While news of a dwindling economy has many advertisers twisted in a knot these days, some are making the most of it. Playing on the idea of US economic contortion, BBDO New York’s latest campaign for the Economist has large Twister boards sprawled across the busy floor of the 30th Street train station in Philadelphia as part of an alternative media campaign leveraging the mag’s rep for giving readers insight during tough times.

The Twister boards invite commuters to think about the economy with words such as ‘ideology,’ ‘resolution,’ ‘solidarity’ and ‘trust’ inside the mat’s familiar green, yellow, blue and red circles, challenging them to twist themselves into becoming Economist readers. The agency also put up wall posters nearby with spinners like those of the popular party game nearby.

‘It was an inspired way to show people that the Economist understands how many world views are interconnected,’ says Clayton Ruebensaal, executive VP and senior account director at BBDO.

The Twister-inspired mats are part of a larger campaign that includes other out-of-home elements, including ads on pizza boxes with a pie chart representing different topics such as world wheat production and cheese imports by country.