RAIN CLT Uses Clean Graffiti for 2023 AIDS Walk

RAIN CLT Uses Clean Graffiti for 2023 AIDS Walk

Our friends at RAIN CLT utilized Clean Graffiti to help bring awareness to the upcoming AIDS Walk Charlotte event happening Saturday, May 6, 2023. We love to see organizations and companies use Clean Graffiti to help get a public health message out to the community. In fact, it is one of our favorite ways to use this medium. We are able to target an audience where they are walking and give them an unexpected message of encouragement or bring awareness to an event.

Clean Graffiti, aka pressure washed message of "Stomp Out Stigma. AIDS Walk Charlotte" on Charlotte, NC city sidewalk by The Savage Way.

The AIDS WALK brings the Charlotte community together to “stomp out” HIV stigma and raise funds for RAIN CLT. According to the RAIN website, “Every dollar raised stays in Charlotte to support the services and programs RAIN provides to people living with HIV and those at risk. For 31 years, RAIN has been empowering persons living with HIV and those at risk to be healthy and stigma free.”

AIDS WALK Charlotte continues to be the largest HIV fundraising walk in the Carolinas and since 1997 has raised over $3.3 million. That’s incredible! Stomping out the stigma when it comes to sexual health and HIV / AIDS awareness is so important and we are honored to be a part of helping to spread the message. The walk is roughly two miles long and takes the average person around 30 minutes to complete. This family affair fundraiser is open to all.

DETAILS FOR THE RAIN CLT AIDS WALK
Location: Wells Fargo Atrium & Plaza, 301 S. Tryon Street
When: Saturday, May 6 9am – 12pm (Rain or shine)
Register: Here

Please check out the amazing work of RAIN CLT and make sure to sign up for the walk this weekend!

Bolt of Inspiration Welcomes New Sponsor

Bolt of Inspiration Welcomes New Sponsor

Every month, The Savage Way has the honor of gifting a Bolt of Inspiration during Creative Mornings, which is run by the awesome organization, Charlotte is Creative. If you’re not familiar with Creative Mornings, it is a morning social gathering to embrace the creative community. We talk about important issues facing our arts & culture initiatives and enjoy a fun coffee-fueled program.

The Bolt of Inspiration is one of our favorite things to do each month. It is a chance to highlight people in the community who inspire us or who are doing awesome, creative work. Torrie gets up every month and presents a 12″ Moss Art bolt to a different recipient. Since the program’s inception, more than 40 Charlotteans have been recognized with a Bolt of Inspiration. It’s opened our eyes to so many interesting and impactful humans.

Photo credit: Dionna Bright Photography

Torrie presenting the award at a previous Creative Mornings at Wray Ward.

Starting in March 2023, we welcomed our friends at UNC Charlotte as the lead sponsor of the Bolt of Inspiration award. This was a natural partnership between Charlotte is Creative, The Savage Way and UNC Charlotte. We’ve worked with the University on several Moss Art and Clean Graffiti projects over the years These include the Dubois Center Moss Wall and Mobile Moss Wall (pictured below), along with other projects like Niner Nation Week Clean Graffiti (also pictured below) and two Moss Rental Walls for their alumni event.

With Torrie as a proud graduate of UNC Charlotte (Go Niners!), it was even sweeter to know that the school sees the hard work that creatives in our community are putting in. Check out this beautiful feature that UNC Charlotte did on Torrie Savage and The Savage Way.

Previous work of The Savage Way and UNC Charlotte.

We can’t wait to see how this sponsorship helps grow the Bolt of Inspiration program. UNC Charlotte – thank you for the opportunity to continue shining the light on Creatives in Charlotte.

If you want to nominate a local Charlottean for a Bolt of Inspiration, send us an email at info@thesavageway.com with the cool, creative things that they are up to and we will review!

Reasons To Use Clean Graffiti for Advertising

Reasons To Use Clean Graffiti for Advertising

Clean Graffiti is a service that The Savage Way has been offering for almost 10 years now, and everyday we still explain it to someone for the first time. When you have created a new way to do something, this is an inevitable reality. We wanted to breakdown exactly why Clean Graffiti is a great option for clients looking to spread the word about their business.

Also known as “Reverse Graffiti,” Clean Graffiti is ideal for clients who are looking for innovative brand awareness, spreading the word of an event-driven initiative, or looking to increase their Corporate Social Responsibility. Clean Graffiti is the perfect addition to your traditional media buy because we are able to directly target your customer with an untapped resource – the sidewalk. And best of all, it’s just water – no paint, no chemicals, just water.

