Non-profit | SunMatrix Ramble

A large illustrated billboard appears in a busy city square. People donate, receive a simple eraser, and start rubbing away the artwork. As the top layer disappears, a second illustration is revealed underneath, shifting the story from girls working to girls going to school.

Plan has reported that tens of millions of girls worldwide are pushed into work instead of education, while in many less privileged countries boys are more likely to get access to schooling. To spark action, Plan and CLM BBDO created an erasable billboard with an illustration designed to be removed to reveal another illustration underneath. The billboard ran in central locations in Paris and Berlin. Passers-by were invited to donate in exchange for an eraser, then use it to change what the billboard showed.

Why the “erasable” mechanic is so strong

The mechanism does two jobs at once. It raises money, and it makes the issue understandable without explanation. The before-and-after is literal. Work disappears. School appears. The donor is not only informed. The donor performs the change. Cause-led campaigns should treat participation as the message, not a bonus layer.

Extractable takeaway: When the donor completes the transformation with their hands, the message becomes a memory and the donation feels consequential.

Definition-tightening: the eraser is not a gimmick. It is the interface, meaning the simple physical tool that gives the donor viewer control over the story. Because the act of erasing creates ownership, it makes someone more likely to donate, talk about it, and remember it.

In social-impact fundraising, participatory outdoor media can turn a small donation into a visible act of change that people feel in their hands.

The real question is whether your donation ask feels like participation or just passive sympathy.

What Plan is really buying

This is a public proof of participation. Instead of asking people to “care” in private, it makes caring visible, social, and shared. Every person who erases becomes a live endorsement that the issue matters enough to stop and act.

Steal this pattern: make giving tactile

Make the transformation physical. A tangible before-and-after beats a poster full of statistics.
Use the donation as the trigger. The action should only unlock after contribution, not before it.
Let participation create the content. The billboard changes because people change it.
Design for bystanders. Watching others erase is part of the persuasion.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the “Erasable Billboard” idea?

An illustrated billboard designed to be physically erased. Donors receive an eraser and reveal a second image underneath, shifting the story from girls working to girls going to school.

Why exchange a donation for an eraser?

Because it turns giving into an action. The eraser is a simple reward, but more importantly it is the tool that lets the donor create the transformation themselves.

What makes this more effective than a standard charity billboard?

It is participatory and observable. The public sees the billboard changing in real time, which builds social proof and makes the issue easier to grasp.

What is the main emotional lever?

Viewer control. The donor does not only learn about the problem. The donor performs a symbolic solution in front of others.

What is the biggest execution risk?

If the transformation is not instantly readable, people will not engage. The before-and-after needs to be obvious from a distance and satisfying up close.

A driver approaches a crosswalk too fast. A “pedestrian” suddenly appears from a manhole cover, then shoots up into the sky like a soul escaping. The only sane response is to slow down.

Speeding cars and pedestrian safety is a huge problem in Ukraine. Ukraine is described as having the highest percentage of pedestrian collisions in Eastern Europe at 56%. To make people think twice about speeding, Shell along with JWT Ukraine created an ambient campaign called the Pedestrian Ghost, a person-shaped helium decoy that appears only when a driver is speeding. The campaign ran during Halloween and generated a lot of buzz over the internet.

A ghost that only shows up when you speed

The mechanism is built for one job. A radar detects an approaching vehicle that exceeds the speed limit. When the threshold is crossed, a hidden device integrated into a manhole cover inflates a person-shaped “ghost” using helium-filled balloons. The figure rises fast and disappears upward, creating a moment that feels like you just hit someone, even though nothing living is harmed.

In dense city streets where drivers routinely treat crosswalks as negotiable, the sharpest safety interventions are the ones that create a visceral consequence in the exact second a bad decision is made.

The real question is how to make speeding feel consequential before harm happens.

Why it lands

It works because it weaponizes surprise without needing explanation. The ghost is unmistakably human-shaped, the timing is unmistakably linked to speed, and the “escape” into the sky reads like consequence. That instant cause-and-effect loop is what resets behavior, at least for the next few blocks. For road-safety messaging, this is the right trade-off: simulate consequence hard enough to reset behavior, but never create real danger.

Extractable takeaway: If you want to interrupt dangerous habits, trigger the intervention only at the violation moment, and make the feedback so immediate and legible that drivers connect cause and effect without being told.

What this crosswalk ghost gets right

Trigger only on the infraction. The selectivity makes the moment feel targeted, not random.
Use a single, readable symbol. A human silhouette beats a statistic for behavior change.
Design for “I have to tell someone”. A story people can repeat in one sentence becomes earned media.
Keep the intervention non-injurious. The fear is simulated, the outcome is safe.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Pedestrian Ghost”?

An ambient road-safety stunt where a ghost-like pedestrian figure rises from a manhole cover at a crosswalk when a radar detects a speeding car, forcing drivers to slow down.

What is the core mechanism?

Radar detects speeding. A concealed device inflates a person-shaped helium “ghost” and releases it upward. The driver experiences an immediate, consequence-like shock without any real harm.

Why does it change behavior better than a warning sign?

Because the feedback is timed to the violation and feels personal. The driver is not being advised. They are being startled at the exact moment of risk.

What is the biggest failure mode if I copy this pattern?

Unreliable triggering. If the effect fires at the wrong time, or too often, people stop believing the cause-and-effect link and the intervention becomes noise.

What is the simplest modern variant?

A violation-triggered intervention that is immediate, physical, and unmistakably tied to speed. For example light, sound, or motion that only activates above a threshold at the crosswalk.