Knowing that bamboo was going to be an important opportunity for HSBC’s clientele, we had to capture the attention of this sophisticated audience with something truly unexpected, intricate, and thought-provoking. But how do you tell such a complicated story in a quick and powerful way?

HSBC is a bank that focuses on emerging global trends. Bamboo–the world's fastest growing plant, and stronger than steel cable–is considered to be one such trend, and is quickly becoming a key building material in future cities.

To share this insight with HSBC's affluent audience of businesspeople, we created a large, one-of-a-kind installation at the Toronto Pearson International Airport: The Bamboo City. 1264 stalks of bamboo were transformed into 117 buildings of the future–demonstrating that our cities will be forever changed.

And, thanks to an overhead mirror, showing that the world’s economy will soon follow.

In just a month there were over 260,000 impressions of the installation at the airport and over 100,000 minutes watched of the YouTube making-of video. Advertising publications such as Marketing, AppliedArts and BestAds as well as local media such as The Globe and Mail all featured the project as people took to Instagram and Twitter to share their own personal photos.