Exporting the buzz of Route 66 to England

The Outside Collective, a London-based creative and illustration agency, last year helped create a huge Route 66 mural featuring several Illinois landmarks. I just now found out about it.

The mural was at on the side of The Hat & Feathers pub on the corner of Clerkenwell and Goswell roads in London (map here). It was 52 feet high, completed over three days by graffiti artist Will Vibes and his team.

According to a video, the Outside Collective collaborated with the Illinois Office of Tourism and the Fleishman Hillard marketing agency in St. Louis on the mural.

The company explained the mural in this way:

To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the famous Route 66, we created a large mural featuring landmarks from the iconic route. The campaign was launched with a one day pop-up event built and managed by TOC that included a Blues band, info tent, hot-dogs, classic American cars.

Here is the entertaining video showing how the mural was made, plus plenty of scenes of gawkers.

According to the video, the two artists went through 145 cans of spray paint, 300 spray-can nozzles, 64 cups of tea and six frappuccinos.

The landmarks in the mural included the Paul Bunyan statue in Atlanta, Illinois; a gas pump from Soulsby Station in Mount Olive, Illinois; the Brooks Catsup Bottle in Collinsville, Illinois; the Cozy Dog Drive-in mascots in Springfield, Illinois; and the Chicago Theatre marquee in Chicago.

The report also said the mural was whitewashed over after two weeks, alas.

(Screen capture from the video of the now-gone Route 66 mural in London)

2 thoughts on “Exporting the buzz of Route 66 to England

  1. Oh, too bad the mural was white-washed! Anyway, at the Route 66 Miles of Possibility conference in Bloomington, Illinois this fast fall, the Director of Illinois Tourism said that most of his fourteen million dollar budget is spent in Europe. He spoke of the music and fun with the mural backdrop. It seems that stats are kept on the destinations of our foreign visitors and Illinois wants the Route 66 tourists to start in Chicago. Some start in Oklahoma!

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