by thesavageway | Oct 14, 2024 | clean graffiti
Community health messages are such a great use of Clean Graffiti and that is exactly what Proof Alliance NC has done for over a year now. This amazing organization is using unexpected placement (aka the sidewalk) to help spread an extremely important message about not drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
More About Proof Alliance NC
Proof Alliance NC is the North Carolina arm of the national nonprofit organization, Proof Alliance. They are the national leader in promoting the benefits of alcohol-free pregnancy and supporting those impacted by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Proof Alliance NC strives to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies by providing training, education and resources to professionals who serve individuals of reproductive age, deliver prevention messaging and resources to individuals who can become pregnant. Their work also provides resources for professionals who provide supports to families and individuals impacted by FASD.
The Clean Graffiti Campaign
The Savage Way has had the honor of working with Proof Alliance NC on multiple Clean Graffiti campaigns across the state. We placed a message that says, “Alcohol & Pregnancy Don’t Mix. We Have The Proof,” in both big cities like Charlotte, Raleigh and Winston-Salem, to smaller towns and beach cities where outdoor advertising is typically not really an option. Our eco-friendly sidewalk messages are such a great alternative to capture the attention of people walking to a bar / restaurant, waiting at a bus stop or walking to the park.
We love when we have a chance to use our medium for public health and community messages. Too often we are bombarded by billboards, radio ads, social media ads, tv, etc. and we totally miss the message. The beauty of Clean Graffiti (aka reverse graffiti) is that the sidewalk is not a place you typically see a message. It’s created used only high pressure water so it is an eco-friendly outdoor messaging tactic. Proof Alliance has been an exceptional client when it comes to trusting the medium and the impact that it can have on a targeted audience. We look forward to a continued partnership with the Proof Alliance NC team.
by thesavageway | Aug 6, 2024 | clean graffiti
This summer, we placed a fun & interactive Clean Graffiti campaign across Charlotte, NC for Smart Start of Mecklenburg County. The intention was to create a children’s game for families to have access to at no-cost. We placed 20 pressure-washed pieces of art in 17 neighborhoods! The results have been so much fun and we love to see kids interacting with the sidewalk games.
The campaign is sprinkled throughout the city in high foot-traffic areas near parks and bus stops. Neighborhoods include Enderly Park, Wesley Heights, 1st Ward, 4th Ward, Madison Park, Dilworth, Sedgefield, Cherry, Elizabeth, Plaza Midwood, Commonwealth Park, Sheffield Park, Plaza-Shamrock, NoDa, Villa Heights, Belmont, and Double Oaks. This effort brings awareness to the amazing services that Smart Start of Mecklenburg County offers our age 0-5 preschool children. Here is a cute video posted to the @SmartStartMeck Instagram page showing the game in action.
Smart Start of Mecklenburg County has a mission to “mobilize resources, forge partnerships, and support families to improve early childhood health, education and development, and ensure children are prepared for kindergarten.” It’s an awesome organization who make it their business to help children thrive before five. They have four internal programs in addition to funding more than 20 other programs in the community that focus on early care and education, family support, health, and literacy. They will invest over $35 million in early childhood programs throughout the community this year. We love any opportunity to pour into young kids and giving them a positive, growth mindset and get them ready for school.
Clean Graffiti, aka reverse graffiti, is an eco-friendly advertising medium that utilizes the sidewalk to spread a message to the community. Whether you are a small business owner, a large corporation or community initiative, Clean Graffiti is a fantastic way to bring a talk-ability (and fun element) to your marketing / advertising message.
by thesavageway | Jun 18, 2024 | clean graffiti
Killingsworth Environmental, the pest control company, used Clean Graffiti to creatively capture the attention of pedestrians in Charlotte, NC. In two separate campaigns, we were able to get clever about pest issues in our city. With eye-catching creative and the use of vanity URLs (CLTRats.com and CLTBugs.com), Killingsworth captured the audience and quickly directed them to a website that lays out an action item.
