On the second day of my quest to realize a sales goal of $500 a month by July 1st I set off to begin incorporating a unique viral marketing campaign into the arsenal of tricks. AS|ONE is now in the process of developing a fully functional grass roots Street Team campaign.
Excerpt from One Wikipedia definition for “Street Team”:
Originally, the American “street team” model was developed by urban based record labels, like Loud, Jive, Bad Boy and Priority. Rap labels found an affordable and effective bridge to their target audience that did not require the traditional outlets found in print, radio and television mediums. The position of street team representative was often filled by fans of an artist or young people looking for an introductory position in the music industry. Usually unpaid, these teams are often comprised of teenagers who are rewarded with free band merchandise or show access in exchange for a variety of actions:
- placing stickers and posters in their communities
- bringing friends to the shows
- convincing friends to buy band merchandise
- phoning your local radio station to request their songs be played
- bringing vinyl and CDs to local DJs in the clubs where they work
- putting up posters
- posting to band forums and bulletin boards online
- maintaining zines or websites dedicated to the band
I personally have always been under the impression that originally the street team concept was put into use by punk bands of the early 80’s and I am sure has roots that can be traced back even further, however the definition provided lends itself to our discussion.
So the question is how do I take this idea and apply it to a clothing company? Well I am not the first nor will I be the last company outside of the music industry to develop this viral marketing machine but I will attempt in all ways to make it our own. In effect I will attempt to “brand” our street team. Here is how I plan to implement the idea.
- Soliciting membership through opt-in forms on our website as well as social networking sites such as myspace and allowing it to spread virally.
- Add sections to the company’s website that allow complete interactivity among the members of the street team, encouraging them to upload photos and videos, post blogs, vote on important topics concerning the company and spread the general mission of the street team.
- Create propaganda focused on marketing AS|ONE to include posters, stickers, banners, backgrounds and even limited edition t-shirts.
- Award members for their hard work by incorporating a point system which pays off in the form of discounts and free merch.
The team itself will be responsible for helping to get the word out there through stickers, flyers, social networking, banner posting, forum posting and word of mouth.
Let’s see what happens next.
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