looking for advice

[Peter Voice]

I don't think that speed is your best selling point to corporations. It may be for festivals, parties and stuff but words like "staff morale" will work much better with the corp.s

Make a set of promos specifically for them understanding that they like to get something for their money. Emphasise the benefits to their workplace and personnel by bringing a little wit and satire for a couple of days. Target companies with large staffs, identify the personell/human resources manager and/or the appropriate Board member (often on their website) and direct your material to them by name.

The late genious Campbell McComas made a fortune ($25,000 a pop) going into large workplaces for a couple of weeks as a supposed efficiency officer disguise and all. He would then deliver a scathing dryly hysterical speech at the annual company dinner. Efficiency and morale always showed dramatic improvement after.

What you have to offer may not be as dramatic but I think it's significant enough to earn you very good money. What you do is quiet, not disruptive and can engage the whole office regardless of size.

I would suggest you charge by the day ($1000?) and forget the speed thing until the very end (you can pretend you're running behind schedule then use it as a finale, Ta Daaa). If you start slowly at the bottom of the office and get your subjects chatting a bit you'll pick up good tips about the characters as you work up the chain of command. Concentrate on quality not quantity and take your time. I'd unveil them all at once at the end.

The company may even enjoy putting some in its newsletter/magazine/annual report which will get you more work.

With corporate work, novelty is not enough, it's about what you have that will benefit them. By all means, use the speed bit, but as the novelty it is. Make the pictures themselves the crux of the performance.

"The more I charged them , the more valuable I became to them" Campbell McComas (dec. 2005).

[caricatureguy]

WOW!

That's genius! I do have a bunch of local fortune 500 companies on my list of businesses to solicit with promo material. I'm a member of the local (business oriented) chamber of commerce sort of thing with a lot of local heavy hitters like Tupperware, ford, GM, Kiaser, the Cleveland Clinic, etc... That would be a GREAT strategy! Thanks!!!

Postcards are a great idea too. I was planning on mailing the stuff in regular envelopes. I don't have as much to gain by a DVD as most of you (to my way of thinking anyways) Nor do I have the resources to make thousands of them, let alone mail them so I plan on having a couple of videos and stuff like that that can't be mailed, on a website that can be accessed anytime.

I thought it might be cool gimmick to have the potential client go to the website and punch in a number on the intro page as a sort of registration process. This way I know who's checking me out and I have all the pertinent info on them, not to mention it would seem more professional and have that aire of importance that everybody likes...If they are a member of this business organization I'm part of, they will see that they will get a discount on my services too. I suppose that would work particularly well with a postcard too. I am pretty confused about the bulk mail thing though. I suppose it would be worth looking into! Right now I'm figuring that this is going to cost at least a thousand right off the bat.

[Peter Voice]

My pleasure.

If you start with the office boy and work your way up, you should be able to identify all the office stereotypes as you go. If you make a list of the standards, the romeo, water-cooler slug, ditherer, bully, mouse, man-killer, buck-passer, joker et al, they will all be there.

Clever symbolism and a great sense of humour can make a big difference by creating awareness and change. (Use that line in your promo).

Forget fancy bullshit on your website. Get a good simple one up asap. From "Chalk Circle's" experience, postcards are not of great value. Heidelberg Press once produced 10,000's for us at a major event and they nearly all disappeared but I don't think one actually generated work for us.

[Stretch]

<I thought it might be cool gimmick to have the potential client go to the website and punch in a number on the intro page as a sort of registration process.>


You will kill the responce rate if you do this.

Since you are a member of the C of C, go to their mixers and start drawing. Use preprinted stock with your name and contact info in the corner, and draw everybody in sight. On the back of the sheet, have a list of ideas printed on how you can entertain at their various functions, trade shows, employee picnics, holiday parties, product launch, charity events, etc.

At each event, pick a different performance style: Swami in a trance, super fast, super funny, slow and engaging, etc. Do this to demonstrate your people skills, creative energy, and good judgement.


For Valentine's draw all the couple's in the room. For office assistant day, put them on a throne. For Presidents day, wave the flag, for Easter, draw an Easter Basket with the company logo or product.

NUMBER AND DATE each caracture. Create a collectable series. You could do this for the event, the holiday or season.

But DO IT!
The "Metro C of C mixer " halloween
collecter series, the Holiday series, etc. And of course make this meaningful by
using the theme of the series in each of
those drawings.

Set up a deal with a framing shop. Print
their name with a small discount on the back of your sheet. Because your art is so special they will want to FRAME it and hang it on their trophy wall. Get the framing shop to pay for all your printing.

When you are at the mixer, ask each person who their agency is. At this level they are working through an event planning agency and a ad / pr agency. Add these agencies to your mailing list.

Lightly costume yourself for the season, Valentines, President's Day, Easter, office assistant day etc. Get a copy of Chase's calander of events to learn the holidays for every day of the year.

