The purses, even at a distance, are stunning. Made from real python skin, they exhibit bright colors, oranges and yellows, that you don’t usually associate with such a bag. But that’s not what made the Wild Posting® campaign for the exclusive fashion brand Claris Virot stand out.
No, the standout element of the campaign, deployed in Paris, was how the posters were arranged. They alternated, one a picture of the rectangular yellow purse, the next one of the circular orange purse. The buildings where they were applied took on the look of a losing tic-tac-toe board — circle, rectangle, circle, rectangle — like pictures connected on diagonals but not next to one another. The result was a visually arresting campaign that drew people’s eyes and made them want to learn more about Claris Virot.
This is one small twist on traditional Wild Posting® achieved through the imagination of the French agency that pulled off the campaign. This type of advertising has become popular around the world, and for good reason.
A visually focused medium, Wild Posting® translates across borders in places where multiple languages are spoken or that host a lot of foreign tourists. These campaigns are often cost-effective and easy to pull together quickly. And they get results.
How is Wild Posting® different in other countries and what types of campaigns have been successful? Here’s a guide to global Wild Posting® and a few ways we can learn from those efforts.
What Is Wild Posting®?
First, a quick review — Wild Posting® is a type of guerrilla advertising where a large number of static posters depicting the same thing are placed in close proximity to each other, usually on buildings, sometimes on construction sites. The sheer volume of artwork is meant to catch people’s eyes.
Wild Posting®’s beginnings have been traced back to Victorian England, when “bill-posting” was known as a cheap way to advertise. Advertisements included bills for plays and political ads.
Where Is Wild Posting® Available Around the World?
You can do Wild Posting® just about anywhere in the world. Your only limitations are finding the right agency and making sure you won’t get in (too) much trouble for posting.
In the United States, many landlords turn a blind eye to the legal issues related to Wild Posting®. Most won’t report you for posting advertising flyers on their buildings. But you should know this in advance so you don’t risk getting in trouble.
The same guidelines follow in foreign countries. Germany, for one, has attempted to crack down on illegal Wild Posting®, though some advertisers see this as free publicity and welcome the challenge to their legality. Berlin artists have even complained that Wild Posting® takes away their canvases to “paint” — paint here meaning create illegal graffiti.
In France, Wild Posting® has been challenged under national freedom of speech laws. But little has come of these challenges. Lawmakers in Australia have attempted over the years to tamp down on Wild Posting®, with no luck. And in India, the Election Commission outlawed Wild Posting® yet the law has had little traction. All over the world, agencies continue to use this method to gain attention for clients.
You may hear different terminology in other countries. In Britain, for instance, they call it “fly posting.” It still means the same thing, no matter what the label.
What Brand Categories Have Tried Wild Posting® Around the Globe?
To get started in your tagline improvement project, think about the answers to the following three key questions:
In the United States, just about every category from entertainment to tech to food and beverages have employed Wild Posting®. Worldwide, a number of prominent categories choose Wild Posting® for their advertising needs. Just a few of those categories include:
- Fashion brands
- Music labels
- Sneaker companies
- Taxi, limousine and van services
- Movie production companies
What Brands Have Used Wild Posting® Around the World?
Remember the Claris Virot campaign we mentioned? That’s significant because Claris Virot is a sophisticated French company that charges upwards of 1,800 euros for a single bag. To see a company like this embrace Wild Posting® speaks to how widespread this type of advertising has become around the world. Just a few well-known companies that have engaged in Wild Posting® campaigns around the globe include:
- Puma
- Nike
- Red Bull
- Warner Bros.
Notable Wild Posting® Campaigns Around the World
Here are a few worldwide campaigns we enjoyed that marry creativity and effective attention-getting:
- In 2010, when the iPad was still a relative newcomer, Apple advertised its new tablet in Germany with a campaign that included Wild Posting®. Street artists decided to have some fun with the campaign, which included a shot of a photo album on an iPad. The artists changed the album covers to risqué images, which in turn drew even more interest to the campaign—a win-win for Apple.
- A 2015 campaign in Canada for the Will Ferrell-Kevin Hart film “Get Hard” included mugshot-like pencil drawings of the two stars with a reference to the movie’s release date. The great artwork sparked great buzz.
- Paris Fashion Week draws a lot of fly posting, just as New York Fashion Week does. Sometimes it’s about being in the right place at the right time. Emmanuelle Zysman, Les Petites and Antidote Magazine are just a few brands that have run successful campaigns in this venue.
- Calvin Klein launched a new perfume, CK2, with a huge Wild Posting® campaign across France, hitting Paris, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Rennes and Toulouse. The format mixed five different sizes of posters, getting attention thanks to the variance. The idea was to flood the markets to get people talking on social media as well as in person.
- Public Mobile ran a campaign in Canada with like-sized posters in different colors formatted similarly but listing different pros and “cons” of switching your cell service, such as: “Con: Canada’s largest mobile network makes escaping civilization difficult. Pro: You can always throw your phone in the woods.”
No matter where you go, Wild Posting® has become an accepted, effective form of advertising. Still have questions? Get in touch with us today to get answers.
