Europcar wanted to promote their Select service, with which any driver can rent and drive a luxury car. We needed a simple idea that could capture the attention of anyone with a driver’s license. The brief was twofold: explain the service, and highlight the fact that users of the service would be driving the latest luxury cars from Mercedes.

We created the Carousel of Dreams, a life-sized car carousel with five new model luxury Mercedes. The carousel was erected in a central London park over a weekend and was open to the general public. Passers-by could ride in a car on the carousel. Hosts and hostesses were on hand to talk about the new service from Europcar.

Our aim was to mix the visual world of old fashioned carousels with the worlds of dreams and imagination. The carousel was constructed on a turning base capable of supporting twelve tonnes – necessary for the number of vehicles that would turn on it. Working with a conceptual artist, we designed a dreamlike structure to sit on top of that base, a structure dominated by balloons to give the impression that the carousel was floating in the clouds. Over 10,000 balloons were tied into the roof of the carousel. Lighting was another important touch point, as the carousel also functioned during the night. The sources of light were hidden underneath the balloons, so that the light would diffuse softly over the vehicles and render them in an attractive manner.