Vodafone Creates Light Monsters On Swanston St

In a display of creative and technical talent, Vodafone Australia has installed an impressive advertising piece on Swanston St in Melbourne. The installation displays a very large video advertisement on the north side of the Japanese Melbourne Language School building. The video begins with a sweeping search light that appears to be looking inside various virtual, black windows. Eventually, a blue monster appears (à la Monsters Inc), performs some impressions, then the red Vodafone image and latest promotion dominate the view.

Part of the attention grabbing
 advertising display by Vodafone

The installation relies on some impressive projector technology which is capable of projecting the image across a far distance of about 140m with plenty of urban light to compete against. The projector appears to be mounted a-top the Legacy House building on Swanston St and there appears to be two separate light sources involved in the display. The installation appears to be the work of advertising agency tkm9.

The display was a popular talking point among many of the people on the street, with lots of finger pointing and loud exclamations. Obviously the large Vodafone image/promotion are fairly standard fare in any major urban space, but the search light and blue monster were an effective attention grabber that caused the viewer to stop walking and watch until the reason for the light show became apparent.

This installation comes at an appropriate time in the Melbourne calendar as the City of Melbourne is currently conducting the Light in Winter festival at key locations around the CBD. At Federation Square, organizers have built a large structure of steel beams and wooden planks with numerous lanterns and neon lights emblazoned inside the dominating art piece. Explorers can walk inside the structure and watch video presentations on mini LCD screens. Closer to Flinders St station, a genuine fireplace has been established with appropriate campfire theming. A bored security guard keeps the fire stoked while a fire extinguisher is visible within easy reach. 

The most fascinating event on the winter festival calendar was the Projector Bike tour around the city, where participants bring their bike and ride to various locations and watch short video clips that are projected on the sides of buildings. It is all provided by a special projector contraption added as a trailer to a mountain bike. The effect was impressive and it seemed to draw a small, but loyal crowd.