To Celebrate 90th Birthday, Y&R Uses Facebook and Twitter Avatars to Algorithmically Create Billboard Mosaic in Times Square


Advertising agency Y&R recently celebrated its 90th birthday with a digital billboard in Times Square in New York City. Since birthdays are a time to come together and celebrate, Y&R did exactly that, but with a social media and technological twist. MediaPost Raw reported on the agency’s high-tech birthday celebration.

The ad agency placed a digital billboard in Times Square on its landmark birthday and asked people across the globe to join the celebration and interact between 2 and 3:30 p.m. that day through social media. They were invited to post to the billboard via Twitter and the hash tag #advertisingis. Y&R wanted only one gift this year—to know what advertising means to the world around them.

To elevate the social media experience, the agency joined forces with Hyperactivate, a startup whose technology can capture Twitter and Facebook avatars and create a mosaic algorithmically as users are posting and tweeting. People are able to interact with the mosaic and find their own posts and those of others, as well as discover hidden content.

According to Y&R, the data will show “who the biggest influencers are in the advertising industry by measuring the biggest activators of conversation.” But let’s not forget the most important part—the ad agency is nearly a century old. Happy 90th birthday, Y&R!

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Read more at MediaPost.com.