Two Campaigns
“What’s the deal with all the rats?!” (We can’t help but hear this in the voice of Jerry Seinfeld). But seriously, Charlotte has seen an increase in the rat population. Killingsworth is working hard to fix that issue with their new eco-friendly rodent clean up system called SMART. When the client reached out, we knew that this would be such a natural fit with the Killingsworth brand.
CLTBugs.com was the second campaign and again we had an eye-catching, creative message with a short and memorable URL. The goal was to drive people to a website to sign up for pest control services. “THEY’RE HERE…” with a bunch of bugs “crawling” on the sidewalk definitely grabs a pedestrian’s attention.
Why it Works
Clean Graffiti is a great addition to an overall marketing plan. Killingsworth is an established company (founded in 1993). They have market familiarity and they advertise in other spaces. Using a guerilla marketing tactic is a fun extension of the usual advertising initiatives. With Clean Graffiti, our client can reach their audience in a totally new space, the sidewalk, and leave a lasting impression with a clever message. When you see “What’s the deal with all the rats?” it makes you pause, analyze the question and go to CLTRats.com to learn more. It’s intriguing, clever and eco-friendly to boot.
We love the originality of these stencils and really appreciate how the Killingsworth team was open to the out-of-the-box nature of our advertising medium. Honored to get this awesome message from our client:
“To speak to the effectiveness of the campaign, I happened to mention rats this Wednesday while at Rhino Market and one of the staff members stopped me to ask if I had seen the “rat problem website on the sidewalks”. We appreciate your extra effort in making this campaign a success, especially last minute. It’s made CLTRats.com one of our most popular landing pages. (It ended the year as our second most popular page behind the homepage). Most importantly, it’s helped us make Charlotte a healthier place for everyone. We continue to see results from this campaign and look forward to working together more this year.” – Tessa Shoe, Marketing Manager of Killingsworth.
To learn more about Killingsworth and their services, head to their website.
by thesavageway | Apr 24, 2024 | clean graffiti
Ever since our hometown (Charlotte, NC) got a Major League Soccer team (shout out Charlotte FC), we have all been feeling the soccer hype. So, when we got a call from a large agency that works with United Stated Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer), we knew were going for goal.
We worked with You Are Here Agency, a sponsorship and activation agency, on a Clean Graffiti campaign for the U.S. Soccer & The U.S. Women’s National Team’s “SheBelieves Cup” in Atlanta, GA. This tournament hosting international teams was a major moment for women’s soccer, and YAH Agency wanted to bring more attention to the upcoming game. That is where Clean Graffiti came in as the perfect advertising companion.
We ran a campaign throughout the city of Atlanta that helped drive traffic to the SheBelieves Cup website. The spots were placed in popular walking areas throughout busy neighborhoods. With a goal of general awareness, along with ticket sales, our eco-friendly sidewalk advertising became a great way to grab the attention of potential customers in an unexpected way.
More about SheBelieves:
“Inspired by the U.S. Women’s National Team, SheBelieves is a movement to encourage young women and girls to reach their dreams, athletic or otherwise. The campaign was originally launched in the run-up to the 2015 Women’s World Cup and has evolved into a special bond between U.S. Soccer and its fans, taking a powerful message of empowerment and that of believing in yourself into communities across the nation.”
The 2024 SheBelieves Cup, presented by Visa, featured the USWNT, Brazil, Canada and Japan. The USA defeated Japan in a semifinal 2-1, and captured its fifth consecutive and seventh overall SheBelieves Cup title, defeating Canada 5-4 in a penalty kick shootout following a 2-2 draw through regulation. (source from U.S. Soccer website)
We absolutely love what this organization stands for. We need more empowerment, utilization of resources and encouragement for women and young girls. And we are honored to be able to have contributed to the marketing of this event with our Clean Graffiti (aka reverse graffiti).
by thesavageway | Feb 29, 2024 | clean graffiti
We were honored to create a Clean Graffiti campaign for the recent Charlotte Marathon in Charlotte, NC. Using our specialized stencils, high-pressure water and dirty sidewalks, we created motivational moments for runners. Also, we gave sponsors a new opportunity for visibility.
