeemable nearby.

Why it works. A physical moment that feels earned

The mechanic is immediate and legible from a distance. It is also fair in a way people understand. If you are fast, you win. That converts passive viewing into active participation without asking anyone to download an app or learn a new interface.

Extractable takeaway: If the challenge is visible from a distance and the payoff is local and immediate, people will opt into participation without onboarding.

Moves to borrow for your next OOH play

  • Make the rule self-explanatory. Someone walking by should understand how to win without instruction.
  • Use the phone as proof, not as the product. No app, no setup, no learning curve.
  • Close the loop locally. Tie the win to a nearby redemption so the moment turns into footfall.

A few fast answers before you act

What is McDonald’s digital billboard game?

An interactive billboard activation where animated menu items move across the screen and people try to capture one with a phone photo to win it.

What do you have to do to win?

Take a cell-phone picture fast enough to capture a flying menu item on the billboard.

What do you get if you succeed?

The captured item is redeemed for free at the nearest McDonald’s.

Who creates the activation?

DDB Stockholm.

What is the transferable pattern?

Turn a high-reach format into a simple, visible challenge. Then reward the behavior with an immediate, local redemption loop.

Lacta: Love in Action

Following the grand success of Lacta’s interactive film in November 2009, Kraft Foods and OgilvyOne Athens set out to create yet another integrated campaign for Lacta, Greece’s leading chocolate brand. This time, instead of producing another love story themselves, they set out to create one with their audience.

Kraft Foods and OgilvyOne crowdsourced a 27-minute branded-entertainment film, involving the audience in everything from writing to casting and styling the actors. Some even popped up as extras in the finished film. During filming, audiences were kept updated through the campaign blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

Here is a 3 minute video case study on the same.

Then on Valentine’s Day the film was aired on Greece’s top TV channel and online, with great success.

What makes this more than “UGC”

The smart leap is that the audience is not just submitting stories. They are being pulled into the messy, high-signal parts of production. Decisions that normally sit behind closed doors. Casting, styling, and creative direction. That raises commitment, because participation shifts from “I sent something” to “I helped shape what shipped.”

In European FMCG branded entertainment, letting people influence production decisions can turn a single film into a sustained participation loop that runs for weeks, not minutes.

Why this lands

This works because it gives people a credible reason to keep coming back. Not to watch ads, but to follow progress, vote, debate, and see whether their influence makes the final cut. The film becomes the payoff, but the real engine is the journey. A public build, meaning a production process made visible as it develops, turns pre-release into its own entertainment.

Extractable takeaway: If you want long-lived attention, make the audience’s role structural, not decorative. Put participation into decisions that change the output, then publish visible progress so people feel their involvement has weight.

The commercial intent underneath

Lacta gets what a standard Valentine’s spot struggles to buy. Time, conversation, and emotional ownership at scale. The brand also stays relatively in the background, so the entertainment is allowed to carry the attention while the association builds quietly.

The real question is whether the audience is helping shape the asset or merely reacting to it.

What to borrow from participatory production

  • Open up real decisions. Voting on meaningful choices beats asking for comments.
  • Show progress publicly. Updates and behind-the-scenes keep momentum alive.
  • Let contributors appear in the output. Even small “extra” moments create powerful ownership.
  • Build a finale moment. A premiere date gives the whole participation arc a shared finish line.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Lacta “Love in Action”?

It is a crowdsourced branded-entertainment film initiative where audiences contributed to and influenced key parts of the production, from story and casting to styling.

What makes this different from a normal brand film?

The audience is involved before release and in decisions that shape the final output, so the build process becomes part of the entertainment.

Why run it across so many platforms?

Because production is a multi-week narrative. Different channels support different behaviours. Updates, voting, sharing, and behind-the-scenes participation.

Why is Valentine’s Day a strong launch moment?

The theme is culturally aligned with love stories, and the calendar creates a natural deadline and shared viewing moment.

What is the main risk when crowdsourcing content like this?

If participation feels cosmetic, people drop out. The audience needs visible proof that their input changes outcomes, and the process must be curated so quality stays high.