Agencies: Vizeum UK, Posterscope
Market: UK | Client: E.ON

Air pollution contributes to one in 20 deaths in the UK, yet 63% of people dismiss it as not a serious problem, partly because it’s invisible. Our agencies Vizeum UK and Posterscope helped energy provider E.ON to bring this issue to life.

E.ON has moved to supply 100% renewable energy for all customers. It wanted to engage the public about this and to highlight the importance of clean energy to our everyday world. We identified air quality as an issue that E.ON could educate people around to demonstrate the benefits of clean energy.

With the “Let’s Clear the Air” campaign, we wanted to illustrate the reality of air pollution, using the combined technology of facial detection, live pollution data, geo-localisation and augmented reality (AR).

We identified prime digital poster locations in city centre pedestrian streets across Birmingham and Manchester.

Passers-by that stood in front of the screen saw themselves in a visualisation with realtime live pollution data for their location, showing how this was higher than acceptable levels from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Pollution particles were then shown clouding around the person’s face on-screen and being drawn into their mouth and nose, giving the invisible threat a dramatically visible form.

The AR experience attracted impressive engagement levels. 2,636 people interacted with the screens across the three days that they were live, which drove awareness and education.

As one member of the public told us, “It really gives us a visualisation of what’s currently going on. I don’t think we realise how much pollution we’re breathing day to day.”