When the idea is invisible

It’s not often that you try to make your product invisible as part of your advertising. Dramatizing the new zero-emission technology, Mercedes literally made the car invisible to the environment through a pretty impressive cloaking effect.  I love it because the idea is simple, well executed and effective (so far it’s managed to get over 8 million people talking about F-CELL hydrogen fuel cells).

It was done by covering one side of the car with LEDs that played back a live feed from a camera mounted on the other side.  This meant that you had to be in the right position for full effect, but the wrap up video is impressive for those that did see it.

We’re seeing more and more of these kinds of stunts (Tropicana comes to mind amongst others) which are designed and produced with the end game of finishing up on YouTube - should there be a new category at Cannes somewhere in between outdoor and viral video?