El Pollo Loco
AR Activation
Role: Creative Director
Agency: Edelman
Reviving The Lost Murals of Los Angeles
Recognitions: AdWeek Experiential Awards
During Hispanic Heritage Month, El Pollo Loco was looking for a way to honor and recognize the diverse community who make up the core of the company. LA has been renowned as one of the world’s great mural capitals. Latino artists and their culture are an integral part of the city’s mural heritage. So many of these murals have been displaced and destroyed. We came to them with an idea to develop a campaign using AR technology to revive these historical pieces of Los Angeles for generations to appreciate.
Reviving Lost History
Around 60 percent of murals in Los Angeles have vanished due to whitewashing, censorship, carelessness, or a lack of resources for preservation. Many iconic LA murals are the works of Latino artists, and featured imagery that connected the Latino experience to the heart of Los Angeles. Through AR we were able to bring them back.
Digitally Re-creating with Precision
Across Los Angeles we digitally restored five murals from renowned Latino artists, Juan Hector Ponce and Hector “Hex” Rios. We worked with the artists and restoration experts to re-create these masterpieces as faithfully as possible.
Commitment to Preservation
Beyond the digital restoration of these historical murals, we went further and designated El Pollo Loco storefronts as canvases of new artwork to ensure this timeless form of storytelling thrives. Each quarter new artists are given the opportunity to use the side of an El Pollo Loco as platform for their expression, their art, their community, or whatever else they’d like to use it for.
