paris 2 | SunMatrix Ramble

Plan: The Erasable Billboard for Girls’ Education

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.

Scrabble WiFi: earn free minutes by spelling

There are places in Paris where you can’t get any Internet connection. So Ogilvy Paris sets up free Wi-Fi hotspots in these areas and incentivises people to use them by first playing a short game of “Scrabble WiFi”.

Once the user proves their spelling skills, the score from the word is converted into free Wi-Fi minutes. The higher you score, the longer the connection. Sharing the score on Facebook doubles the connection time.

How “Scrabble WiFi” works as a hotspot experience

The idea uses a captive portal. That is the login page you see after joining a public Wi-Fi network. Instead of a password form, the portal presents a quick Scrabble-style word challenge and converts your result into time-based access.

Select the Scrabble hotspot network.
Play a short word round to prove spelling skills.
Convert the word score into Wi-Fi minutes.
Share on Facebook to double the time.

In cities where people regularly hit connectivity dead zones, turning access into a tiny game can make a utilitarian moment feel like a brand interaction.

The real question is whether your access gate can feel like a fair value exchange instead of a form-filled hurdle.

Why it lands: the reward is immediate and proportional

Most Wi-Fi gates feel like friction. This one feels like a fair trade: you invest a few seconds, you get online. The scoring mechanic makes the reward feel earned, and the “double time” social layer gives people a simple reason to broadcast what they just did. This is a stronger pattern than pushing people through a generic gate because it makes the unlock feel earned and quick.

Extractable takeaway: When you must gate access, use a tiny skill challenge with a proportional reward so the friction reads as a fair trade, not a hurdle.

What Scrabble is signalling with this mechanic

Scrabble WiFi frames spelling as a useful real-world skill, not just a boardgame pastime. It puts the brand in the same place people already reach for their phones and creates a repeatable reason to engage: better words mean more time online.

What to steal for your own “play to unlock” idea

“Play to unlock” means you swap a short interaction for immediate access, with the reward tied directly to what the user just did.

Make the trade obvious. One action, one reward, with no hidden steps.
Keep the game short. If the unlock takes too long, it stops being a reward.
Use proportional rewards. Performance-based access feels fairer than random allocation.
Add a clean share multiplier. Doubling time is easy to understand and easy to explain.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Scrabble WiFi?

It is a free hotspot concept where you unlock Wi-Fi minutes by playing a short Scrabble-style word game, with your score converted into connection time.

Why convert a word score into minutes?

It creates a simple value exchange. Better spelling performance earns a longer session, which makes the reward feel earned and transparent.

What does Facebook sharing add to the mechanic?

It turns an individual unlock into public reach by offering a clear incentive: share your score and your connection time doubles.

What is a captive portal in this context?

It is the login or welcome page that appears after you join a public Wi-Fi network. Here it is used to run the mini-game before granting access.

What should you measure if you run something like this?

Track successful unlocks, average session minutes earned, share rate, repeat plays, and sentiment, then compare against the cost of providing access.

AXA: Crazy Driver

A market-day shock that makes the point instantly

The fastest way to explain risk is to make people feel the cost of it. AXA’s stunt is a clean example of that principle.

To raise people’s awareness and make them realize that nobody wants to pay for bad drivers, AXA decided to play a trick on people with the help of a little old lady.

On an ordinary market day in a small, tranquil French town, an old lady was seen getting out of her parking space. In the process she knocked almost everything in her way before crashing into a line of market stalls. With the reveal being that it was staged to make the point.

How the “bad driver” setup delivers the message

The mechanism is staged reality in a real environment. By staged reality, AXA controls the trigger and the reveal, while the setting and bystander reactions stay real.

AXA uses a familiar public setting and a believable trigger. A driver leaving a parking space. Then it escalates into visible damage that bystanders can immediately judge as “this is what we do not want on the road.” The trick creates attention first, then makes space for the reveal and the point. Because the incident unfolds in public, the fairness judgment forms before anyone asks for an explanation.

In European insurance categories, public-safety messages land faster when consequences are visible and socially agreed, not only described.

Why it lands in the moment

It works because it activates two instincts at once. Concern and fairness. Nobody wants to see people hurt or property damaged, and once people witness reckless behavior, the idea of everyone else paying for it feels wrong.

Extractable takeaway: If you can make the cost of a behavior feel public and unfair in under ten seconds, you do not need to over-explain the risk.

The business intent behind the stunt

The intent is to turn an abstract insurance argument into a shared social judgment.

The real question is whether your message can become a shared verdict before people have time to tune out.

Bad driving creates costs. The campaign pushes viewers and bystanders toward the same conclusion. Pricing and consequences should reflect behavior. By making that conclusion feel obvious, AXA strengthens its positioning around responsibility and risk.

Steal this structure for risk awareness activations

Start with a situation everyone understands. A simple parking maneuver needs no context.
Make the consequence visible. People react to outcomes they can see, not statistics they cannot.
Use escalation to earn attention. Build from normal to shocking so the message arrives when focus is highest.
Let the audience reach the conclusion. The most persuasive line is the one people say to themselves first.

A few fast answers before you act

What was AXA’s “Crazy Driver” trying to change?

It aims to reduce risky driving by confronting people with an exaggerated version of everyday bad driving, making “normal” shortcuts feel unacceptable in the moment.

What is the core mechanic?

Stage a believable incident in a real public setting, then escalate visible consequences fast so bystanders form an immediate social judgment before the reveal.

What is the emotional sequence the stunt triggers?

Concern first, then fairness. Once people witness reckless behavior, the idea that everyone else pays for it starts to feel wrong, which makes the message stick.

What business intent does this serve for an insurer?

It turns an insurance argument into a shared conclusion. Risky behavior creates costs, and consequences should reflect behavior. The stunt makes that conclusion feel obvious.

What should brands steal from this approach?

Make the behavior the content. Start with a situation everyone understands, show consequences people can see, and let the audience reach the conclusion themselves.

What is the key risk with prank-style public activations?

If it feels unsafe, humiliating, or too punitive, attention can flip into distrust. The line is whether the reveal resolves tension quickly and respectfully.