M.C. Escher: The Exhibition — Arthemisia & Fever
Marketing & Distribution · Somerset House, London · 2026
The challenge
M.C. Escher: The Exhibition needed to draw a genuinely broad London and tourist audience to Somerset House across a three-month run — not a niche art crowd, but the kind of scale that only comes from stopping people in the street. Escher's tessellations reward space and physical context, which meant the campaign lived or died on large-format placements. Then the World Cup landed in the middle of the run: paper out-of-home availability across London was restricted for five of the campaign's most important weeks, right as the exhibition needed to build from launch into its summer stride.
Our approach
We built the campaign in three phases — a pre-launch push through May, an opening burst through June anchored by twin Underground gateway takeovers, and a summer sustain phase carrying the exhibition through London's peak tourist season to close. When the World Cup restricted paper formats, we shifted weight into digital out-of-home, bus supersides and spectacle sites rather than losing visibility, and matched the media plan to the art itself — station gateways, a full Oxford Circus ribbon takeover and night projections sized for Escher's scale and detail.
What we did
— Delivered a dual Underground gateway takeover at Holborn and Leicester Square alongside a three-day Oxford Circus ribbon takeover at launch
— Upgraded the closing-night projection into a touring night-projection series across Waterloo Bridge, a Chinatown gable end and Charing Cross, shooting content for social as it travelled
— Ran 50 bus supersides and a 25-taxi wrap fleet through central London to hold visibility during the World Cup's paper restrictions
— Bought paid press placements in The Guardian, Metro and WHERE London
— Ran weekly hand-to-hand flyering across fifteen riverside, market and gallery venues from launch through summer, with event tie-ins at Bowie Nights and Architecture On Stage at the Barbican
— Distributed through Mobius's own network — posters and rack placement via London Calling — alongside the paid campaign
Results
16,500 flyers distributed by hand across fifteen venues, with acceptance rates of 65 to 90 percent. The campaign worked across channels as well as within them — street team reports recorded visitors who'd already seen the bus advertising or already held tickets before a flyer reached them:
"People recognised the name of Escher and were happy to take a flyer. A couple mentioned that they had seen an advert on a bus so they were already planning to go along and see it. Another passerby told the representative that he already had tickets, even though it wasn't starting until tomorrow."
Mobius street team, Bloomsbury Farmer's Market, 4 June 2026
The exhibition runs to 6 September 2026, with a second wave of out-of-home and press landing in late July and August to reach London's peak tourist season.
“Wonderful campaign, we are very, very happy with it. Thank you so much indeed for all your hard work and collaboration!”
Serena Martinis, Arthemisia & Fever
To discuss your project, get in touch at team@mobiusindustries.com.
