People will take anything they can get their hands on. At least that’s what TBWAVancouver demonstrated with its recent stunt for client Black Tower Security Services.

The agency swathed a 10-foot x 20-foot billboard with grab-worthy household items like framed paintings, rugs, pillows and cookware on Friday, Feb. 25. By the end of the weekend all the items had been lifted, revealing the campaign’s simple message: ‘People Steal. Black Tower Home Security.’

‘The client was looking to do some high-impact, low-budget advertising,’ explains senior AD Jay Gundzik. ‘This was relatively inexpensive, and created a lot of PR.’ The billboard is located at the high-traffic entrance to Vancouver’s Granville Island.

The ad’s creative team, Michael Milardo and Bart Batchelor, camped out across the street and videotaped the experiment until the wee hours of the launch night. Grainy footage of thieves bagging their loot can be seen at http://www.tbwa-vancouver.com/peoplesteal.html.

Milardo and Batchelor decided to illustrate the need for home security systems by making theft an active part of the campaign. The idea came to them after people stole 3D elements (giant thumbtacks) from a billboard they did at that same location a few months earlier.

Angela Dong, associate media director at TBWAVancouver secured the billboard space.