Street-level art and marketing can – and do – co-exist. Sometimes they’re one and the same. This weekend, an errant contractor made a mistake and we are doing everything in our power to correct it and restore the artwork as soon as possible.

At posterGIANT, we respect and support the local arts community. We believe that art makes the city a better and more vibrant place to live and we regularly work with a wide variety of arts organizations throughout the city. We strive to be a good neighbor and a responsible member of both the art and business scenes – which is why we responded immediately to correct the situation. 

We do not support the destruction of art, nor will we tolerate it. As soon as we discovered that posterGIANT was in any way responsible for the mistake, we instantaneously moved to fix it.

Two staff members rushed to the site and rented a pressure washer to remove the posters. We worked with the Alliance for Pioneer Square and with mural artist Jeff Jacobson and Arts in Pioneer Square community activist Jen Vertz to rectify the situation as quickly as possible and are paying for the time and materials necessary to restore the mural.

It’s disappointing to me that anyone affiliated with our organization would think that it’s OK to cover over a piece of art, and we have made it abundantly clear to all involved that this is unacceptable. However, it’s equally disappointing that so many people jumped so quickly to judgment without asking questions or investigating the situation, or assumed that covering works of art is a standard business practice. It’s not.

We respect the artists, neighborhoods and businesses we encounter and have always worked to address any problems or concerns promptly and thoroughly. That has been and always will be our standard business practice, and that is exactly how we handled a truly regrettable mistake committed under the posterGIANT banner.

- Doug Cox, posterGIANT Inc.

That’s a difficult enough question under normal circumstances, so imagine what it takes to grab the attention of attendees at one of the largest film, music and interactive conferences on the planet – South By Southwest  – SxSW.

Over the past 20 years, the festival has gone from a homegrown collection of regional artists to a monumental event attended by tens of thousands of pop culture junkies from around the world; a 24-7 avalanche of promotion and glad-handing that’s a potential marketing goldmine – assuming you can break through the noise.

It takes strategic planning and creativity to get noticed – thinking outside conventional (pun intended) avenues.

At posterGIANT, we specialize in doing things differently, but when TuneIn called and asked for our expertise in helping them cut through the constant clutter of SxSW promotional efforts, we knew we had our work cut out for us.

Every March, every surface in Austin gets turned into a billboard and every 20-something becomes a brand ambassador. When the going gets tough, the tough get crafty – and we were able to help TuneIn and other clients turn in high-impact efforts by a combination of skillful strategizing and street-level implementation.

Want to get in front of a convention crowd? Try reaching people when they’re trying to get where they need to go. When traditional cabs are in short supply, branded pedi-cabs aren’t just prime advertising space – they’re a much-needed (not to mention cool) addition to over-taxed transportation options. Rolling up to that buzz-worthy party in a buzz-worthy ride is a win-win situation – for everyone involved.

Anyone who’s ever conducted business at SxSW knows that an overwhelming proportion of it gets done in bars. What better place to have your name displayed for the duration of the convention? With durable, branded bar coasters, we were able to keep TuneIn in the forefront of movers and shakers’ consciousness by subtly slipping their logo under beverages at every hip bar in town.

Of course, not everyone in Austin participates in the convention or its related activities, so we utilized wheatpasting and wildposting across town to reach the locals where they live, work and play.

And sometimes it’s good to catch people when they’re least expecting it. We utilized chalk stencils and a street team to promote a DJ set for Nick Cannon. When street-level buzz (or lack thereof) can either sink your event or elevate it to legendary status in an environment where white noise is already deafening, it’s important to establish your street cred. On the street. Literally.

In an environment where everything has already been done, everyone is supremely distracted and the competition for attention is overwhelming, it helps to think a little differently.

We’re unabashedly proud of how being – and thinking – differently can pay off with massive results. Deeply considering how to reach potential audiences is what we do on a daily basis.

By Doug Cox, Guest Columnist– Media Inc., Issue Four 2011

It’s an interesting conundrum – times are tough, budgets are tight and potential customers are bombarded with information and offers nearly 24/7.

As a business, how do you break through without breaking your own budget?    

As a guerrilla marketing company, we’re used to working with clients to maximize their impact – using street-level tactics to reach an audience where they live, work, shop and commute in an efficient and effective manner.

One of the best ways we’ve found to do that is through the use of QR (quick response) codes.

Whether you’ve realized it or not, QR codes are all around you. First developed and utilized in Japan to track the manufacturing process, they’re those quirky-looking squares that engage consumers on the go.

By utilizing a camera phone with a QR reader, your potential audience actively engages with you and your message. Put a QR code on your poster, bar coaster, flyer, stencil, door hanger or hand bill and you can direct your audience to a destination of your choice – whether that’s a special offer, contest or specialized content on your website, a vCard or a YouTube video. QR codes are a proven tactic to reach your audience and make a conection in an interactive way.

