Some campaigns try to create the need for a product. Some try to correct social ills or change prejudices. This campaign doesn’t do any of those. Instead, it uses a new tool to fix an old problem that has plagued the city of Montréal forever. Montréal is a large and sophisticated city, but every Spring it has to deal with a down-to-earth problem. Because of its cold climate, the Spring thaw generates crater-like potholes in the city’s streets and highways. It’s actually referred to by locals as 'pothole season'. Montréalers have come to accept this as part of life in their city. Since the potholes aren’t going to go away, we decided to do something about it. Twenty years after TAXI was founded in Montréal, we developed a tool, the 'Pothole Season' iPhone app, to help people deal with this perennial feature of life in one of our favourite cities.

In the heart of downtown Montréal on one of the busiest streets during rush hour, we made it look like a car had fallen into a crater-like pothole of epic proportions. Drivers, passersby, journalists, and municipal authorities at the site were confounded by this highly realistic set-up. It was, in fact, an optical illusion — the car had been cut on an angle and was being held up by a metal bar hidden inside the tailpipe. To add to the realism, a security perimeter had been established, 2 police patrols were on guard, and a tow truck was standing by. On the yellow security tape, we printed the internet address, PotholeSeason.ca. On the website, people could learn more about the new iPhone app. At the end of the day, the special-effects pothole in the ground was gone faster than you could say, “Look out for that pothole!”

Greater Montréal’s media all rushed to the site to capture the images and to report on the stunt, generating a total of over 120 minutes of TV and radio airtime, and reaching a potential audience of 50 — not to mention the potential online audience of 1m via our Twitter and Facebook pages.

The picture of the car embedded in a giant pothole captured the city’s collective imagination. It was instantly circulated in social media and on more than 150 blogs and sites. It even garnered a place in our popular culture. Montréal’s main daily newspaper, with over 1.2m readers, featured it in an editorial cartoon, with our premier at the wheel of the damaged car.

The application topped the ranks of downloaded apps on the Canadian App Store in the utilities category. In under 7 days, it was downloaded 10,000 times, and over 7,000 potholes were reported to municipal authorities.