Citroen takes over the Westfield Stratford City Link Bridge to make it one of the biggest adverts in the UK.

Citroën has taken over the Westfield Stratford City link bridge from 3 September to 1 October to create one of the brand’s largest public installations in the UK to date. The second only brand to take over the bridge since the London 2012 Olympics, Citroën will display artwork created by Havas London, emphasising the brand’s rich heritage and visions of the future. 

On 3 September, Citroën took over the Westfield Stratford City link bridge for one month and unveiled one of the largest display installations to celebrate a partnership with Westfield Stratford City.

Designed by Havas London, and covering the entire length of the pedestrian bridge which links Stratford rail station to Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, the installation highlights Citroën’smost important historic moments and popular models.

Citroën is a brand recognised for its creativity and advanced technologies. The artwork, which took 4 nights to install and is 120 metres long and 4.4metres high, had to be carefully constructed to take into account the bridge dimensions, curves and numerous panel sizes, making it a particularly challenging task. 

Four teams worked from the middle out, so that both sides were covered simultaneously.

Covering the inside walls of the structure, the artwork takes the viewer through a journey of the French marque. Starting  with the manufacturer’s founder André Citroën, passers-by will continue to learn about groundbreaking Citroën moments such as writing the marque’s name with 30m high letters on the side of the Eiffel Tower, using 250,000 light bulbs and 600 kilometres of cable. 

The biggest advert at the time, set the pace for the brand’s bold attitude that is still part of its DNA today.

Showcasing the marque’s innovative roots, the bridge display uncovers archive images of the 1948 Type H, the first mass-produced front-wheel drive van, and the 2CV, the first front wheel drive small car in the world.

Creating cars that make people feel good has always been Citroën’s goal. Moving on from the historic images, the bridge artwork takes the viewer to present times, showing the brand’s new models such as New C3, and features dedicated to ultimate comfort and personalisation. 

The Airbump® technology, Citroën Advanced Comfort®, reversing camera and key-less entry, bi-tone body colour combinations and PureTech Petrol engines (International Engine of the Year in 2015 and 2016) are just some of the Citroën hallmarks presented.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for Citroën to use the bridge space to tell the Citroën story in an innovative, bold and spirited way. With an ‘Opportunity To See’ reach of over 665,000 visitors per week, this is a valuable advertising platform for Citroën”, Chris Cheetham, Marketing Director of Citroën UK.

“Westfield is very proud to partner with global brand Citroën in the first of what will be a series of events, installations and UK-first customer experiences”, Paul Buttigieg, Director of Shopping Centre Management Westfield Europe.

The takeover of the bridge marks Citroën’s 15-month partnership with the Westfield Stratford City shopping mall.