by thesavageway | Mar 20, 2019 | clean graffiti
The Annual College Basketball Tournament Takes Charlotte by Storm
The ACC hosts their annual men’s basketball tournament right before the start of March Madness. This year, the week-long basketball extravaganza was held at the Spectrum Arena in Uptown Charlotte. Duke University came away victorious against Florida State, but the fans were the true winners (that UNC vs Duke game though)!
As a means to bring more attention to all of the passersby that frequent the city and the festivities around the ACC Tournament, the marketing team hired us to put down some Clean Graffiti. Our eco-friendly messages are created using only dirt and water. Truly… these images are made using just a pressure washer and a specialized stencil.
We work with mother nature. A good part of our job is assessing levels of dirt on the sidewalks. So this alone can make putting down reverse graffiti a challenge. However, this time it was even more challenging because The ACC had us create some of our most detailed stencils to date. To honor the entire conference, we represented every single ACC mascot in our artwork. That’s right… 15 mascots over four stencils. Check them out…

Clean Graffiti spot for The ACC featuring the mascots from UNC Chapel Hill, University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest University.

The second Clean Graffiti spot for The ACC featuring the mascots from Duke University, Florida State University, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame.

Spot 3 of 4 of The ACC Clean Graffiti featuring the mascots from Boston College, Clemson University, University of Louisville, and University of Virginia.

The fourth stencil for The ACC featuring the University of Miami, NC State and Syracuse mascots.
Clean Graffiti and Athletics
We absolutely love when we get to use our medium to help sports teams spread the word. We’ve now had the pleasure of working with the Carolina Panthers (twice), The Carolina Hurricanes, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte for their Inaugural Football season and now The ACC. We’ve also done some really cool bodyweight workouts for OrthoCarolina along with inspiring running messages.
For this campaign we were able highlight the mascots from UNC Chapel Hill, University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest University on one stencil. Duke University, Florida State University, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame, made the second stencil. Next up was Boston College, Clemson University, University of Louisville, and University of Virginia. And last but not least, we represented Syracuse University, NC State and University of Miami. And we did this all in dirt! Natural outdoor media at its finest
We are so happy with how the project turned out. After 6 years in this reverse graffiti game, we are still consistently pushing our capabilities and our skill level. Cheers to The ACC for believing in this medium and for believing in #thesavageway.
by thesavageway | Feb 28, 2019 | clean graffiti
Eco-friendly Event Signage in the Heart of Charlotte’s North End Smart District
The team over at Historic Camp North End, including our friends Alex Smith and Varian Shrum, are doing amazing work for the entrepreneur and artist community. From rehabbing the entire area that once was used to produce Model Ts and Army missiles, to creating innovative spaces for our peers to bring their work to life, Camp North End is nothing short of inspiring.
For an internal event, the crew called us in to create a unique approach to event signage. Through our Clean Graffiti medium, we were able to create a talk piece, and an eco-friendly one at that.
The stencil was designed by MacFly Fresh and was a nod to the history of this space. It included the iconic water tower and the army vessels that were once created on site. We loved being able to spray this design on uncharted territory (aka the construction side) of Camp North End.

Clean Graffiti for Camp North End by #thesavageway

Unique event signage approach for a gathering at Camp North End.

Clean Graffiti on Asphalt. That contrast is amazing!

Creative Marketing for an event using Clean Graffiti.
Clean Graffiti is a great solution for event promotion. Our messages are made by spraying high pressured water over a stencil. The simplicity of the marketing tactic allows our designs to truly stand out to passersby. And, if any message has an event date included in the creative, our team can easily go out and remove the message post event so that there is not outdated material on the streets. And the best part is that we are slowly just cleaning the sidewalks.
DRIVEWAY ART
Camp North End is also a big supporter of our sister company, Driveway Art. When we were on site for the event Clean Graffiti, they asked us to lay down some art…and you know that we were all in for that! Using the Flourish Stencil, we created a beautiful wall of roses along the entrance to Camp North End. Not only was the end result gorgeous but spraying a wall has been on our bucket list for a while. We LOVED how it turned out.

Wall of Roses at Camp North End made using a Driveway Art Stencil.

This historic site in Charlotte now has a Clean Graffiti Wall of Roses.

Paula Bartlett (left) and Torrie Savage, owners of #thesavageway, pose in front of the Driveway Art Rose Wall.
by thesavageway | Feb 12, 2019 | clean graffiti
Brixx Pizza is a Charlotte staple. In fact, the first Brixx Wood Fired Pizza opened in 1998 in the historic Dilworth neighborhood. Between their wood-fired oven to the fresh ingredients, it’s no wonder that the demand for Brixx now has them in more than 30 locations all over the Southeast.
In order to honor their 20th Anniversary, the Brixx team chose to partner with us on a fun Clean Graffiti campaign. We knew we wanted to create a design that truly spoke to the pizza lovers of the world and we knew in order to do that we needed to bring in a local artist to assist. Mike Wirth, founder of Talking Walls CLT and member of Southern Tiger Collective, helped us to create the “I Stand for Pizza” stencil. We created a fun piece of street art that not only represented our client but that also was fun for passersby.