A costume hat, tie, and/or vest over business causual is sufficiant. Won't cost much and you will make a tremendous impact.
Remember to COLLECT at least as many
business cards as you give out.

Every card you collect goes into your data base for future mailings.

At this point, you are your own trade show, you just hapen to be at a Cof C event. Now go to whoever is in charge of a particular company's trade show booth, and offer to do the same for them at their next event. All of THEIR contact info goes on the back of the drawing. You draw EVERYBODY who visits their booth, no matter how briefly.
BECAUSE you are so fast, you can create an emotional impact in the blink of an eye, a emotional contact between the potential client and their business.

You could even do this by attending a trade show that is open to the public. Lots of Home and garden, PET shows! and sports shows this time of year. Pay the $10 to get in, and stroll the aisles, drawing all the venders in sight. Collect their cards, find out who the marketing director is,
etc. And of course your drawing of them
has your pitch on the back.

I think ANY gathering of people would be an opportunity for this tactic. Grand openings, associations, clubs, sports teams, (kid and adult) even church events.

And if you Start do NOT quit!!! Make EVERY C of C mixer.

Cheers!

[caricatureguy]

WOW!

Stretch, there are a lot of GREAT ideas there! Some of them I do already others I have been contemplating but definitely some NEW ideas too. I tried dressing up before, I got fucked with most of the time, so I don't do it anymore. If you go into a bar with a santa hat on, you will leave with a cold head!

I've been thinking of going to the local exposition center during the home show and drawing the vendors there. I do worry about just going to it there though, especially when they are busy. I think I might go early tomorrow morning. It is on my list of things to do this week regardless. To look into it. There is a clown who has rented a booth there this week. I guess he is looking for entertainers to share the (cost of) the booth with him. While I think it might pay off in the long run, my goal is to advertise to the exhibitors themselves. I'll let you all know how it goes. And of course I have my info on the paper. It gets expensive but people don't lose them like they lose cards. I tried to get beer companies to sponsor me and pay for paper with their logo on the back but nobody went for it. I did get 500 sharpies for free though to advertise for them! Second biggest expense, taken care of right there!

I agree with you about the registration thing. I have a tendency to try too hard sometimes... I guess that's why I'm looking for advise. TACTFUL advice! I read a thing about how to write a GOOD advertisement. They say to stress words like YOU and GOOD and make it PERSONAL and make lots of GIMMICKS and BE CREATIVE! I think sometimes that the client would view this as annoying however and I am still not sure if it is beneficial to the advertisement. I've gotten more business but I can't say that that is the reason why...

Again, Peter, the advice about the office workers is sheer brilliance! I love the idea of having your stereotypical office workers. Obviously everything is easier once you have a sort of format you can use as a starting point. That would solidify the idea and make it more interesting when the stereotypes were "challenged and engaged".

I can't see how if somebody would go through the trouble of sticking a DVD into the computer to view it, why they wouldn't just check out a website with a video on it. Can you? This is why I thought that the postcards might be useful. I can't stick pens with my name on them or business cards into a postcard though.

I would like to have some way to passively interact with potential clients on the website. In a tactful way of course. Not for further advertisements but for marketing purposes. So I know what demographic has showed the most interest. Who specifically responded and why. I'd like to have one of those CREATIVE GIMMICKS to make it fun too. I'll have to give it some more thought. I thought at one time about having people submit a photograph and I'd draw them and send it back but that seems not only time consuming but stupid considering they are more likely bitch about how it couldn't possibly be free since they SHOULD expect to pay for it anyways... Free things always make people suspicious. Hmmmmm, there must be something else...

Give aways are a neat idea but have their draw backs... Maybe a T-shirt giveaway, but who wants a t shirt with me on it?! My friend has a puzzle on his site but it takes forever to load and to be honest, it's pretty dumb... Maybe just a friendly guest-book type thing to be included in future discounts or something would work. At least I would know who was there...

[Stretch]

easy/hard

Ideas are easy, follow through, now that can be the hard part.

Re the Santa hat, so wear a Santa tie, or other seasonal tie with a red vest. You're not a freak, but you want to be distinctive enough, that someone can point you out from across the room.

Re the expo, yea get there early before the rush.

When you draw the vender, and the folks that visit their booth, besure and put the vender's product and logo in the pic. And be sure and show the pic to the vender when you give it to the attendee.

Be friendly, play a little, show a sence of humour. Surprisingly, I've run into some guys who were so serious they were either lukewarm neutral or a turn off.

If you want to have some real fun, get the clown to look over your shoulder and make wise cracks about how attractive she (your subject) looks with dreadlocks and a goiter, horns and big ears, etc.

After you have drawn a few for a particular vender, ask them their opinion. Get their reaction. Would they like you to stay at their booth the rest of the day, for their next trade show, etc. Who would make those decisions, etc. GET THEIR CARD, and follow with a phone call in a few days.

Don't wait for good luck, make your own.

[Peter Voice]

CGuy, come back in 6 months or so and let us know how it's going.