Graffiti Advertising

Graffiti in the last few decades has grown wildly popular and become widely regarded as an art form, a shift from the past and a stigma of vandalism. In the last few decades graffiti has also went from the underground work of passionate artists, to an awareness and engagement tool to deliver brand messages by advertising agencies.

Graffiti arguably started as far back in history as our ancestors the cavemen or ancient Egypt and Rome, but for the purpose of this post let’s start with the origins of modern graffiti which started in the Northeast (Philadelphia and New York) in the 1970’s by guys named Cornbread, Vic 156 and Taki 183 with the intent of getting a “rep” (reputation), a street code word for raising your brand awareness. So it makes perfect sense that it has grown in popularity with advertisers who are always looking for creative ways to connect with consumers.

Some companies that specialize in creating graffiti advertising include Alt Terrain and Tats Cru Inc.; Tats Cru is a Bronx based company of professional graffiti artists who started out as teenagers creating subway graffiti.

Graffiti remains a mostly outdoor medium that has extended brand benefits like making a brand cool, edgy and urban, and for that reason marketers from all categories are using graffiti as part of their integrated marketing plans around the globe.