Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
Some of the most memorable items of promotional material that I’ve ever encountered have been the brain child of some of the most interesting and creative performers that I’ve had the pleasure to have met. Taking extra time to do something just a little bit off the beaten path can pay huge dividends if you play your cards right and know the tolerance level of your target market.
As an example, I have vivid memories of performer Tom Comet (long before he started Circus Orange) who went to a planned parenthood clinic, picked up an extraordinary number of condoms and had stickers made that were the exact same size as the condom packages and took the time to apply his sticker to the package with the slogan –
Performer Tom Comet gives you one Free F%@K!
On his packaging he used the correct spelling for that often offensive four letter word, but the idea of using a condom to promote his show was something that people talked about A LOT after receiving one of these give-aways!
Another friend of mine, Little Joe Cobden took the time to discover a distributor of cardboard matches who would print his promotional slogan on the match book cover that said – Little Joe says, don’t play with matches… It could burn your house down. Again, a crazy idea of a promotional item, but one that people talked about a lot when he gave them out. Crazy, but doing something different can really create a buzz about your show and provide you with more intrigue than another youtube video might.
Just the other day while performing at the Pacific National Exhibition with my new show that features a stunt performing Hot Dog named Willie The Wiener I struck upon the idea of using little packages of ketchup to promote the show… I could go the route that Tom went and give away regular ketchup packages with stickers printed to size and stuck on them, or look into having them pre-printed like my friend Joe did with his match books… At this point I’m still not entirely sure what the future of this show is going to be, so I’m not about to dump thousands of dollars on promo for a show who’s future is undetermined, but coming up with an idea like the mini-ketchup packages to go along with a show about a Hot Dog Super Stunt Star is just an example of how to look at your show and come up with an idea that is different enough to leave a real impression.
