Toxic Toby the #CleanAirBear by BreezoMeter – The silent killer of London makes a public appearance for the first time

One of the few qualities of a bear, supposedly, is to be empathetic and altruistic. And maybe, that’s the reason McCann London and BreezoMeter, a firm that monitors hyperlocal pollution in real time decided to use an animatronic teddy bear, called Toxic Toby the #CleanAirBear to bring everyone’s attention to an unseen killer that’s silently killing the people of London on the streets.

ToxicToby, embedded with 3D technology, was provisionally perched onto a streetlight across the Brixton Road. The street across the Brixton Road was chosen as it is one of the most polluted streets in London, where the silent killer lurks often. So how does it work?

Whenever air pollution level around the street attains and surpasses a certain threshold deemed dangerous, BreezoMeter’s air quality data triggers the bear to elevate its paw towards its mouth and cough. And as Toxic Toby coughs, it also alerts local politicians, urging the authorities to reduce air pollution.

This activity proved that there are staggeringly more people dying each year in London from inhaling toxic air than from accidents on the road. Hence, Toxic Toby was perched alongside flowers, a stark representation of a memorial to the many dead citizens who were killed by the unseen, silent killer – polluted air. A deafening shout-out to London’s authorities to restore air quality to legal and safe levels!

Credits
Advertising Agency: McCann, London, UK
Chief Creative Officers: Laurence Thomson, Rob Doubal
Creatives: James Crosby, Will Cottam
Account Director: Christos Cardovillis
Account Manager: Rohin Lalli
Project Manager: Paul Gillespie
Communications Director: Katya Escala
Producer: Duncan Groves
Film Director: Ben Twiston-Davies
Production Agency: CRAFT
Editor: Adam Beasley
Comms Planner: Nick Kavanagh
Junior Planner: Tara Henderson
Grade: Coffee + TV
Composition: Dan Neale, Fred Ashworth / Native Music
Sound Design: Jungle and CRAFT
Designers: Dan Howarth, Nazima Motegheria, Harold Perrin
Type Designers: Dalton Maag
Talent: Toxic Toby the clean air bear

This awareness campaign is about:
BreezoMeter, Toxic Toby, McCann, London, Pollution, #toxictoby, #CleanAirBear, Digital, Film, United Kingdom, Electronics, Technology, Air pollution, Clean Air Bear, 3D technology