Café Pele is lulling commuters into buying their coffee

Brazilian coffee brand, Café Pele, is on a mission to prove that yawning is infectious. Using an interactive sensor, the Contagious Billboard is a digital display triggering a yawning epidemic on the streets of Sao Paulo.

Established with the help of creative agency Lew Lara/TBWA, the billboard takes its inspiration from a study conducted by the State University of New York, which alleged that 70 per cent of people follow suit when they see someone else yawning. The concept is simple. A hidden motion sensor detects how many people walk by; the more people that walk past the more the man on the display yawns. Having engaged with passers by, a caption then reads: "Did you yawn too? It's time for coffee." Breaking the realm of conventional advertising, Contagious Billboard uses both physical and digital aids to garner attention.

As our Audience Survey detected, connected technology enables brands to communicate their mantra in the right place, at the right time, to the right consumer. Through targeted marketing campaigns and the rise of iBeacon technology companies can create multi-sensory experiences that engage successfully with the masses.