TORONTO—Concrete Design Communications has been crowned the winner of the contract to create advertising for major exhibits at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

The one-year contract (with an option for two more years) kicks off with a campaign to promote the ROM's Ultimate Dinosaurs: Giants from Gondwana, a world premiere exhibition opening June 23.

The campaign involves outdoor, magazine/newspaper, and augmented reality (AR) components, said John Pylypczak, Concrete's co-founder and creative director. AR enhances reality with digital technology. "We worked alongside the ROM to make sure the AR worked with our campaign," he said.

According to the ROM website, three AR stations in the exhibition allows visitors to "experience dinosaurs in surprising ways, including virtually fleshing out a dinosaur skeleton." 

People can also experience AR on select advertising for the exhibition including on ROM transit shelter ads in the greater Toronto area. The augmented reality app is available through this page. 

For the highly-detailed graphics of dinosaurs used throughout the campaign, Concrete teamed up with an artist "who creates dinosaur illustrations based on skeletal information", explained Pylypczak, who added some of the images are from the exhibit itself.


Concrete said it won the ROM contract through a "comprehensive PFP process."

Kelvin Browne, vice president of marketing and major exhibitions for the ROM, added, “Concreteʼs presentation provided us with the confidence that they understood the ROMʼs strategic plan and could create dynamic marketing to bring it alive."