Last month, McDonald’s in Canada created a billboard that could only be seen in the night with car headlights.
Now Lynx for its “Unleash the chaos” campaign in Australia replaced windows of a house in Sydney with special LCD screens. Sexy hostesses placed outside the house distributed polarized sunglasses to passersby’s that unveiled the chaos going on in the house…
You drive past a billboard during the day and see nothing. Then you pass it again at night, your headlights hit the surface, and a message appears. “Open all night.”
McDonald’s wanted to target people looking for a late night snack, so Cossette Vancouver created an ad that only showed itself when the audience was most likely to want it.
Reflective tape was used to write “Open all night” on the billboard. The message was not visible during the day, but at night, with car headlights, it was revealed.
This is behavioural targeting without data. The medium uses context. If you can see the message, you are already in motion at night. That makes the proposition feel timely, not intrusive.
It is a billboard that stays visually “blank” in daylight, but reveals the line “Open all night” when car headlights hit reflective tape after dark.
Because it aligns the message with the moment of need. People out late are more likely to want a snack, so the ad appears when intent is highest.
Using reflective tape to create a hidden message that only becomes legible under direct light sources like headlights.
Let context do the targeting. When the medium responds to time, light, or location, the message can feel personalised without collecting data.
