Anzac Bridge silo billboard sign thanks coronavirus frontline workers

Instead of advertising for phone products, this $250,000 worth of advertising space has been dedicated to Australia’s frontline workers.

Alex Turner-Cohen

@AlexTurnerCohen

less than 2 min read

May 18, 2020 - 12:40PM

The southern hemisphere’s largest billboard has just put out a massive thankyou message to all essential workers involved in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Located on Sydney’s Anzac Bridge, the billboard stretches across the Glebe Island Silos in Sydney’s inner west, but for once it’s not hitting motorists with advertisements as they whiz by.

The billboard’s owners issued a call to arms for all frontline Aussie workers to submit a photo of themselves last month — whether those workers be nurses, supermarket shelf packers or even just hospital cleaners.

Now the Sydney skyline is lit up wit their faces and the words #AnEssentialThankYou scrawled across.

A thank you to Aussie frontline workers is lighting up the Sydney skyline.

The billboard is located on the Anzac Bridge.

The message of gratitude went up in the early hours of this morning, after a month of preparation.

The advertising space was bought by smartphone brand OPPO at the end of last year for over $250,000.

But they decided it didn’t feel right to be advertising a new product amid a global pandemic.

“We were supposed to be using it (the billboard) for an upcoming product launch,” OPPO Australia’s managing director Michael Tran told news.com.au. “But this is a once in a century event and it didn’t feel right.”

The sign was put up in the early hours of this morning.

The southern hemisphere’s largest billboard has just put out a massive thank you message.

Mr Tran was inspired to put out the message by his own wife.

“My wife works in the medical field,” he said. “I also have a family member on the front line, and friends as well, so there’s a real concern that they might catch it.”

Meanwhile, OPPO employees have been working from home since the beginning of April.

“We wanted to acknowledge that while a lot of us are working from home, a lot of us can’t. They’re the ones doing vital work for the community.”

Faces of essential workers have filled the sign.

Mr Tran got the idea because his wife is unable to work from home.

Mr Tran thinks the billboard has been a huge success.

“We've had hundreds of Aussies submit photos, beyond healthcare workers, we've received submissions from fireys, social workers, teachers, retailer workers, farmers, supermarket saviours, sanitation workers,” he said.