Project Type
Client-commissioned

Agency
Dentsu Kenya

Client Name
Safaricom

Client URL
https://www.safaricom.co.ke/

My Role in This Project
Creative Director

When Safaricom approached us with an open brief, my creative team and our Out of Home specialist partnered to come up with a new use for the Safaricom network of billboards. I've always believed in turning to data as a starting point for coming up with solutions to real life problems. So we started by doing some research and with the help of our data team landed on an issue that affected a lot of Kenyan urban areas but was rarely spoken about. It seemed that most Kenyans did not know the state of the quality of air around them. I helped my team pitch this idea to the client and we onboarded UNEP as a partner. I then worked with my creative team to develop the necessary assets, allowing them to crack the style and copy, but always available as a sounding board.


Project Description
Ambient air pollution was responsible for around 5,000 premature deaths in Kenya in 2019 alone. However, Kenyans were ignorant to the quality of air they were breathing in within the environments that they were in.

We partnered with UNEP to create the breathing billboard.

We placed two digital billboards in high traffic areas in the central business district. Using a sensor, we were able to get complex air pollution data and translated it into a simple colour scheme that was streamed in real-time. For the first time, we were able to educate Kenyans about the quality of air around them, in a simple way.