Auckland gets Hung up on bulging billboard

Developed by Colenso BBDO and produced by RocketSigns, the risqué billboard (pictured) aptly reflects the premise of the show, which essentially is about a man who decides to exploit his best asset in a last-ditch attempt to change his fortunes.

Colenso BBDO account executive Virginia Frankovich says the feedback to the six-metre by three-metre billboard has been "extremely positive".

"We felt that because of the nature of Hung -- a comedic drama that pushes the boundaries of what we have come to expect from mainstream television and particularly TV One -- it felt necessary to align the advertising creative in an equally eyebrow-raising way," Frankovich told ProPrint.

"I guess the fact that it's a gigantic penis in the middle of the Auckland CBD is pretty unique. On top of this, the fact that it's advertising a show on TV One which is generally associated with more traditional programming makes this campaign even more special.

"We've been approached by radio stations to chat about the billboard and it also featured in StopPress. We are expecting more coverage in the media. We're yet to receive a complaint," she added.

Frankovich says an engineer shaped and modelled the billboard based on a smaller model, which was also mocked up from polystyrene for the creative team.

"This was then mounted to the [plywood] backing board with a heat shrinking white film stretched over the entire face to create the bulge effect," she said.

"This was a very time-consuming and delicate operation since, when heated, the film was subject to ripping. The material had to be stretched over the top corners to give it the downward pull.

"The initial plan was to complete the board at RocketSigns over on the north shore in Auckland, but we discovered that cartage was going to be a problem, so shed space was used in the Auckland Viaduct to assemble and wrap the bulge, finally applying the vinyl text graphics in the late evening ready for a 5am install in the city."