Subway riders in Toronto and Montreal might be surprised this week when they exit the station through a giant mascara wand instead of a turnstile.

Cover Girl has launched a media domination of high-traffic transit stations in two of Canada’s biggest cities this week in promotion of its newest Lash Blast Length mascara. With media by Starcom and creative by Saatchi & Saatchi Canada, the dominations use the physical attributes of the subway stations to play up the products being promoted.

In a media first for transit advertising in Toronto, the TTC turnstiles have been wrapped in yellow and black to evoke the brushes of mascara wand, while vinyl extensions of traditional posters show off the lengths of the Lash Blast wand. The dominations extend into the transit cars as well, with elongated door card ads.

The campaign took several months to create and involved coordination between P&G, Starcom, Saatchi & Saatchi, CBS Outdoor and the TTC. The buy includes 13 Toronto stations and seven transit stations in Montreal, although the turnstile wraps were not executed there.

‘Transit as a whole was a great vehicle for us to really bring to life the product benefit of that extended lash and allowing consumers to actually interact with the execution,’ Nadia Codispoti, strategy manager, Starcom, tells MiC, adding that locations for the executions were chosen in part for their proximity to purchase locations such as Shoppers Drug Mart.

‘Overall we think it’s a great example of how transit can be used innovatively. The format fits perfectly with the creative idea.’