This winter, BIC, creative agency Boundless, and PR partner Slaps together with SpaceTM, Phd, and Boo Media, unleashed colourful chaos on some of South Africa’s most prominent university campuses.
The BIC Let Your Colour Out campaign saw a flock of larger-than-life, high-gloss pigeon sculptures (aka BICGeons) - each a different dazzling hue and with names to match - descend on university campuses at UJ, UKZN and Stellenbosch. The campaign’s mission? To bring colour to, let’s face it, one of the greyest things on earth. The BICGeons’ mission? To remind students that creativity belongs everywhere, even between lectures, lunch queues, and late-night study sessions.
The birds were instant celebrities. Students posed with them, posted them, and, in some cases… pigeon-napped them. At the University of KwaZulu-Natal, every single bird vanished overnight, only to reappear in social feeds and student-made films. Some birds met tragic ends, prompting candle-lit vigils that somehow felt both heartfelt and hilarious. Campus radio stations jumped in, broadcasting the chaos live and urging students to help track the flock, turning the story into appointment listening between lectures.
With stationery prize packs offered as “ransom” rewards, the investigation spread across campus quads and social feeds faster than a vending machine rumour. Students weren’t just interacting with the brand; they were co-creating the story, adding plot twists, suspects, and sightings until the BICGeons had a whole campus mythology of their own.
Amy Whittam, marketing manager at BIC South Africa, says:
“With our “Let Your Colour Out” campaign, we wanted to encourage joy and creativity in unexpected places - and the BICGeons did exactly that. Watching students not only interact with the campaign but actually take ownership of the story was the best outcome we could have hoped for. It proved that when you give people permission to play, they’ll surprise you in the best ways possible
With Boundless hatching the creative concept and various partners and influencers spreading the story far and wide, the BICGeons have become more than a mid-year campus activation; they’re a student-created legend, a colourful caper, and a reminder that imagination takes flight when you set it free.
Next stop? Finding the missing birds. Unless, of course, they’ve flown south for the semester.
About Boundless
Boundless is an agency comprising only experts, making the World’s Most-Loved Ideas™. We bring about change through Heartfelt Creativity, making work that isn’t just seen, but deeply felt. Creating lasting impacts on people, communities, and markets.
For further information or access to interviews and higher-resolution images, please contact: Thato Moloi, SLAPS Influence PR and Influence: labolg.spals@otaht
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