"Clean Me"

"Reverse Graffiti" turns the act of cleaning into an art form... or strategically into an advertisement. This innovative form of guerilla marketing took off in 2010 in the UK and the US (mainly in San Francisco). Reverse graffiti ads are pressure washed advertisements stenciled onto grimy city sidewalks or walls. Many companies who specialize in this service pitch themselves as "environmentally conscious" because the process only involves water. 


Domino's Pizza was one of the earliest U.S. companies to use reverse graffiti as a marketing tactic. It cost them less than $20,000 to create the campaign, which included 210 reverse graffiti imprints across New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Domino's estimated that the campaign brought it about $1 million worth of publicity. Who knew cleaning a few square feet of sidewalk would provide such a huge ROI?!

Other companies that have used this creative cleaning practice as a marketing tool include: Starbucks, Range Rover, Puma, and MTV. I'm sure many companies will follow suit, if they haven't already, due to the effective, eco-friendly, low-cost marketing tool that can make use of any dirty surface. This also allows ads to be highly targeted. Reverse graffiti advertisements grab people's attention, are an innovative way to create brand awareness, and promote the environmentally sound company objectives.

Reverse graffiti was created and coined by a UK artist known as 'Moose' (his real name is Paul Curtis). When you think about it, we have all probably been reverse graffiti artists at one point in our lives. Have you ever written something on a dirty car window? "Clean Me" perhaps?

The UK has already created specific legislation against reverse graffiti practices because advertising (of any sort) in public must be licensed. Unfortunately, the U.S. may be next. San Francisco is trying to crack down on reverse graffiti marketing in a "public right-of-way". Everyone knows that green is in... so we'll see if they succeed. If not, I think we'll be seeing a lot more  graffiti  on our streets! Check out this video about reverse graffiti, Moose, and San Francisco. 

POGS,

AKtually Ashley