The Novant Health Charlotte Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K is a huge running event in the Southeast. Taking place throughout Uptown Charlotte and our beautiful surrounding neighborhoods, runners take to the streets on a massive physical feat. When you are running 26.2 miles, a little motivation is helpful.
In the months leading up to race day we put down “You can do this”and “Find your happy pace” motivational Clean Graffiti messages all around the Queen City. It was so awesome to hear from runners that they would come across one of the reverse graffiti images and simply smile and keep going. This eco-friendly form of outdoor advertising is a great way for sponsors, like Novant Health, to get their name out in a new and different way.
Clean Graffiti was the perfect, unexpected way to advertise for the marathon. Runners take to the sidewalks every single day to train. What better way to reach these customers than to be a motivation for them?! A marathon is a milestone race in a person’s life. It’s pretty cool that the race organizers believe so strongly in positive, motivational messages like Clean Graffiti.
Thanks to our friends at Well-Run Media for bringing us into this project. It’s wonderful to have partners who love and respect our offerings. The Well-Run Media crew is always open to fun campaign ideas for their clients.
If you are interested in running the 2024 Charlotte Marathon, you can find all the registration information here.
by thesavageway | Jan 31, 2024 | clean graffiti
Our eco-friendly outdoor advertising alternative, Clean Graffiti, is such a wonderful solution for creative marketing for Multi-Family Living and other apartment complexes to spread the word about apartment availability. In a world that is flush with social media ads, billboards, magazine ads and more, our unexpected sidewalk ads bring an entirely new level of creative marketing ideas for apartment living.
Clean Graffiti, also known as reverse graffiti, is created using a specialized stencil, a pressure washer and dirty concrete. We are literally creating something out of mother nature’s waste. It’s a creative & green option for marketing departments and multi-family developers to utilize. We (The Savage Way) can tap into an untapped resource and get a message out in an unexpected way.
We’ve had the pleasure of creating campaigns for several developers, property management companies and multi-family living communities all over the country in the past decade. Below we show several examples of how these companies were able to use our eco-friendly advertising with their fun branded messaging.
CLEAN GRAFFITI CLIENTS IN THE MULTI-FAMILY LIVING CATEGORY:
GREYSTAR
Atlantic Grand Oaks Charleston
400H Apartments (Raleigh)
WOOD PARTNERS
Abberly NoDa Vista (formerly Alta Warp & Weft Charlotte)
NOVEL by Crescent Communities:
Novel West Midtown (Atlanta)
30Six NoDA (formerly Novel NoDa)
NORTHWOOD RAVIN:
Village at Commonwealth (Charlotte)
Providence Row (Charlotte)
Residence at Capitol View (Nashville)
Cortland Communities (Phoenix)
Scott Crossing (Decatur, GA)
Galleries at Park Lane (Dallas)
Van Alen (Durham)
Carolina Square (Chapel Hill)
GRAYCO
Arlo Apartments
If you are looking for new ways of creative marketing for Multi-Family Living or are part of the marketing departments tasked with outreach, you know how difficult it is at times to continue to come up with unique selling tactics. Consider Clean Graffiti for your next out-of-the-box marketing idea. We can help from design to execution and can’t wait to talk with you.
by thesavageway | Aug 1, 2023 | clean graffiti
Hello! This is Paula Bartlett, one of the owners of The Savage Way. I write these blogs but today wanted to share the story of how we brought Clean Graffiti to life from my perspective. Enjoy.
We get asked daily, “What exactly is Clean Graffiti?” Ten years in and we’re still fortunate enough to explain this disruptive outdoor advertising medium to people. And it’s just as exciting every time! However, I don’t think we’ve ever shared how Clean Graffiti came about for us. So here is the story of how we brought Clean Graffiti to life.
Prior to The Savage Way, Torrie worked in the marketing and advertising industry. She spent 10 years in media buying for a few different employers. She was responsible for managing budgets and getting as much unique exposure for her clients as possible. So her brain was always thinking in ads; looking at billboards, magazine ads, bus ads, etc. Well one day she was pressure washing the driveway at her parent’s house and free-handed the name “Savage.” (pressure washing the dirt away to leave the “cleaned” letters showing). Immediately her brain thought, “That would be a great ad, but it would have to be crisp and follow brand standards.”
