George Street Gallery

BCR Erste has created George: a new digital platform, but also a new brand, designed to be digital, creative, open, passionate about beauty and technology, like today’s youth.

The existence of this modern platform needs to be communicated in a way that shows it is modern and highly digitalized. After so many years of BCR on the market, people have a strong image of it, one that is difficult to change. Doing conventional communication would not be enough to break through people’s preconceived opinions and establish this new image.

Our challenge: go beyond conventional advertising, to make George not just say, but also act as digital, creative, and open. And do this for a wide audience, not a small niche.

Bucharest has many communist architecture areas: old, ugly, unappealing. The city is in a way like BCR: it is perceived as old and communist, although it is transitioning into a high tech, highly modern center.

One of the biggest examples of unappealing architecture is Aurel Vlaicu bridge, right in the middle of the biggest business area. Many of Bucharest residents pass it by.

Our insight: turn this ugly architecture into an open technological urban art gallery. George Street Gallery is the largest street art gallery in Bucharest, featuring artworks from 11 of the best street artists, artworks created on site, under the Aurel Vlaicu bridge. We took a place that was grey and unfriendly to walking traffic and turned into an instagrammable hotspot.

On top of the artwork itself, George transformed it into the largest and the most modern and digital street art gallery.

Beauty: 750 meters of custom works from renown street artists in Romania.

Technology: each artwork is also Augmented Reality: it transforms and moves when viewed through dARe app from Samsung.

Technology: launch of the project with Augmented Reality concert, featuring Romanian and international artists (Moonlight Breakfast).

Interactive: Each pillar has an artwork on one side, and stylized alphabet letters. Most interesting IG feeds with content using the letters there will be printed on a dedicated pillar.

Consumer-generated art: Two pillars reserved for winners of competition open to all.