Our first South African. 

Our first D&AD black pencil winner. 

Our first guest with a sparkly (possibility pitch winning) top. 

Shelly Smoler, thank you so much for taking the Behind the Billboard podcast to new heights. 

The Zimbabwean campaign is one of the most famous in history and one we’ve been longing to discuss. Such was the parlous state of the Zimbabwean economy back in 2009, money was literally not worth the paper it was printed on, with people paying for goods with barrow loads of notes. From this crisis came the idea of billboards made entirely from bank notes. The campaign was lauded and awarded around the globe and is now part of the permanent collection at the British Museum and the Design Museum. Listen to how one of the most famous campaigns of all time came to be. And how it lead to Shelley nearly being banned from the country for her efforts. It’s an amazing story.

And an approach that has permeated Shelley’s work ever since. Be it for Vestiaire Collective or Amazon Prime Video or Diet Coke, her work has a cool, effortless, subversive nature, always going beyond the conventional. 

Thanks so much for coming on Shelley. Fingers crossed for the pitch. 

(Thanks also to the ex-BBH crew Bill Scott, and in particular, the legend that is Peter Wardle, who helped make this episode happen)