One lamppost is not like the rest, passersby near Cambie Street and 6th Avenue in downtown Vancouver may have noticed yesterday. In order to perk up coffee drinkers and shake them out of their routine, McDonald’s brewed up a unique OOH execution to further promo its free coffee special which launched last week. Developed by Cossette West, a coffee carafe is attached to the top of a brown-vinyl-wrapped lamppost, slightly askew, so it appears as if it’s pouring coffee into a giant coffee cup at the bottom.

The two-week campaign promoting the free small coffee offer cut a wide swath with TV, OOH, radio and print advertising. But in order for customers to literally wake up and smell the coffee, the Vancouver team, in partnership with print and display specialist Dyna Graphics, also filled a bus shelter with 120 pounds of coffee beans, which are then slowly disappearing day after day, giving customers the impression of urgency for the promo. ‘It’s an hourglass that’s full of coffee, and it smells really amazing,’ says Bryan Collins, VP and creative director, Cossette West, who along with fellow CD Rob Sweetman jumped ship from award-winning shop Rethink Communications to join Cossette in February.

‘People have routines, and they go to the same place for coffee every morning. We want to break them out of this routine, to [do] something that’s completely different,’ Collins tells MiC. The lamppost will be in Vancouver for three days and then travel to Calgary, where it will stay until the end of the promotion on May 3.

Another unique push for McD’s java in the Edmonton market occurred on the first day of the promo, with a group of 30 people ‘sleepwalking’ around Edmonton in their pyjamas until they reached a McDonald’s for their morning caffeine boost.