Emerging technology tends to attract an audience that’s curious and looking for a different experience – and by creatively utilizing it, we’ve found that it’s an inexpensive, interesting and more personal way to reach people who are gatekeepers for their network of peers.

And while QR codes rely on technology, that doesn’t mean they have to be boring. We recently executed a campaign for Microsoft Advertising that incorporated graffiti artists and a specialist who generates QR codes with an artistic flair. He was able to give them a code they could include into a genuine piece of art that garnered the attention of the media reps our client was looking to reach.

We were also able to help the sex-positve retail store Babeland reach potential customers by crafting a bar coaster with a QR code linking to promotional offers and distributing those in appropriate venues. By doing so, we were also able to help them create a database of genuinely interested customers who had clicked through to see what they were up to – a definite advantage in long-term marketing and just one of the many benefits of this application.

The key lies in engagement – in knowing how to find our clients’ audiences and maximizing the outcome by using technology, creativity and curiosity to turn marketing into a personal experience. QR codes might be the current incarnation of that, but they’re certainly not the last. We’ve got our eyes set on how emerging technology and trends can most effectively benefit you and your goals.

That’s why we’re proud to share our experience with Operation Ward 57. Our founder and president Doug Cox is the treasurer of this organization, which has been crucial in fighting for better care and conditions for our wounded veterans.

Doug recently went to Washington, D.C. to check in on the opening of the new and improved facility, throw a holiday party and let our soldiers know how much their selfless dedication means to all of us.

It was an amazing experience, and one that Doug won’t soon forget. Our wounded warriors – who literally risked life and limb, and often lost the latter – repeatedly proclaimed that they would do it all over again in a heartbeat. We are humbled to know these men and women, be a part of this organization and are committed to continuing to make a difference in how our brave soldiers are treated.

A bit of Doug’s experience in his own words:

It was heavy but it gave me a great sense of pride to be there and to see the appreciation everyone had for us including the staff. We fed about 250 people, gave out gift bags to all the wounded warriors, and gave gift-wrapped presents to all of their children.

If you would like to join us in supporting Operation Ward 57 and our amazing veterans, please visit their website at www.operationward57.org, their Facebook Page or connect with them on Twitter @operationward57.

In 1980 the Supreme Court ruled upon the longest running court case in US History, the United States vs Sioux Nation. The court determined that the terms of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty had been violated when the Sioux were resettled onto P.O.W. camps, and 7 million acres of their land were opened up to prospectors and homesteaders. These camps are now called “reservations”.

The grim statistics on Native Reservations today are the equivalent to that of a 3rd world country, revealing the legacy of colonization and treaty violations. Unemployment on the Reservation fluctuates between 80-90%. Many are homeless, and those with homes are packed into rotting buildings with up to 5 families. More than 90% of the population lives below the federal poverty line. The life expectancy for men is 47 years old – roughly the same as Afghanistan and Somalia.

Enter photographer Aaron Huey. For the past six years, Huey has trained his camera on these problems. However, he says, it took him five years to understand what the real story was. “When I first went to Pine Ridge,” says Huey, “the focus was on getting pictures of gangs, superficial violence, drugs and extreme circumstances.” It wasn’t until he was asked to present a TED talk that he pieced together the history – For the first time he saw the reality – how the land was stolen from the Lakota through a series of massacres disguised as battles, and the broken treaties that followed. “It was,” says Huey, “a calculated and systematic destruction of a people.” 

To spread the message about the broken treaties – and to let people know “where the statistics come from,”, Huey has devised an ambitious plan. Collaborating with two artists, Ernesto Yerena and Shepard Fairey, (the latter is best known for his portrait for Obama’s “Hope” campaign), Huey is creating a nationwide poster campaign and has enlisted posterGIANT to help them get this very important story out on the streets.  Huey gave the street artists no-holds-barred access to his work to design it. “I told them they can cut them up,” says Huey, “and put them together, however they want.”

posterGIANT stepped up to help ensure the Honor the Treaties Campaign would get the attention it deserves with Wildpostings in both Seattle and New York City.  In addition, posterGIANT developed a Mini-Site and QR Code campaign to give people the opportunity to access information about this campaign quickly and easily.  Posters are now popping up nationwide as people jump on board to help ensure this story gets told.

 To learn more about this campaign and the plight of those on reservations nationwide, click here, scan the QR code with your smartphone to visit the Mini-Site or visit the Honor the Treaties Facebook page.  

To view additional pictures of the Wildposting campaign, visit our posterGIANT Facebook page.

Be sure to also check out posterGIANT on Twitter and YouTube as well!