Phantom Billstickers creates hand-painted train mural for AT’s Mix Your Go

Phantom Billstickers has partnered with Auckland Transport, MBM and Federation to deliver an experiential activation for AT’s Mix Your Go campaign.

The outdoor advertising company converted a corner site on Karangahape Road into a full-scale, hand-painted AT locomotive.

The city-wide Mix Your Go platform encourages Aucklanders to explore the many ways to move around the region, from buses and trains to cycling and walking. As part of that, Phantom Billstickers’ one-off mural brings transit to life.

Travel, connection and joy

“We don’t usually take every frame off the wall, but when AT, MBM and Federation approached us with this locomotive brief, we couldn’t resist,” says Phantom Billstickers creative lead Connor Lucas-Dyer.

“The idea was to create something that physically embodies travel, connection and joy in the city, and to do it with craft and sustainability top of mind.”

The mural is largely hand-painted and complemented with windows and characters printed on recycled fabric board. It includes Phantom’s first deployment of a solar-powered rig to animate independently opening train doors — a detail that brings movement to the piece without adding to grid-based energy use.

“For our team, this project was as much a mechanical challenge as a creative one,” Lucas-Dyer adds. “We’re experts at turning over sites and thinking outside the box, but this definitely stretched our capabilities in the best ways.”

The response from the public has been immediate. Aucklanders have stopped to watch the installation, take photos and engage with the work.