Bongo campaign

The humongous billboard on the Meir, Antwerp

In a recent post, I told about a big outdoor campaign that I've made. I don't have the English translation yet, but above you can see the Dutch version. The translation of the headline is: 'you are what you give', followed by a pay off that says you'd better buy a Bongo gift box this year.

Bongo is different than 'usual gifts' like an iron or a teapot in a way that you give away an experience. If you get a Bongo Wine box, for example, you can choose from about 20 different wine-restaurants where they serve you a bottle of wine. And if you get a Bongo Adventure, you can choose from a wide variety of adventurous activities. In Belgium the Bongo gift box is a well known and loved present already, so all we had to do is reminding the people that a Bongo is a present that is better than all the others.

And the reminder seems to work. The huge billboard on the Meir, the big shopping street in Antwerp, is not the only medium that's used. The campaign is also on normal billboards, bus shelters and on a car that's driving through the city. I even saw it on the back of the bus. In other words: the only way to avoid seeing this campaign in Belgium is if you stay inside for the rest of the year.

Today I went to the Meir to photograph the huge advertisement in daylight. It's getting colder in Antwerp right now and it struck me how many people were walking around in fur coats. I always thought that animal rights organisations were exaggerating a bit about fur because nobody in his right mind would wear such an old fashioned piece of clothing anymore. But here in Antwerp it seems that every woman of over 50 years of age wears such an awful thing. And I even saw some young women with an animal on their head. There must have been a mink holocaust to privide all people in the centre of Antwerp with their coats.