Faber-Castell’s “Shot on” spoof proves pencils can outgun a smartphone

A look back at the campaigns that still have something to teach us.

In 2024 Faber-Castell turned one of advertising’s most recognised formats against itself — and the results are almost impossible to believe.

The German art supplies brand, working with agency DAVID São Paulo, launched “Shot on Faber-Castell” across billboards and Metro stations in Brazil.

The campaign mimics the visual grammar of Apple’s long-running Shot on iPhone series — clean format, bold caption, arresting image — except every photograph is actually a hyperrealistic pencil drawing created using Faber-Castell’s own range of artist pencils.

The work lands because the deception holds up at scale. Commuters passing the out-of-home placements have no obvious reason to question what they’re seeing.

The reveal, when it comes, reframes the entire image: what looked like camera precision becomes evidence of human skill.

It is a neat piece of brand hijacking — borrowing Apple’s equity not to mock it, but to argue that Faber-Castell pencils belong in the same conversation about image capture. The campaign also sidesteps the need for a product demonstration entirely, because the billboard is the demonstration.

“Shot on Faber-Castell” joins a tradition of ambient OOH work that earns attention by making people look twice.

DAVID São Paulo’s execution is disciplined enough to let the drawings do the talking.