Sharp Thinking

Recenty Sharpie has released an ad campaign that has allowed passers-by a chance to very publicly take part in an act of “vandalism”. These interactive billboards allow a viewer to pick colors and leave their mark all over cities’ ads, sort of taking the opinion: “Its going to happen anyway, why not facilitate it.”


There are a couple reasons why something like this is/can be so successful, especially in the techno-savvy world we are living in:

One, it allows any ordinary person to feed their inner-desire to vandalize. Honestly, we all know it feels great to do something risky and get away with it. It’s human nature.

Secondly, and more smartly, Sharpie has caught on to this “touch-screen” lifestyle everyone is starting to live. With iPhones and Blackberrys offering the Internet and so many other apps literally at the consumers’ fingertips, touch screens and interactivity have become commonplace. Therefore the interface / framework is more familiar to the average viewer and usability becomes almost natural.

This expands Sharpie’s audience as well as changing advertising and guerrilla type campaigns for competitors, both in the permanent marker business as well as those just competing for the attention of the daily commuter on the city streets.

Source: the cool hunter