To demonstrate the zero carbon impact of its new fuel cell vehicle, Mercedes-Benz along with ad agency Jung von Matt/Elbe have created an “invisible” car that uses LEDs and a camera hack that transmits images from the opposite side of the car to blend the vehicle with its surroundings. 😎
Category: Live Communication
Coca-Cola: The Future Room Exhibition
A museum-scale brand moment for a milestone anniversary
In brand experience work, the strongest anniversary executions do not look like commemorations. They look like a reason to step inside the brand world. Coca-Cola’s “Future Room” is a clean example of that approach.
For Coca-Cola’s 125th Anniversary, Istanbul’s creative agency Antilop created a “Future Room” concept, made specifically for the Turkish modern-art museum Santralistanbul. They transformed a section of the gallery into an impressive 90 square meter, 270-degree projection mapping installation.
How the Future Room worked as an immersive installation
The mechanism was spatial immersion. Instead of placing content on a single screen, the installation wrapped the audience in a 270-degree projection environment.
That choice changed the viewing behavior. People did not just watch a piece of content. They entered it, and the room itself became the interface.
Why it landed in a modern-art setting
In a museum context, attention is earned through presence, scale, and craft. Projection mapping fits because it turns a physical space into a living canvas.
By committing 90 square meters of gallery to one experience, the work signaled seriousness. It also made the activation feel like an exhibit, not an ad, which is exactly the psychological shift a heritage brand wants during an anniversary moment.
The business intent behind the exhibition format
The intent was to elevate the partnership between brand and venue, and to position Coca-Cola as culturally fluent rather than purely commercial.
An anniversary is a credibility play. The exhibition format helped translate “125 years” into something contemporary, sensory, and shareable, without relying on nostalgia alone.
What to steal for your next immersive brand experience
- Choose a format that matches the venue. In cultural spaces, experience and craft beat messaging density.
- Use scale as a signal. Large physical commitment communicates importance before anyone reads a word.
- Turn the room into the medium. Immersion works when the environment does the storytelling, not just the screen.
- Make milestones feel current. Anniversary work lands when it shows relevance, not only history.
A few fast answers before you act
What was Coca-Cola’s “Future Room”?
An immersive, exhibition-style installation that used large-scale projection mapping to wrap visitors in a future-facing brand environment.
Where did it appear?
It was created for Santralistanbul, a Turkish modern-art museum in Istanbul, as part of Coca-Cola’s 125th anniversary moment.
What was the mechanism?
Turn the room into the medium. Use a wraparound projection space so the environment itself becomes the interface.
Why does this work in a museum context?
Museums reward presence, scale, and craft. An immersive installation can read as an exhibit, not an ad, which changes how people grant attention.
Why is this effective for anniversaries?
It makes the milestone feel current. It gives people a reason to attend now, not just a reason to remember then.
What should experience teams copy from it?
Match the format to the venue, commit physically to signal seriousness, and design for movement and dwell time instead of messaging density.
What is a simple way to measure success?
Track time spent in the space, repeat viewing behavior, and organic capture. photos and short clips. because the room is the asset people share.
Mercedes-Benz Vans: Key to Viano
A commuter points a car key at a digital billboard and clicks the remote. The screen reacts. Suddenly, the advertising display stops behaving like outdoor media and starts behaving like interactive entertainment.
That is the core mechanic behind “Key to Viano”, an interactive outdoor event for Mercedes-Benz Vans created by Lukas Lindemann Rosinski on Wall AG’s digital displays in Berlin’s U-Bahn station Friedrichstraße. Passers-by are invited to use their own remote car keys to control the content on the screens, turning a familiar everyday object into the controller.
In high-traffic urban DOOH environments, the quickest path to attention is to turn an existing habit into viewer control, with a payoff that feels immediate and public.
The experience works because the interaction is self-explanatory. Press the button you already know. Watch the screen respond. The line between ad and game collapses, and the crowd becomes part of the moment because everyone can see the “trigger” happen.
Why the car key is the perfect interface
No download. No new behaviour. No instruction manual. A car key is already a remote control in people’s hands, so the activation feels intuitive instead of “techy”. That simplicity is what makes the experience legible from a distance, and what makes bystanders stop and watch.
What Mercedes-Benz Vans is really proving
The stunt is framed as entertainment, but it is also a product metaphor. “Key to Viano” implies access, convenience, and a premium feel. When the participant can “open” a digital experience with a key, the brand gets to borrow the emotional cues of unlocking a car, without talking about features.
What to steal for your own interactive outdoor idea
- Use a controller people already trust. Familiar inputs reduce friction and increase participation.
- Make the interaction visible. If the crowd can see what caused the screen to change, attention multiplies.
- Keep the loop fast. Trigger. Response. Reward. A slow loop loses commuters.
- Let the location do the targeting. Stations deliver high volume and natural dwell time without extra explanation.
A few fast answers before you act
What is “Key to Viano”?
It is an interactive digital out-of-home activation where passers-by control advertising screens using their own remote car keys, under the Mercedes-Benz Vans “Key to Viano” concept.
Where did the activation run?
It ran on digital displays at Berlin’s U-Bahn station Friedrichstraße.
Why does using a car key work so well?
Because it is an input people already understand. It removes download friction and makes the interaction feel natural and premium.
What is the main benefit of interactive DOOH like this?
It converts passive exposure into participation. Participation creates longer attention, stronger memory, and visible social proof from the crowd watching.
What is the biggest risk with interactive screens in transit spaces?
Complexity. If the interaction is not instantly clear, people walk past. The mechanic must be obvious in seconds.