Category Archives: Latest Posts

Starbucks Canada’s Cloud Bliss

MARCH 16, 2020 TO APRIL 12, 2020 | TORONTO
STREET FURNITURE • TSA

To boost the launch of “Cloud Bliss”, Starbucks Canada created a playful platform wrap using graphic clouds and bright colors to bring the beverage to life. Clouds were used as expressive iconography to make an easy connection in visualizing fluffy cold foam. The beverage offering, in either hot or cold, balanced the transition of seasonality from Winter to Spring. Ad face locations were selected close to competing coffee vendors to remind consumers that there is another choice out there. The creative was sure to capture and engage with consumers in the hopes that they would opt for this new and delightful spring treat.

Media agency: Spark Foundry
Creative Agency: Public Office

An optical illusion for Loto-Québec’s scratcher “Grande Vie”

JANUARY 6 – MARCH 1st, 2020 | MONTREAL
TRANSIT • LUMIQUAI  McGill Metro Station

With a single advertising face in the Montreal subway, Loto-Québec managed to have public transit users dream a little. For its “Grande Vie” lottery ticket – which gives winners $ 1,000 every day for life – the Astral Special Projects team and the creative agency Sid Lee developed an infinity mirror. This optical illusion allowed transit users to reflect on the infinite possibilities a “Grande Vie” winner will face with its prize or even allows us to visualize what a daily prize of $ 1,000 could feel like.

Astral’s Special Projects team is always there to help you put your ideas into action, from the most serious to the most fun campaigns!

Media Agency: Sid Lee
Creative Agency: Sid Lee

UBER EATS: LET’S EAT

18 NOVEMBER TO 29 DECEMBER 2019 | TORONTO
DIGITAL • BRANDSCAPE, DIGITAL LARGE FORMAT, ROOFSCAPE

For its Let’s Eats campaign, Uber partnered with the MLSE to display game scores for the Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors to promote their food delivery service. In order to carry out this execution, Astral has developed a technology making it possible to update TSN’s real-time data on their digital products instantaneously.

Media Agency: Mediacom Canada

Facing some children’s impossible choices

OCTOBER 14 – NOVEMBER 17, 2019 | TORONTO
STREET FURNITURE • TRANSIT SHELTERS

Astral partnered with Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada, a national charity for children and youth in child welfare, to raise awareness about the unbearable scenarios kids at-risk face and to increase support for its advocacy and fundraising efforts.

On different locations in the Toronto GTA area, our transit shelters were wrapped, featuring some of the “Impossible Choices” children in neglectful or abusive environments are forced to make every day. The key messages of the OOH and digital campaigns were to drive traffic on the Foundation’s website for people to donate and sign the pledge to help create a new normal for these children.

Media Agency: Empathy Inc.
Creative Agency: Field Trip & Co

Uniqlo Opening

SEPTEMBER 16 – OCTOBER 4, 2019 | EDMONTON
DIGITAL • DIGITAL SUPERBOARD
In September 2019, UNIQLO – a Japanese apparel brand – was launching its first store in Edmonton (AB)at the famous West Edmonton Mall. In order to create local buzz and excitement around the opening, UNIQLO Canadapartnered with Astral. Using our real-time technology, a countdown clock leading to the store opening was featured on strategically located digital boards in the busy West Edmonton Mall area. Other campaign creatives were displayed on various Astral faces in town, in high traffic locations.
The campaign was a hit: on opening weekend, a massive line up could be seen at the store, showing that Edmontonians really were excited about the arrival of UNIQLO!
Media Agency: Isobar
Creative Agency: DentsuBos

A billboard that predicts the 2019 Federal Canadian election results

OCTOBER 2019 | QUÉBEC CITY
OUTDOOR BILLBOARD • HORIZONTAL

The Festival de Magie de Québec, in collaboration with lg2, made quite a splash during the last Federal election. Five days before the general vote, a magician climbed onto an Astral billboard in Québec City and inserted his predictions in a mysterious envelope stuck on advertising face.