She did what we all do when we have an idea and Googled it, sure enough, there was an artist in Europe (Paul Curtis aka Moose) who was pressure washing art onto old, dirty walls. The results were beautiful. Using mother nature to create art was a revolutionary idea to her. Fast forward a few years, The Savage Way started. At the time we were a marketing agency helping clients with social media, business openings, community engagement, etc. Torrie casually mentioned this sidewalk advertising idea to me one day and I said, “What are we doing?! This is incredible. Let’s do that!” Immediately we started researching and trying to see how we could bring this idea to life. I remember countless late nights in Torrie’s loft in the NoDa neighborhood in Charlotte, NC where we would just dream and talk about how we would do this out-of-the-box idea.
But before we could even work out all the details, an opportunity knocked on our door. We were introduced to a marketing legend in Charlotte, Blair Primis. He was the VP of Marketing for a privately owned orthopedic surgeons office. Blair was open to new ideas and always looking for ways to make his brand stand out. And I’ll never forget sitting down with him to pitch some ideas and seeing the light in his eyes and smile on his face when we told him our idea. “Genius,” he said. “I want the biggest option you’ve got.” WHAT?! To have someone believe in your idea when you haven’t even physically done a campaign yet… it was the exact boost that we needed.
We left that meeting saying give us a few months to figure this thing out and we will be ready to go. Torrie and I worked with such passion and excitement to bring this idea to fruition. When the day came to see our stencil (the first iteration) being pressure washed onto the sidewalk, we did a little happy dance. This was real. Clean Graffiti was a thing. A major brand was paying us to advertise on this untapped asset that Mother Nature created. It was all so thrilling.
No one tells you how tricky it is to start a business that is disruptive to the space. No one was doing what we were doing and it was a lot of trial and error to land where we did. To say we were green was an understatement. We went through so many iterations of the stencil, how we selected spots, how many spots to offer, and how to price this service no one knew they wanted. But selling this to clients was something that Torrie did have experience in. Her decade of media buying allowed us to know what a client would be looking for. It gave us insight into crafting these packages that could compete with billboard buys and other outdoor advertising opportunities.
So we kept going and focused on selling Clean Graffiti to clients. Along the way we have carved our own path and had the chance to really grow this industry. One of our European counterparts, Jim Bowes, happened to be in Nashville, TN early on and made a road trip from Charlotte, NC to chat with him on his experiences doing “Reverse Graffiti” (what he called it). It was so fun to talk shop with someone who got it and was dealing with similar hurdles. Read more about it in our blog from 2014. I never thought in a million years that Torrie and I would be strategically cleaning sidewalks for a living. Haha – it makes us laugh every time that we see dirty concrete, “Oh, thats a fantastic canvas!”
That was over ten years ago. Since then, we’ve completed work in 70+ cities across the US including Los Angeles, CA, Portland, OR, Vancouver, WA, New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA, Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Austin, TX, Houston, TX, and countless other cities and towns across the country. We’ve worked with companies/brands like Diet Coke, The Rolling Stones, Carolina Panthers, Truist Bank, The ACC Tournament, Novant Health, county & state agencies and so many more.
Now you may be asking why do our clients use Clean Graffiti? There are a myriad of reasons, but a few to note:
- Unexpected: In our overstimulated world, seeing a message on the ground is novel and captures attention.
- Longevity: Spots can last from one month to over 6 months, depending on the type of dirt, weather, traffic, etc.
- Creative: Using dirt to create a brand message is so far out of the norm that it doesn’t fit in a box.
- It’s Just Water: Our medium is eco-friendly in that is is made just using water – no paint, acid, bleach or etching.
- Temporary: Clients love it for an event-driven ad campaign where we remove the spots after the event date.
- Impactful: The sidewalk is an untapped resource that allows for brand awareness, inspiration or event-driven info where it’s never been before.
