Billboards Double As Road-Side Beds For Pakistan’s Homeless

In every major city in Pakistan, there is an overwhelming number of homeless people. Many of them are labourers who have come to the city to work, but have no home or place to sleep and find themselves spending nights on the pavement. A local leading mattress brand, Moltyfoam partnered with the advertising agency BBDO Pakistan to address this issue, and created an ad campaign with a social purpose.

Inspired by the company’s motto, “a good night’s sleep”, Moltyfoam and BBDO Pakistan designed a campaign which would provide a good night’s sleep to the city’s homeless workers.  The result was the world’s first Billbed.  Just like it sounds, Billbed is an advertising billboard  that is made from Moltyfoam’s mattresses. During the day they function as ordinary billboards, but at night they can be flipped to convert into a bed for the homeless to use.

Using the mattress itself as a billboard is a brilliantly simple way to live up to the company’s motto. We definitely like to see clever advertising that gives us those warm and fuzzy feelings by doing some social good. By giving homeless people in urban spaces this simple yet meaningful comfort, Moltyfoam is establishing a buzz around their brand which will almost certainly translate into sales. Check out their video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=999p_zAC3v4

A total of 150 of these Billbeds were installed in 9 cities across Pakistan, and the agency even won a Cannes Lions Prize for their work.