Originally Published in CAMUS #3, September 2020
Legendary graffiti artist JA has been covering New York City streets and subways with his work for more than 30 years. It’s hypothesized by many that he has done over one million tags during this time. Seasoned graffiti artists like him put a lot of thought into the process of creating their artwork throughout the course of their careers. They closely examine public spaces to identify locations where their work will have the biggest impact, they are brave and efficient because they know they only have one chance to make an impression each time they make a mark, and they know that whatever work they create can disappear — almost all graffiti art will ultimately be buffed or painted over in a matter of days or weeks.
Experiential marketing and graffiti share some core similarities. Both graffiti artists and experiential marketers create work that lives outside, both create work that the public can interact with, both reconsider the use of public spaces to deliver messages in disruptive ways, and both create work that is mostly temporary and lives on in photos or online. Graffiti writers and street artists are themselves experiential marketers, and as live experiences evolve, there are some important lessons that marketers can learn from them.
Embrace the Pivot
Legendary Boston graffiti writer RYZE 5AV explained the process of starting out in graffiti on his Instagram. His thought process, while specific to graffiti, is applicable to any creative field and is especially relevant to experiential marketers in a time of social distance. RYZE expounds:
“Starting out as a writer is a lot like starting to grow you’re hair long because you just discovered how fucking awesome heavy metal is. There will be an uncomfortable period where you’re hair is not short also but not long yet. Keep doing outlines and actually painting them until that metal chick you’re hot for actually takes notice of you and your new shoulder length locks. Let other people’s graffiti influence you at first until you can do it but then start finding you’re influences outside of graffiti and you will stand out. Go forth and destroy..”
As is the case when starting out in graffiti, marketers will undoubtedly experience some discomfort as they adjust to a new normal. Incorporating digital elements into their workflow may feel uncomfortable for example. As RYZE implores, it’s important to keep pushing and keep experimenting. This pandemic is making things more difficult, but it’s also opening up new areas of opportunity. Consider different approaches and look for inspiration in new places and eventually you can start to make work that stands out and thrives in a post-Covid world.
Find Perm Spots
An important element of graffiti is identifying locations that are either high profile and will capture the most attention, or “perm spots” that might be harder to find, but will avoid getting buffed, thus living on for years. SMITHSANE are a graffiti duo from New York City who developed a reputation in the 80s for finding the best of both. The most iconic location they painted was the Brooklyn Bridge in 1989, which ended up being featured in the newspaper and garnered so much attention that the city ultimately came after them with a lawsuit.
SMITHSANE weren’t only concerned with painting the most visible locations. They also traversed the tunnels of the city, leaving their mark in cracks and crevices and abandoned train stations underground that are still being discovered today, more than 30 years later.
SMITHSANE’s approach to their work was to go big and to simultaneously go local. As the world eventually comes out of quarantine, marketers and brands will need to reconsider their experiential strategy.
Taking a page from the SMITHSANE book, it may be more effective to activate projects that are tailored to local communities with programming specific to them. This creates the opportunity to develop a stronger relationship as opposed to more generic programming that won’t be memorable and doesn’t resonate as strongly.
Create a Dialogue With The Work
SKEME is one of the artists featured in Henry Chalfant’s 1983 documentary, Style Wars in which the artist describes painting a message on two whole subway cars the night before. He explains that on the first car he painted “ALL YOU SEE IS”, and on the second he painted “CRIME IN THE CITY.” SKEME used a subway car as a traveling billboard to share his critique about how he believed the police were viewing minority communities in neighborhoods like the Bronx, where he was born. Some of the best experiential projects similarly create a dialogue with audiences and generate organic conversations around the work. One recent example of this is Aberration Lab by VTProDesign, which invited audiences to tweet messages of hope to a twitter account. The messages were then converted into light paintings that could be shared out on social media.
Create Your Own Opportunities
In the late 90’s the graffiti writer and sign painter Stephen Powers aka ESPO found an opportunity to make his work stand out by utilizing roll down grates on bodegas across the city. These turned out to be an ideal canvas for a style of work he was producing at the time using paint brushes and roller paint.
Painting graffiti on a roll down gate was not a new concept, but using the entire thing for one work of art and repeating this process across the city made his work more recognizable to a wider audience and catapulted him into the larger conversation about graffiti’s place in contemporary art. Experiential marketers should take a note from ESPO about bringing simple but effective low touch activations to life. A good example of this approach in experiential marketing is the Art in Progress project from BBDO and GHOST Experiential, where otherwise mundane wooden planks around a construction site in NYC were transformed into works of art for Bombay Sapphire.
Use Your Environment
French street artist JR is known for his public art works that feature large format photographs installed onto existing structures. For example, last year his installation of a child peering over the Mexico / US border wall received a lot of press because the concept cleverly utilized the existing border wall to create an art piece. Experiential marketers might find some inspiration in JRs work because it’s both simple and effective. Experiential marketers often complicate programs with creative ideas or technology that seem exciting, but are ultimately unnecessary. Sometimes an idea just needs to reconsider something simple as a sidewalk to become effective.
Innovate or Perish
Graffiti writer turned fine artist JASON REVOK exemplifies innovation across all areas of this work. He is arguably the greatest living graffiti writer, having established himself as a style pioneer capable of creating highly complex public works in illegal locations around the world. He has simultaneously developed a successful studio practice, incorporating new tools and methods into his studio art including a tool that fires multiple cans at the same time. He was recently commissioned to create artwork at Nike’s campus in Beaverton, and currently is participating in gallery shows across the US and in Europe. Coming out of quarantine, it is essential that experiential marketers take a note from REVOK’s playbook and push themselves to be more innovative with their work. Traditional experiential marketing is off the table in the current climate but leveraging new technologies and thinking about ideas that innovate and connect people remotely can help keep ideas alive and get projects across the line.
