Visual hacking and screen privacy is more important than ever in the current climate, as such 3M wanted to increase awareness of privacy filters and drive an uplift in sample requests. HPS Group brought me onboard to develop the concept.
The target audience was tech savvy business decision-makers who would then implement privacy filters across their organisation. The focus was on people who work on the move – on their commute, reading emails, accessing important information they wouldn’t want anybody else to see.
It was decided the campaign would initially be implemented in London, targeting people in transit, utilising formats such as: underground escalator panels, large digital panel at King’s Cross, motion enabled digital 6 sheets, train car panels, as well as wifi sponsorship at airports and WEVE MMS messaging.
Research showed that almost nine out of 10 workers had caught somebody looking over their shoulder at their device in a public space. We wanted to explore the familiar feeling of being watched.
Our concept saw photographs and footage of people looking down as if peeking at somebody’s phone/laptop, combined with the headline ‘Feel like you’re being watched?’. The direction of the glance was chosen with the advert’s position in mind for maximum impact – i.e. looking down at a passenger on a tube train, peering down at people in King’s Cross station, eyes following somebody riding the escalator.
With 90% of visual hacking attempts successful, we wanted the campaign to make people feel uneasy, to raise their awareness and to take action to protect themselves.
3M have reported a substantial increase of sales since the campaign’s launch.