We love seeing a good idea take hold, so we were happy that one of our spotters came across Netherlands-based GreenGraffiti.
Much like UK-based Street Advertising Services, which we wrote about last year, GreenGraffiti creates advertising on dirty city streets and walls using the clean, green power of plain water. Armed with just a template and a high-pressure water sprayer, the company has "cleaned" advertising messages out of the dirt on behalf of clients including Elle, Telfort and Universal Music. No paper, no ink, no printing process—GreenGraffiti's ads are completely carbon-neutral, it says. They last up to six months, depending on foot traffic, and cost a fraction of the price of traditional outdoor media, the company asserts.
GreenGraffiti was launched in 2006 by sustainable brand design firm Hemshaven and creative guerilla marketing bureau Jack Liberties, and is available to conduct campaigns of any size throughout Europe and North America. One to test out on the dirty streets near you...?
Website: www.greengraffiti.nl
Contact: www.greengraffiti.nl/pages/contact.html
Spotted by: Lieke Voermans
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I think that this seems to be clearly one of the most innovative and cost effective ways of advertising.
Agreed you dont own the space but all you are doing is cleaning it in the process.
It is much better than using spray paints and ruining the walls.
Cheers
@Ajay -how are they cleaning it? They're cleaning the small portion for the advertiser's message - leaving the vast majority of the area as dirty as when they arrived. In my opinion, the companies that carry out these activities should be charged twice - once as a payment for displaying the ads - just like you'd pay a billboard company, and once to clean if off.
Good points and certainly there are some issues that need to be addressed.
1. We do encourage our clients to work with us to clean the GreenGraffito away. In the future, we will work with our clients and local authorities in a positive effort to leave the locations cleaner then before we came.
2. GreenGraffiti is one of the only alternatives for mass outdoor communication available to advertisers looking for ways to communicate their message with as little impact to the environment as possible. We execute our campaigns on dirty sidewalks and bike paths and not on walls of private businesses.
3. GreenGraffiti donates 10% of our profits back to local community organizations.
4. We welcome and encourage dialogue and we deeply respect the publics point of view which is why we return and wash away any GreenGraffiti that has caused a complaint or has been inappropriately placed.
GreenGraffiti would welcome your thoughts and comments. We too feel bombarded by the over 8000 advertising messages we are exposed to everyday. As a company looking to participate in providing solutions in our industry, we are not perfect... yet. But we are dedicated to continuing to improve our processes and find ways for the public to benefit from GreenGraffitis mission to help cities of the world improve their environment and increase the quality of life.
Please feel free to write us with any comments, criticism, ideas or just to words of encouragement.
Jim Bowes
GreenGraffiti
exceptionally well done brief snap shoots of praise worthy and do-able business ventures. Thanks
A nice concept - but I'm concerned about the issue of water waste. Surely there is a better means to remove the graffiti ad rather than wasting a precious resource?
Given our recent drought and water restrictions here in Australia(ie cannot wash cars etc) there are water free ways to get things clean.
To waste a precious resource simply to advertise in a more inovative way - seems a poor start.
D
I think this is, on the whole, an excellent innovative idea, which could have significant benefits for the community. Just a few comments on those already given:
1. I assume the water is fired at high pressure and lifts off the dirt. In Wales we had between 2 & 3 inches of rain yesterday - middle of our summer. Water isn't a problem here. In areas where it is, why not re-use water. Water expands by a factor of 6000 when turned into steam.
2. Provided the advertisement is fully cleaned off at the end of the dvertising term, then there is a positive benefit here to the aesthetics of a community.
You should hire me...
We would sure like to know about the other waterless forms of cleaning. Using clean drinking water is a big concern us as well. We had explored the idea of using gray water or water from canals but there are health concerns that given our abundant water situation in the Netherlands, out weighs the use of clean water.
Another course we are pursuing is to compensate for our water use. We have been approached by a Dutch organization that is helping us create a program whereby we will create one clean liter of drinking water for each liter we use in a country where clean drinking water is scarce.
We would welcome your feedback on this idea. Would this ease your concerns somewhat? Is this a direction that compensates for what many see as an irresponsible use of water? Do you have another idea of how we could improve in this area?
Your ideas are important to us and perhaps someone out there holds the key to this most important concern.
Jim Bowes
GreenGraffiti
What is used? Steam or cold water under pressure. I imagine steam would deface the tarmac road and pavements
How do you deal with the local authorities? Do you pay a license for each advert or how did they allow you to place ads on their roads?
From an advertiser's perspective, those who are intentionally looking to reduce the carbon footprint of their advertising will be interested in this. But we have to realize that nothing is perfect, every form of advertising will still have some sort of non-enviro-friendly aspect, its unavoidable.
Where this excels is the fact that its intrusive, impactful, unique and relevant...plus does not put anything into landfills. Win - win.
Unfortunately advertisers cant make everyone happy, like some of those above, but they shouldnt try. I like this, it would work for some of our clients in Canada and most people here would be responsive. We have lots of Chalk Art Advertising on the sidewalks and it fits in well with the dynamics of major urban centres. So, if this is done well, looks artistic in nature, it will be great.
C'mon - you can't be serious about this being a good idea? Sure, it's innovative, but all it's doing is adding one more layer of advertising to an already over-advertised world. What's more, the 'guerilla marketers' that deploy these sort of techniques completely ignore the rules of a polite society - they don't own the spaces where they're deploying their message - what makes them think they've got the right to do this?
GT | July 4, 2008 12:15 AM