Corona Uses Sunlight to Create Cyanotype OOH Art Mural in Toronto

Quick insight: Corona Canada turned natural sunlight into a creative tool for its “Living is Calling” platform, using a 19th-century cyanotype printing process to physically craft OOH public art across Toronto.

An OOH Campaign Developed Entirely By The Sun

As summer reaches its final golden hours, Corona Canada is using innovative outdoor advertising to encourage people to spend time outside. To activate its global “Living is Calling” platform, the brand moved away from digital billboards to create tangible public art developed directly by natural ultraviolet rays.

To activate its new global platform, “Living is Calling,” the brand moved away from conventional digital billboard production and created tangible public art using sunlight itself.

The campaign uses cyanotype, a photographic printing technique dating back to the 19th century that relies on natural ultraviolet rays to expose imagery onto a surface.

Instead of treating sunshine as simply another visual element within the campaign, Corona made it part of the production process.

The result is outdoor advertising that was quite literally created outdoors.

Turning Sunlight Into The Advertising Medium

The use of cyanotype gives the campaign a strong connection between concept and execution.

Corona is closely associated with summer, sunshine and spending time outside.

Rather than communicating those associations through traditional photography displayed on digital screens, the brand allowed natural UV rays to develop the artwork.

That decision makes the medium itself part of the message.

Every exposed canvas carries a physical trace of the sunlight that the campaign is encouraging Canadians to enjoy.

Corona Collaborates With Toronto Artist Cruz

Corona worked with Toronto artist Cruz, known as @vnyvc, to capture candid outdoor moments from around the city.

Those images were then transformed through the cyanotype process, allowing sunlight to expose the photographic compositions directly onto canvas.

The collaboration combines photography, traditional image-making techniques and large-format outdoor media.

It also gives the campaign a distinctly local perspective, using real Toronto environments and outdoor moments rather than generic summer imagery.

An 80-Piece Mural At 139 Ossington

The centerpiece of the campaign is a massive hero mural located at 139 Ossington in Toronto.

Measuring approximately 30 feet by 15 feet, the installation represents Cruz’s largest work to date.

The scale is impressive, but the construction makes the execution especially distinctive.

The finished mural was hand-stitched together from 80 individual cyanotype canvas prints.

Each section contributes to a much larger composition, transforming a historical photographic technique into contemporary public art at OOH scale.

When A Billboard Becomes Public Art

The physical construction helps distinguish the campaign from conventional printed or digital outdoor media.

The canvas texture, cyanotype process and hand-stitched composition give the mural the qualities of an art installation rather than a standard advertisement.

This changes the relationship between the campaign and its surroundings.

Instead of simply placing commercial imagery into the city, Corona created an object that can be experienced as part of Toronto’s visual landscape.

The billboard becomes both media and artwork.

Transit Shelters Connected To Toronto’s Sunny Spots

The campaign extends beyond the Ossington hero mural through transit shelter advertising positioned near some of Toronto’s most recognizable outdoor destinations.

Placements appear adjacent to Trinity Bellwoods, Sugar Beach and Riverdale Park.

Importantly, these locations are not arbitrary media selections.

They are connected directly to the campaign imagery because these are the places where Cruz captured the outdoor moments featured in the creative.

That creates a relationship between the photograph, the advertisement and the physical location where audiences encounter it.

Location Becomes Part Of The Story

This contextual placement gives the transit shelter executions another layer of meaning.

Someone passing a campaign placement near Trinity Bellwoods is not simply looking at an image promoting outdoor life.

They are standing close to the environment that helped create that image.

The distinction is subtle but important.

It turns media location from a distribution decision into part of the storytelling.

The city is simultaneously the subject, production environment and exhibition space for the campaign.

Activating Living Is Calling Through The Medium

The campaign supports Corona’s global “Living is Calling” platform, which encourages audiences to reconnect with experiences outside their everyday routines.

For the Toronto activation, that philosophy is embedded directly into the production.

The photographs were captured outside.

The artwork was developed using sunlight.

The finished pieces were returned to outdoor environments around the city.

This creates a complete creative loop in which the outdoors is not simply the subject of the campaign but an essential ingredient in making it possible.

A Campaign That Could Not Exist Without Nature

Digital OOH offers brands enormous creative flexibility, but Corona’s execution demonstrates the value of intentionally choosing a more physical process.

A conventional screen could reproduce the final cyanotype imagery, but it could not replicate the story of how that imagery was created.

The sunlight, canvas and hand-stitched construction introduce imperfections and physical qualities that become part of the work.

That authenticity reinforces the campaign’s broader invitation to leave the screen behind and experience the outside world.

Why This Campaign Works Uses natural sunlight as both a creative tool and part of the campaign message. Connects Corona’s summer identity directly with the production technique. Transforms a 19th-century photographic process into contemporary OOH. Turns 80 individual canvas prints into a 30 ft by 15 ft hero mural. Collaborates with a Toronto artist to give the campaign local authenticity. Places transit media near the same locations where the campaign imagery was captured. Transforms commercial outdoor advertising into tangible public art.

• Uses natural sunlight as both a creative tool and part of the campaign message.
• Connects Corona’s summer identity directly with the production technique.
• Transforms a 19th-century photographic process into contemporary OOH.
• Turns 80 individual canvas prints into a 30 ft by 15 ft hero mural.
• Collaborates with a Toronto artist to give the campaign local authenticity.
• Places transit media near the same locations where the campaign imagery was captured.
• Transforms commercial outdoor advertising into tangible public art.

Key Takeaways For Marketers The production method itself can communicate a brand message. OOH becomes more meaningful when location is connected directly to the creative. Traditional artistic techniques can feel innovative when introduced at outdoor scale. Local artists can help global platforms feel culturally connected to individual cities. Physical materials can create experiences that digital screens cannot fully reproduce. Strong campaigns align concept, production, placement and brand positioning around one central idea.

• The production method itself can communicate a brand message.
• OOH becomes more meaningful when location is connected directly to the creative.
• Traditional artistic techniques can feel innovative when introduced at outdoor scale.
• Local artists can help global platforms feel culturally connected to individual cities.
• Physical materials can create experiences that digital screens cannot fully reproduce.
• Strong campaigns align concept, production, placement and brand positioning around one central idea.

Final Thought

Corona Canada’s cyanotype campaign is an unusual example of outdoor advertising where the outdoors helped create the advertisement itself.

Natural sunlight exposed the images, Toronto provided the moments captured within them, Cruz transformed those moments into art, and the finished work returned to the streets through a massive Ossington mural and contextual transit placements.

That makes “Living is Calling” more than a line attached to the campaign.

Corona built the philosophy directly into the way the work was made.

As summer reaches its final days, the campaign offers a simple invitation: get outside while the sun is still there to create something.