A stairway to heaven

by carly_mchugh | 1 September 2022 3:58 pm

By Carly McHugh

Few will forget the saucy angel who pontificated the values of Kraft’s light Philadelphia cream cheese to TV audiences in the mid-’90s and early 2000s. Fast forward to today, when Kraft decided to bring back the popular campaign, and with it, the outspoken angel. They wanted to showcase the return in a way that conjured up the same heavenly look and feel as the original. Enter creative agency Rethink and signage powerhouse Pattison Outdoor Advertising.

This March, the team embarked on a project to debut the newest Philadelphia cream cheese angel to join the flight. Rethink provided several images to represent the general idea of what Kraft was looking for in the project. The three key elements they wanted to execute were heavenly chords, a halo, and clouds. They also had a vision to incorporate a staircase and/or escalator into the design.

Pattison brought Rethink to the locations they had in mind for the project, to help realize the concept. The piano stairs along the Toronto PATH at Metro Hall added an interactive element, while the adjacent escalators served as a callback to Kraft’s new Philadelphia cream cheese ad. Bringing the agency to the physical space made it easier to sell them on the concept and solidify the design.

The installation included five murals—three along the walls, a bulkhead mural above the stairs, and a floor decal at the foot of the stairs—as well as the stair risers and treads, a digital wall display, and an angelic hum sound file. The stairs would also need to play the hum at rising pitches as users walked up each step, which meant the existing piano system would need to be upgraded.

Supply partner Category 5 visited the space, measured the area for the murals, and created the templates. These were then delivered to Rethink to create and lay out the artwork. The agency also created the sound files for the stairs and delivered them to Pattison for installation.

The three wall murals measured 5.6 x 2 m (18.5 x 6.8 ft), 3.3 x 2.2 m (11 x 7.4 ft), and 11.4 x 4.7 m (37.5 x 15.5 ft). They were produced on Drytac Polar Premium vinyl with a matte interlam lamination. The 6.5- x 4.1-m (21.4-
x 13.5-ft) bulkhead mural was printed on 3M 3500c vinyl film with a matte lamination. The 3- x 10.7-m (10- x 35.4-ft) stairs, along with the 3- x 3.6-m (10- x 11.9-ft) floor mural, were produced on 3M IJ40C vinyl film with a non-skid lamination. The material was printed on a Vutek HS100 ultraviolet (UV) ink press, processed through a laminator, then cut on a Kongsberg cutting table.

The installation was completed using knives and squeegees. A portion of the liner on the back of the self-adhesive vinyl was pulled back to start, then it was squeegeed as the liner was pulled down to apply the panel. The next panel would be installed the same way, but with a 12.7-mm (0.5-in.) overlap on the previous panel. The bulkhead mural was installed using scaffolding.

The biggest challenge for the project was programming the musical stairs to include the angelic hum and activate specific notes to play on each step, so users would experience the right sound when walking up or down. This required the help of a sound engineer, as well as the landlord who created the stairs. A great deal of work also went into determining the appropriate volume levels for the sounds.

Another key point during installation was to make sure the material applied to the stairs did not interfere with the motion sensors on them. If any vinyl lifted up or got in the way of the sensor, the effect would not work.

In the end, expanding the use of the musical stairs added value to the space. Now, they have the capability to be programmed with almost any sound, instead of just the piano notes they could play before. A different note or sound can be played on each individual step or triggered at the top or bottom step, which allows for a more thoughtful execution of the interactive element.

The entire setup was installed by the end of May. After the campaign wrapped up in July, it was a requirement with the landlord that the piano stairs be returned to their original look.

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/a-stairway-to-heaven/

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