During election night, when the results were unveiled, the magician returned to the billboard to reveal the contents of his envelope. In addition to predicting the name of the next Prime Minister, he unveiled the right number in the percentage of votes cast.

Another creative stunt signed Astral, LG2 and the Festival of Magic in the National Capital.

Media Agency:
Creative Agency: lg2

A painted mural for Canada Goose

OCTOBER 7- DECEMBER 1, 2019 | TORONTO
OUTDOOR • WALL MURAL

In its most recent advertising stunt, Canada Goose, a leader in performance luxury apparel, Canada Goose paired up with artists around the world. The idea was to commission painted walls in prominent areas in major cities, such as London, Berlin, New York City.

In Toronto, street artist and painter from Rome, Alice, was chosen to showcase Canada Goose’s products. She featured a couple in the brand’s iconic coats with cultural references and the Torontonian skyline in the background.

Astral’s Wall Murals are in a class of their own – dramatic and impactful. These dynamic wallscapes and murals will stop consumers in their tracks to engage with your brand. Canada Goose and Alice hit the mark with this campaign!

Media Agency: Rapport WW (NYC)
Artist: Alice Pasquini

Find your GO Time

JULY 1st – AUGUST 25, 2019 | TORONTO
OUTDOOR • LARGE FORMAT DIGITAL

This summer, Metrolinx launched its high impact media campaign for GO Transit, the Greater Golden Horseshoe regional bus and rail service. The insight behind the campaign was that there are thousands of things drivers could be doing with their time instead of driving if they had taken the train or bus. Much of the campaign’s investment was in out-of-home and Astral was there to support the dynamic campaign.

Instead of developing 500+ different visuals for this campaign broadcasting each of them on our Digital Network at specific times, we used an app that could display a single visual with a wide variety of different messages. Those creatives were synchronized to display a different message at different times of the day. The clock on the Astral digital boards were also set to only show time and matched the time in Metrolinx’s creative.

Thanks to responsive technology, the resolution of the displayed image remained the same regardless of the size of the screen on which it was projected on our Digital Network.

Astral has a wide range of technological products and does not hesitate to offer its customers innovative out-of-home solutions for their campaigns! The ‘Find Your GO Time’ campaign is just one example of our know-how.

Media Agency: PHD Canada
Creative Agency: BBDO

SÉPAQ & AQUARIUM DE QUÉBEC

JULY 8 – SEPTEMBER 1 2019 | QUEBEC CITY
STREET FURNITURE • TSA

Sépaq (Société des établissements de plein air du Québec) wanted to take advantage of the summer’s tourist influx to attract people to Québec City’s Aquarium, which hosts more than 10,000 marine animals on 16 hectares. lg2 and Astral’s Special Projects Team came up with the idea of bringing a sensory experience to the users of the RTC (Réseau de transport de la Capitale) to encourage public transit users to visit the Aquarium.

Bus shelters in Québec City were transformed into a jellyfish aquarium! Ambient lighting with UV LEDs – a black-light type of lighting commonly used in aquariums of this type of marine animal – was installed in the bus shelters, giving users the impression of literally being immersed in an aquarium with these phosphorescent and hypnotic creatures!

Just by taking a look at the pictures, we can see that this simple execution is really spectacular… especially at night!

 Media Agency: Touché!
Creative Agency: lg2

Brasseurs du Nord – Boréale Beer

JUNE 17 – AUGUST 18 2019 | MONTREAL
TRANSIT • MURAL

Summertime is always a good period in the year to increase the awareness of alcoholic beverages. Brasseurs du Nord made no exception to this rule and took upon Astral to display its campaign for its Boréale beer.

Using nature and outdoor activities as main themes, the campaign could be seen on an impressive mural at the Place-des-Arts metro station in Montreal. Creatives have also been created for our Superboards and Horizontals along the exits of major highways leaving Montreal and Quebec City – thus making reference to the call of nature promoted in the campaign’s various visuals.

