Koodo painted a Montreal duplex hot pink as an ad, and the city said it broke the rules

Create what the agency side called a memorable and cheerful experience for the community to promote Koodo Internet.

Make a whole house the billboard: repaint a century-old duplex in Koodo's hot pink, lime, purple, teal and orange, with a sign about joy under this roof.

Toronto agency Camp Jefferson, with Plus Company, painted the facade of a Victorian-style duplex on Atateken Street in the telecom's palette, with a sign reading 'There's joy under this roof. Koodo Internet'. The plan was to restore the house on July 8.

Montreal said the stunt was not authorised and breached bylaws, and said it would send inspectors and issue the owner a notice of violation. Heritage Montreal also objected. The sign was gone by that Thursday.

In July 2024 the Canadian Press reported that the City of Montreal said the owner of a more than 100-year-old home had violated city rules by letting it be painted in neon colours as an ad for telecom company Koodo. A Toronto-based advertising firm had recently turned the Victorian-style duplex on Atateken Street into an oversized Koodo ad in hot pink with accents of lime green, purple, teal and orange.

A sign on the facade that read 'There's joy under this roof. Koodo Internet' was gone by midday Thursday. City spokesman Simon Charron said town-planning rules prohibit painting the brick on most exterior facades, that changes to heritage buildings are strictly regulated, and that rules govern advertising in the urban landscape. The city would send inspectors and issue a notice of violation to the owner.

Isabelle Bonin of Plus Company, one of the companies behind the ad, said the campaign was led by Camp Jefferson and was meant to create a memorable and cheerful experience for the community. She said that before launch they asked for and followed instructions from a city of Montreal representative, and that the house would be restored to its original condition on July 8.

Heritage Montreal also objected. It said the issue was not the creativity of the colours but how they were used to get around advertising regulations, and warned that some paints on masonry can damage it over time and be costly to remove.

A painted house is a far bigger canvas than a billboard and the building itself becomes the news.

Because it altered a heritage brick facade, it ran into planning and advertising rules that ordinary outdoor media avoid.

The agency said it followed the city's guidance, which shows that informal sign-off from one representative did not bind the city's enforcers.

A stunt that treats a heritage building as ad space has to be cleared with the people who enforce the rules; consulting one city representative did not protect Koodo.

The agency planned to restore the house on July 8, 2024, and the city planned inspections and a notice of violation to the owner. The source reports no campaign results.