Best of Category

The Datum Line

When it works, advertising makes consumers afraid of missing out on the hottest new trend. Now that the latest, most fearsome trend is heat itself, it's fitting that two admen devised a scenario to inspire worry on a grand urban scale. A creative team at JWT New York, Greg Matson and Phil Arias (Arias is now at Grey), submitted a lean presentation-three sentences and one photograph-that reads like conceptual art, but metes out a warning: "We propose to turn off every light on the northern Midtown Park Avenue corridor except those on the 8th floor. For a night, pedestrians will be placed under what could be our new waterline. For a night, corporations will demonstrate how to prevent it." The method is, simply, the process of collective action. In this case, thousands of individuals would agree to switch off the lights according to plan. Called "The Datum Line," the proposal takes the definition of "datum" (a fact or proposition used to draw a conclusion or make a decision) and shows how one simple, unimaginable calculation can alter one's lifestyle-from terrestrial to aquatic. "If both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melt, sea levels will rise 80 feet, or, in city terms, 8 stories," Matson and Arias claim. The jurors warmed to this entry gradually. At first they wondered how to expand a one-off event into something more lasting and universal. Pearson, who felt the proposal was "an effective tactic for emotionalizing the issue," proposed making the idea personal with a website that would allow homeowners to learn about the possible future immersion of their houses. He said, "This is one of the rare moments when I can imagine a cross-partisan response to global warming." Chase raised the "Now what?" issue. "What does this project get you to do?" she wondered. "It's a good communications tool that would generate a lot of attention, but it's not quite there yet." Marshall reminded the jury that the image alone created a very compelling but elegant warning about our shared destiny, which might include "going to hell in a handbasket."

Design JWT New York: Greg Matson and Phil Arias, creative team