The Living
Portrait
of NYC
Client: Citizens Bank
Agency: Ogilvy
Production Partner: Radical Media
Role: Creative Director
Awards: D&AD, Clios, One Show, LIA
Citizens Bank was making its debut in the NYC market and wanted to create a meaningful, memorable connection with its new neighbors. But in a city where people have seen it all, how do you get New Yorkers to pay attention to an ad for a bank?
By not making an ad at all.
We created The Living Portrait of New York, an installation that was a celebration of New Yorkers from all walks of life, putting their stories center stage through data, audio, live performance, an immersive film, and an interactive communal portrait.
This multi-sensory, multi-media experience took place in a 10,000 square foot space. Four enveloping rooms create unique portraits of New York life – where every borough, every neighborhood, and every individual help contribute to the city’s magic and myth.
The Living Portrait of NYC showcases the resilience and brilliance of New York and celebrates what it means to be a New Yorker.
Case Study
Room 1:
Data Portrait
The experience began with a data-driven portrait of the city – inspired by what happens when 8.8 million unique individuals come together as one. Tickers enveloped guests in the real-time happenings of the city. Data from a custom survey of over 5000 citizens, the city archives, and a scrape of nearly 100 other open sources was distilled into an immersive and engaging visualization of the ways New Yorkers work, play, love, eat, spend and get around.
Room 2:
Audio Portrait
No one tells a story quite like a New Yorker. And with so much to experience, there are stories here that just couldn’t have happened anywhere else. To find these stories, we sent a dozen journalists across all five boroughs to conduct in-depth interviews with over 200 New Yorkers.
The best of these stories were presented through the use of directional audio beams, sound design and responsive lighting – allowing guests to step into a beam and have an intimate one-on-one listening experience.
Audio Portrait — "Belonging"
Audio Portrait — "Arts"
Audio Portrait — Success
Audio Portrait montage
Room 3:
Multimedia Portrait
An immersive film captured across 20 shoot days and projection-mapped across 241 custom built screens surrounded guests with a 9 minute documentary tone poem celebrating life in the city. From the morning rush, to the boundless energy after dark, guests experienced the cacophony and synchronicity, sights and sounds of a 24-hour day in the city.
360º Video: Drag you cursor in the video to see it in 360º
The 9 minute film projection
Room 4:
Communal Portrait
An ever-evolving mosaic of New Yorkers allowed guests to become a part of the exhibit. Stepping into an interactive photo booth, guests answered a series of gamified prompts about their New York experience and generated a distinct animated portrait that was added in real-time to our large-scale digital mural.
Additionally, guests could export these dynamic, individual portraits to be shared across their social channels.
Guests' answers to the quiz fed into a custom application, and were mapped to NY-themed photographs, icons, and adjectives – resulting in a uniquely personalized portrait per person.
©2025