• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 23, 2013

A 90-year old ad agency is using some new-fangled technology to celebrate today in real time via a digital billboard in New York’s Times Square.

WPP’s Y&R turns 90 today. To commemorate the milestone the agency intends spark a social media conversation by inviting people around the world to post messages conveying what advertising means to them. They can do so via Twitter using the hash tag #advertisingis. The billboard will be live today from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Y&R is partnering with startup Hyperactivate to enhance the conversation. Hyperactivate has technology that captures the avatars from Twitter and Facebook and algorithmically creates a mosaic as people Tweet and post.  Users can find their posts and others, as well as uncover hidden content as they interact with the mosaic. 

Y&R says the data will also tell a story about “who the biggest influencers are in the advertising industry by measuring the biggest activators of conversation.”