We always love telling the story of how we brought Clean Graffiti to life. We believe in this medium and know that our innovation is sparking creative ideas and sending out inspiration all of the time. We’re ready when you are to clean some sidewalks!
by thesavageway | Jul 24, 2023 | clean graffiti
We love all of the creative uses of Clean Graffiti that we can offer our clients. From general brand awareness campaigns to feel-good inspirational messages on the sidewalk, the possibilities are vast with this medium. We wanted to showcase a few of our favorite creative uses from over the years. Maybe this will inspire your next campaign with us.
For those that don’t know, Clean Graffiti is an advertising and messaging medium that The Savage Way has been offering for over 10 years now. We’ve been in 70+ markets across America and we continue to be the leaders in the U.S. in this space. Also known as Reverse Graffiti, Clean Graffiti is created using a stencil, pressure washer and naturally dirty sidewalks. We use high-pressure water to clean a message onto the sidewalk. We are not painting, spraying any chemicals or altering the integrity of the sidewalk in any way. It’s just water. 🙂 Check out some frequently asked questions here.
Now on to the creative uses of Clean Graffiti that we have loved over the years.
Tend Dentistry: New York City: The folks at Tend Dentistry in the Flatiron District in Manhattan came to us with this cheeky play-on-words that we could make into Clean Graffiti. The fact that we are both just cleaning away dirt (aka plaque) was just perfect. Love when brands can get playful and fun with their advertising.
OrthoCarolina: Multi-cities in North Carolina: OrthoCarolina had been a client of ours for a while and we had done tons of branding campaigns together (check out past project blogs for more details). However, as a group of private orthopedic surgeons who specialize in fixing broken bones, we thought of this clever “Watch Your Step” Clean Graffiti campaign. The idea was while we were out executing campaigns and we saw dangerous, broken sidewalks, we would put down this safety message for pedestrians or cyclists brought to you by OrthoCarolina. Just a subtle reminder that *if* you did need a bone specialist, you would know who to call.
(Left) Greenpeace #IStand4Solar in Charlotte, NC: The global non-profit, Greenpeace, asked us to create an impactful Clean Graffiti campaign for the Charlotte market. We wanted to do something that was not only a directive (stand here and notice) but told the passerby to use on social media (using the #). We saw great interaction with the Clean Graffiti which led users to learn more about the Greenpeace mission – to use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
(Right): NC Department of Transportation, Watch For Me Campaign in small beach towns in NC: This was a campaign that we ran for several years that focused on pedestrian and cyclist safety, Watch For Me NC. We put these down across coastal beach towns that saw a huge influx of tourists in the summer months. The NCDOT gave us specific data that pinpointed where vehicles crashed with pedestrians that either ended in an accident or fatality. There are such limited advertising opportunities in these small, rural towns, so Clean Graffiti was not only a viable option, but it was welcomed as an opportunity to actually make meaningful communication with the community.
(Left) Not Just Coffee, Charlotte, NC: Not Just Coffee is a locally-owned coffee shop that came up the same time that The Savage Way did. We are friends with the owners and we pitched them the idea of Clean Graffiti with a play-on-words with their name. We know that everyone LOVES coffee and social media posts with anything coffee related always got great engagement, but NJC was so invested in the community that they were more than just a place to grab coffee. We came up with “Love People, Not Just Coffee.” Genius. We partnered with local artist, Matt Hooker, to help with the creative and this beautiful message was born!
(Right): #ExploreYour704 NoDa Brewing, OrthoCarolina in Charlotte, NC: #ExploreYour704 was an intricate idea that we came up with that included a Clean Graffiti “Scavenger Hunt,” huge mural on the side of a brewery, multiple vendors and a big launch party that encouraged walking. To say this was an unusual case study is an understatement. In fact, doing a Clean Graffiti scavenger hunt is not something we even offer, but we are obsessed with how we used dirty sidewalks to create a movement game, celebrate the city we live in and bring awareness to our clients at the same time. Read more about it in the blog.
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So that’s a quick snapshot of some of the creative uses of Clean Graffiti over the years. Check out our instagram for more examples. We look forward to creating more marketing magic using our eco-friendly advertising alternative.