Brixx Pizza Clean Graffiti in Charlotte, NC. #thesavageway

Brixx Pizza celebrated their 20th Anniversary with this fun Clean Graffiti campaign: I stand for pizza.

Clean Graffiti is an eco-friendly form of advertising. It’s just water!
You have to remember that we are working with Mother Nature on all of these Clean Graffiti campaigns. The means that we are working with the contrast of dirt and high-pressure water. It’s amazing how different each sidewalk square is and just because something looks to be dirty, it doesn’t mean it actually is dirty. That is another factor that goes into every #thesavageway Clean Graffiti campaign, we land survey and study not only the popular walking areas of a target market, but the dirt levels too!
Brixx Pizza celebrated their 20th(!!!) year in business. That’s incredible. We had the pleasure of dining there not too long ago and enjoyed vegan pizza, gluten-free crust and a filling salad. And this Charlotte unicorn of a business makes some delicious food.

Close up of a vegan option pizza at Brixx Pizza.

New Gluten-free cauliflower crust available at select Brixx Pizza locations.
It is the highest compliment when a client trusts us in our craft. The Brixx team let us be creative and pitch them some wild ideas before landing on this finished product. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with such good people and hope to do it again in the future!
by thesavageway | Jan 22, 2019 | clean graffiti
Reverse Graffiti for the Carolina Hurricanes was put down in Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte to kick off the NHL season
Our Clean Graffiti work has allowed us to work with some amazing clients. From healthcare leaders to nonprofit organizations, our clients run the gamut. However, anytime that we get the chance to work with a professional sports teams, we do a little dance.
RELATED: Carolina Panthers Clean Graffiti and Panthers Return with Greg Olsen Clean Graffiti campaign
The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional hockey team here in North Carolina. Their games are a ton of fun to watch. When they approached us to create a Clean Graffiti campaign for their 2018/2019 NHL Season, we knew that it would create a buzz.
We took their key phrase “Take Warning” along with their icon and made a specialized stencil that we then pressure washed onto the sidewalk. This creative message is not only eye-catching and unexpected, but it is eco-friendly. IT’S. JUST. WATER.

Clean Graffiti for Carolina Hurricanes for the 2018/2019 season.

Reverse Graffiti for NHL ‘s Hurricanes in Raleigh, NC.

Take Warning – The Carolina Hurricanes use Clean Graffiti to spread awareness about the season.
There is still time to catch a game or two this season. Check out the full Hurricanes schedule here.
by thesavageway | Jan 11, 2019 | clean graffiti
Reverse Graffiti Campaign Touting Safety Message Installed for the NCDOT
For the second time, #thesavageway was hired to bring awareness to the Booze It & Lose It campaign sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) / Governor’s Highway Safety Program. “Recognized as one of the nation’s most effective anti-drunk-driving campaigns, Booze It & Lose It has created increased awareness of the dangers and the consequences of drinking and driving through innovative education campaigns and extensive enforcement of impaired-driving laws.”
You can read more about the BILI initiative here.
Our role was to utilize our Clean Graffiti medium to provide reminders on the sidewalk that drinking and driving is not okay. The stencil read “Don’t Drink & Drive. BeSmarterThanThat.com.” We targeted highly popular bars, restaurants, liquor stores and gas stations that sell alcohol. Our campaign took us to 9 cities across North Carolina including Greenville, Fayetteville, Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Robeson County (Pembroke & Lumberton), Charlotte, and Asheville.

Clean Graffiti for the Booze It and Lose It campaign helping to curb drunk driving.

Statewide creative outdoor messaging for the North Carolina Department of Transportation by #thesavageway

Booze It & Lose It Clean Graffiti campaign for the NCDOT.
Clean Graffiti is a great marketing tactic for a campaign like this because you are able to directly target your audience where they are walking – the sidewalk. It is another reminder to be safe and call a cab, Uber, take the bus or phone a sober friend to pick you up. This is a tactic amongst a robust marketing mix including radio, billboards, press, social media, flyers, posters, etc. Clean Graffiti is another “touch” point so that the brand message sticks in the brains of consumers in our overly-distracted society.
This “Public Communication” style of campaign is one of the ways that we love using our Clean Graffiti medium. It is for the good of the community. It can communicate to neighborhoods that may not have a large outdoor advertising option (aka no billboards, or bus ads to act as the reminder). It is eco-friendly (remember, it is just water!), and its creative and new so that it draws the attention of the consumer.
Related: Clean Graffiti Tour 2016 for the NCDOT
We look forward to spreading this message and safety messages like this to more places across the state and beyond.