How Warner and Lowe Grew a Living Bacteria Billboard for Contagion
Warner Bros. Pictures Canada and Lowe Roche promoted Steven Soderbergh's 2011 viral outbreak film Contagion by installing two large acrylic Petri dishes filled with live bacteria and fungi in an abandoned storefront at 409 Queen Street West, Toronto — an ambient media campaign that used genuine microbial growth as its creative medium.
The installation launched on August 28, 2011, approximately two weeks before Contagion's theatrical release date of September 9, 2011. Two specially fabricated acrylic Petri dishes, each approximately six feet by two feet, were inoculated with approximately 35 strains of bacteria and fungi and placed in public view at the Queen Street West location. Over approximately five days, the organisms grew into a vivid, visually arresting display that directly mirrored the film's subject matter. A public viewing event was held on August 31, 2011, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., according to science.org, drawing curious passersby and media coverage well beyond the immediate neighbourhood.
The campaign was created by Lowe Roche, Toronto, with media execution carried out by CURB Media, whose team worked alongside microbiologists and immunologists to select and prepare the biological specimens. The Bacteria Billboard stands as a one-off experiential campaign built entirely around the film's premise, with no precedent in Warner Bros. Canada's prior promotional activity. In Canada, where ambient and experiential advertising has grown as a category distinct from conventional out-of-home media, the installation represented a significant creative leap — using living science as the execution rather than print, digital, or traditional display. Clapboard Score: 86/100.
Contagion occupied a specific and competitive space in the 2011 theatrical release calendar. Warner Bros. ranked second in the US distributor market with a domestic gross of approximately $1.826 billion and a market share of 17.9 percent in that year, according to motionpictures.org. In Canada, Warner Bros. Pictures Canada needed to generate genuine public conversation around a film whose threat — an invisible, airborne pathogen — was inherently difficult to dramatise through conventional poster or television advertising.
The strategic insight at the heart of the Bacteria Billboard was straightforward: the most persuasive argument for a film about biological contagion is biological contagion itself. Rather than representing the film's premise through VFX imagery or tagline copy, Lowe Roche and CURB Media chose to literalise it. The installation transformed the abstract horror of microbial spread into something visible, tangible, and growing in real time on a public street. This approach positioned Contagion against competitors in the same release window by foregrounding authenticity — a quality that science-driven thriller marketing rarely achieves through traditional media formats.
Anthony Ganjou, founder of CURB Media, stated: "We wanted to create an organic execution that people could fall in love with," as reported by entrepreneur.com. The campaign was not designed for broad reach in the conventional sense. Instead, it relied on earned media amplification — news outlets, science blogs, and entertainment sites picking up the story and distributing it far beyond Toronto's Queen Street West corridor. Global box-office receipts had increased 65 percent over the preceding decade by 2011, according to screendaily.com, placing premium value on pre-release buzz as studios competed for opening-weekend dominance. In that context, a single ambient installation with genuine scientific credibility was designed to punch well above its production weight.
The Bacteria Billboard's creative execution depended entirely on scientific rigour as much as advertising craft. Microbiologists and immunologists tested bacterial and fungal combinations in the weeks before installation, according to avclub.com, to determine which organisms would produce the most visually compelling growth patterns within the campaign's compressed timeline.
Dr. Patrick Hickey, microbiologist at CURB Media and director of innovation at NIPHT, led the biological selection process. As reported by entrepreneur.com, Hickey stated: "We picked microbes that would look dangerous." The organisms used included penicillin-producing fungi, mold, and pigmented bacteria, among approximately 35 strains in total, according to Phylogenomics Blogspot. The vivid red colouration visible in the installation came from Serratia marcescens, a pigmented bacterium whose visual impact was central to the display's ability to unsettle viewers, according to science.org. Hickey described the process with evident enthusiasm, noting per entrepreneur.com: "It's a fusion of art and science," and separately, "I was amazed how it grew."
The two acrylic Petri dishes, each approximately six feet by two feet, were fabricated to operate as oversized versions of a standard laboratory instrument — immediately legible to any viewer familiar with popular science imagery, yet striking in their scale and context. The storefront at 409 Queen Street West, Toronto, served as an unbranded display environment, allowing the installation itself to carry the full communicative burden. The VFX-saturated visual language common to studio thriller marketing was deliberately absent. Production credits beyond the CURB Media and Lowe Roche collaboration, including specific creative directors or directors of photography, are not publicly documented in available sources. Dr. Hickey noted that the preparation required weeks of testing: "It takes us a few weeks to see how fast things grow under certain conditions," per entrepreneur.com.
No verified box-office or campaign-specific performance data attributing results directly to the Bacteria Billboard is publicly available. However, the structural effectiveness of the campaign is well evidenced by its earned media footprint. Coverage appeared across science publications, entertainment outlets, and advertising trade press, with reporting from avclub.com, entrepreneur.com, and science.org among others — a distribution pattern that indicates the installation successfully crossed the boundary between advertising and news.
Contagion itself performed strongly at the global box office. Global theatrical revenue reached $32.6 billion in 2011, up three percent from the prior year, with international markets generating $22.4 billion, representing 69 percent of global revenue, according to motionpictures.org. Within that competitive environment, Warner Bros. maintained a leading position, ranking second in the US distributor market, according to motionpictures.org.
The first 50 visitors to the August 31 public viewing event received an incentive to attend, according to The Drum, suggesting the campaign was designed to generate physical footfall as a secondary objective alongside earned media. In Canada, where the installation was physically located, the ambient campaign format is particularly well suited to high-dwell urban corridors such as Queen Street West in Toronto — a street known for its independent retail density and culturally engaged foot traffic. The campaign earned a Clapboard Score of 86 out of 100, reflecting strong marks for originality of concept, contextual relevance, and craft execution relative to the ambient media category.
Warner Bros. Pictures Canada and Lowe Roche created the Bacteria Billboard to promote Steven Soderbergh's 2011 film Contagion. Two large acrylic Petri dishes filled with approximately 35 live bacterial and fungal strains were installed at 409 Queen Street West, Toronto, growing visibly over five days ahead of the film's September 9, 2011 release.
The installation launched on August 28, 2011, at an abandoned storefront at 409 Queen Street West, Toronto, Canada. A public viewing event ran on August 31, 2011, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., according to science.org. The campaign was published in September 2011, timed to the film's theatrical release.
Approximately 35 strains of bacteria and fungi were used, including penicillin-producing fungi, mold, and pigmented bacteria, according to phylogenomics.blogspot.com. The distinctive red colouration came from Serratia marcescens, according to science.org. Dr. Patrick Hickey of CURB Media selected organisms specifically chosen to appear visually dangerous to viewers.
Lowe Roche, based in Toronto, created the Bacteria Billboard campaign for Warner Bros. Pictures Canada. Media and physical execution was handled by CURB Media, whose microbiologists and immunologists prepared the biological specimens. The campaign is categorised as ambient media within the entertainment advertising sector, published in Canada in 2011.
Warner Bros. and Lowe Roche chose a live bacterial installation to literalise Contagion's premise — an invisible airborne virus made visible. As reported by entrepreneur.com, CURB Media founder Anthony Ganjou stated the goal was to create an organic execution. The approach was designed to generate earned media coverage beyond what conventional out-of-home advertising would achieve.
The Contagion Bacteria Billboard by Lowe Roche received a Clapboard Score of 86 out of 100. The score reflects strong performance across originality of concept, contextual relevance to the film's subject matter, and craft execution within the ambient media category, making it one of the more distinctive entertainment advertising campaigns archived from Canada in 2011.
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