Caught in the act

At the Danish school of advertising, Reklamelinjen, they focus on creating communication that actively involves consumers. Their thinking is that when brands engage with consumers — and make a difference in their lives — consumers will reward these brands in return. At the school, they call this “Den Handlende Idé”, which translates roughly as “The Active Idea”. When the credo was compiled in book-form, the admen asked us to design a book that was itself an active idea.

What we came up with was possibly the world’s first scratch card book cover. At first, no information is revealed. At all. The cover consists solely of three silver bars on a red background. Some people see a cannon. Others, the male reproductive organ. In order to find out what the book is about — even to learn the title of it — you have to scratch it. That is The Acting Idea.

All information on the cover is hidden, both front and back. And it does actually work as a scratch card. Three lines on the back reveal whether you are the lucky winner of free admission to Reklamelinjen, otherwise priced at 34,500 Danish kroner.