The brief that the client gave to our staff was very focused and quite simple: To conceive a brand capable of spreading the message - in that specific case a state law - to all people of Sao Paulo State, no matter of which age, social status or any other demographic condition that usually applies.The message that had to be spreaded was very simple as well: From August 7th on it was strickly forbidden to smoke in any closed premisses in all state areas. The brand was required to be the core for all others communication initiatives as well as to be easily recognisable.

Our start point was the world well known no-smoking sign. From this base we started to think about how to add some Sao Paulo to the symbol as a way to give the symbol the desired uniqueness. The answer was very simple: to transform the well known round no-smoking symbol into the shape of our state on a map. A well known "brand" for all people can be seen all over the state from sidewalks to T-shirts. Simple but meaningful to all people from Sao Paulo.

The brand was immediately accepted by restaurants, pubs, buildings and so on, that decided to replace the old sign with our new sign, even tough there was no obligation to do so or what so ever. The brand also got printed on T-shirts and stickers. It was downloaded from the internet and became part of the popular culture, supported by both famous people in mass media as well as common ones in a work environment. A true symbol of the law and of the acceptation of it by Sao Paulo´s people.