Founded in 1817, the Bank of Montreal is Canada’s first bank. To mark their bicentennial, we were challenged to create a yearlong experience that could bring the brand to life, nodding to their past but in a future-forward way. Not only did it need to bring consumers into the fold, making them active participants in the celebration, but simultaneously had to re-engage over 45,000 employees worldwide in the brand’s promise of ‘we’re here to help.’So we created the BMO200 Fountain - an interactive brand activation and cross-platform campaign designed to give back to the communities the bank served.

A nod to the bank’s past and catalyst for a better future, it combined the physical and digital in an awe-inspiring way. 17 feet tall and weighing over 5,000 pounds and made entirely without water, over 50,000 flip dots originally found in stock tickers were used instead to mimic liquid in both sight and sound. Reflective streams and an infinity disk were cantilevered to complete the illusion of running water.

While materials were analog, wishing was anything but. By connecting their mobile devices to the fountain, viewers tossed digital coins. The fountain reacted in real time to people’s wishes with one of thirty-five customized animations that we’re then used as customized social content. The experience was replicated for those at home via an immersive website that leveraged WebGL.

From hundreds of thousands of wishes, 15 we’re fulfilled with the help of local employees and branches in Canada, the US and UK, including the co-creation of a fully accessible concert for Quebec’s deaf community. Working with internationally-acclaimed artist Signmark, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and two very special employees, this wish was a first of its kind in Canada, bringing together three languages for one common goal.