Cleaning up City Streets with Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional way to promote on a very low budget. Tactics aim to reach the consumer in any way that is different, subversive, or sometimes illegal. This is usually done by stickering, or marketing-related graffiti -- putting messages on surfaces people walk by or use regularly. Although these tactics can be a great way to build brand recognition and support, guerrilla marketing also has the potential to deface public property, produce clutter, and get in the way of whatever people are trying to do. Putting ad messages on surfaces also raises environmental questions about the resources used and the messages produced, all very important concerns for many consumers.

People can't deny the positive effects guerrilla marketing can have for a brand: increasing awareness, generating buzz, and establishing a good relationship with consumers. London company, Street Advertising Services, sees the opportunity in guerrilla marketing and decided to incorporate environmental concerns into their professional mission by offering a cleaner solution for companies looking to put their messages out on the street.

Street Advertising services has embraced reverse graffiti, creating eco-friendly branded graffiti. A street team uses high-pressure sprayers to wash a client's stenciled logo or message right into dirty sidewalks and walls. I first read about this tactic in Amanda Gore's article, Green-washing or Greenwashing? and decided to check it out further.

According to their Web site, SAS uses environmentally friendly industrial machines which combine high pressure water and steam to leave an ad onto pavement. This eyecatching and highly effective method leaves a clear stencil of the design on dirty pavement, completely legal and not harmful to our environment.

Threeminds, a blog of agency Organic, explain that the work is all done during the night, when fewer pedestrians are moving on the canvas, using just water and steam. The process is incredibly environmentally friendly and leaves no residue. The only after effects of these ads? a semi-cleaner city.

Street Advertising Solutions describe their work as if it's a covert military action; calling their services "missions" and their employees "operatives". This is an interesting way to look at what they do; calling up feelings of danger, secret night missions, and military-like operations all in the name of promoting your brand. Although this process is completely legal, SAS still goes about their work as if it's a risky process, which I suppose it sometimes is. Pressure washing stencils of brands into dirty city streets may "clean up the city" a bit, but really only in the shape of paying brands' logos.

In addition, the gloriously clean outline of whatever the brand is only contrasts with the still dirty outlining areas, which now look much dirtier next to the clean outline of the design. Another concern I have is the idea of having logos stenciled into the streets I walk. We are already bombarded with messages on walls, TVs, computers, airplane landing strips, and highway roads, but now sidewalks? I would hate to be walking through my favorite city to see a corporate logo stenciled to the ground.

Although this new tactic means a lot for companies looking to reach a metropolitan audience in a different way, from the view of that audience it could be seen as a step too far. I think I would much rather companies tackle environmental issues by pressure washing the entire sidewalk, making the city a bit more clean. This obviously doesn't do much for brands or promoting, as now the sidewalk is too clean to leave any message. Maybe what SAS should start doing is making reverse stencils, cleaning the entire sidewalk except their stencil. This cleans the street, but still leaves a mark.