Media Agency: OMD (Montréal)
Creative Agency: lg2

Desjardins & Operation Enfant Soleil

JUNE 3 – JULY 7 2019 | MONTREAL
TRANSIT • METRO MCGILL & PLACE-DES-ARTS

Astral and Desjardins collaborated to integrate a contactless transactional keypad onto a Lumiquai advertising face in two Montreal Metro stations (McGill and Place-des-Arts). The keypad allowed subway users to safely donate $5 to Opération Enfant Soleil using their credit card, debit card or their smartphone.

Media & Creative: Desjardins

Maker’s Mark Kentucky Bourbon

JUNE 10 – JULY 17 2019 | TORONTO
STREET FURNITURE • TSA

Beam Suntory Canada wanted to make a big splash in the Toronto market to increase awareness for Maker’s Mark Bourbon in the city center.

Astral’s Special Project Team created 3 larger than life bottles of the Kentucky Bourbon on TSA faces to help increase awareness in the market. A huge bottle of bourbon popped-out of the outside face of the bus shelters and was illuminated at sundown. The legendary red wax of the Maker’s Mark bottle was also mimicked to give it a more realistic look. On the inside face of the bus shelters, a poster told the story behind the brand’s craftsmanship for the pleasure of consumers that already knew and loved Maker’s Mark but also to reach out to new consumers.

Media Agency: Starcom Worldwide
Creative Agency: Astral

Mazda3

JUNE 3 – JULY4 | MONTREAL
TRANSIT • SOCIETE DE LA PLACE DES ARTS

For a 5th consecutive year, Mazda Canada benefited from an extraordinary visibility by choosing to advertise with Astral, using a Domination at Montreal’s Place des Arts. This location offers a lot of circulation during the summertime, attracting many people with all the festivals and activities buzzing in the Quartier des spectacles this time of year.

 

Mazda exploited all possible advertising faces at Place des Arts to promote the all-new Mazda3 models: posters in the parking lot, makeup of many stairs and escalators, murals and illuminated advertising faces, Mazda was everywhere! Vinyls were also placed on the ground where 2 Mazda3 models were driven into Place des Arts. Interactive screens were installed near the 2 cars on display, allowing passers-by to schedule an appointment for a test drive.

 

Media Agency: Mindshare
Creative Agency: J. Walter Thompson (Montreal)

Home Claim Forgiveness from belairdirect

JULY 11 – NOVEMBER 24 2019 | MONTREAL
TRANSIT • 1000 DE LA GAUCHETIERE

In a campaign to raise awareness of its Home Claim Forgiveness policy in Quebec, belairdirect used many Astral transit and static out-of-home products. The insurance company wanted to reach families with young children living in the Montreal suburbs. Our Superboards with extensions and Dominations of busy metro stations were all indicated to surprise and catch the attention of the desired target.

Impactful creatives, such as a huge tree branch that fell on a Superboard or a fire that destroyed posters at the Montmorency metro station and 1 000 de la Gauchetière Terminal simulated realistic cases of possible insurance claims – and where the Home Claim Forgiveness policy could help the homeowners.

Earlier this Spring, belairdirect took a more narrative approach in its advertisements. This campaign is part of this new approach where customers of belairdirect effortlessly master the situation they face with confidence and the peace of mind belairdirect’s insurance products provides them.

Media Agency: PHD
Creative Agency: Sid Lee (Toronto)

La Boîte à Pain

JUNE 14 | QUEBEC CITY
TRANSIT • TSA

To announce the opening of its 4th branch at Québec City Grand Marché, the artisanal bakery La Boîte à Pain marked the occasion with the help of Astral’s special project team! In collaboration with Triade Marketing, a bus shelter advertising face was entirely covered with real pieces of bread. A baker offered passers-by to taste one of the many kinds of breads the bakery offers at any time of the day.

For La Boîte à Pain, any time is a moment to savour great bead!

Media Agency: Boulangerie La Boîte à Pain
Creative Agency: Triade Marketing