Seriously, let’s break it down. This is why Clean Graffiti is an amazing out-of-home marketing opportunity for your clients.

It’s Just Water (aka Eco-friendly Advertising)

Yes, it really is created simply using high pressure water and dirt. It is an eco-friendly alternative to other outdoor advertising opportunities (think billboards, bus stop ads, posters, etc). Using a pressure washer and a technologically advanced stencil, our team sprays the water on top of the stencil and leaves a clean message on a dirty sidewalk. That’s it… no chemicals, no bleach, no acid, no paint… just water! Check out this video to see a glimpse into the process.

Targeted Marketing

Clean Graffiti allows you to target your customer exactly where they are walking – the sidewalk. In this social media-crazed day-in-age, everyone is already looking down at their phone, why not leave an unexpected message on the sidewalk to drive your brand home? We always get the question of ROI. We wish we had a way to tell you exactly how many eyeballs are on your ad, but much like postering or other guerrilla style marketing efforts, we can give you a ballpark. Our team is experienced in marketing & advertising and our Founder did Media Buying for 10 years before starting The Savage Way. We know where the people are walking in these hot neighborhoods that will give the best reach for your campaign.

It’s Innovative

When you are buying media for yourself or a major client, they are always asking for the next best opportunity to get their name out there. They want to “go viral” which translates to being seen by their customers. Clean Graffiti is a great medium to pitch to your clients. It’s innovative and different and let’s them get their name in a place they have never been able to before – the sidewalk! Especially when reverse graffiti is a part of a larger media plan, we find that this non-traditional advertising purchase works so well.

Guerrilla Marketing at its Finest.

We always joke that we never thought we’d be strategically cleaning sidewalks for a living, but here we are! We get to operate in a gray area and that allows us to get creative with placements. By all means we respect the public space and are always mindful of the message in regards to the content and the actual placement (aka – we would never put a media spot directly in front of a competitor). We know that we are a new medium for people and we are always looking to partner with cities and county boards, not piss them off. Because at the end of the day we are simply taking something OFF the sidewalk. 😉

Get Creative with Branding

Clean Graffiti is a great way for companies to have some fun with their branding. We always encourage a message that is fun, witty or will make a person stop and smile. A supreme example of this was a campaign we pitched to an orthopedic surgeon’s practice where we found broken or uneven sidewalk squares and put down a “Watch Your Step” Clean Graffiti message. It was just genius – helpful to the public AND brought to you by a client who could help you if you DID fall.

Create Organic Third-Party Content

This type of unexpected messaging under your feet is an excellent example of an advertising campaign that someone will take a picture of and post to their own social media. When is the last time that someone took a picture of your client’s billboard or bus ad?? Not that often! But Clean Graffiti is cool, eco-friendly and *hopefully* a fun, lighthearted message that simply helps spread brand awareness. That organic third-party content is something that you just can’t pay for normally!

The Savage Way Team is Experienced

We have been blessed to work with so many amazing clients. Here are some of the highlights: The Rolling Stones, Talkspace, Diet Coke, Bud Light, Novant Hospital, Atrium Health, Mecklenburg County, Carolina Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, The ACC Tournament, Clean Juice, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte FC, Lululemon, MetroHealth Cleveland, Whistlepig Whiskey and many more.

Cost Effective Out of Home Advertising Alternative

We get it. Billboards and bus ads are expensive. It is a costly investment for a 1 month run of an ad on a typical billboard opportunity, especially if you request a high-visibility board. That is what makes Clean Graffiti a fantastic alternative. Clean Graffiti gets you RIGHT under the feet of your target market for a fraction of the cost. And best of all, our spots can last anywhere from 1 month to 8 months.

How A Campaign Looks

Campaigns can all be customized but a typical package is 1 specially designed stencil, 10 Clean Graffiti media placements within a 1-2 mile radius in a targeted neighborhood/city. Our team executes end-to-end and then we provide a full recap with maps, list of locations and photos for social media use. We operate all over the USA and have been in over 75 cities. Our team is experienced and can travel almost anywhere for a job.

We find that the best practices for a Clean Graffiti campaign include using the medium for brand awareness with a funny/witty/eye-catching message. No one really likes to see just a logo on the ground. Making note that way-finding can be tough – it has to be the most perfect concrete and there is no guarantee it will be dirty on the corner to show an arrow (make sense?). We find that flexibility and trust in our team always makes the end product better for the client.

So now that you know the ins and outs of a Clean Graffiti campaign, hit us up when you are ready to finally do something different!