WILD POSTING and Why It's Effective
Create citywide brand recognition with wild posting advertising
Hype brand releases, stories, and events
Embrace a unique brand aesthetic with wheatpaste posting
Reach people where they live, work, shop and play
Transform posters into engagement and conversion drivers
Create a halo effect around your brand with wheatpaste posters
Become part of New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles city culture
Level up your brand's street cred
Wild Posting: The Original Outdoor Advertising Medium
Wild posting is a testament to the enduring power of street-level advertising; it's been around for over 100+ years and is only getting stronger. This unconventional yet effective marketing tactic uniquely promotes brands, events, concerts, movies, and causes. Companies cite wild posting advertising as wheat pasting, poster distribution, flyering, and flyposting.
Wild posting offers a unique blend of advantages that set it apart from other advertising mediums:
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Eye-Level Engagement: Posters positioned at eye level command attention, ensuring that your message is seen and absorbed by passersby.
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High Visibility: Strategically placed posters maximize visibility, reaching a broad audience in high-traffic areas.
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Localized Impact: Target specific neighborhoods or areas of interest, aligning your message with the demographics and preferences of your target audience.
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Non-invasive Approach: Outdoor poster advertising is considered part of city life and not intrusive like many other marketing mediums.
Wild posting campaigns can be executed in two distinct ways, each catering to specific needs and goals:
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Traditional Wild Posting: Traditional wild posting aligns with brands seeking an authentic and grassroots feel. It is how posters have been put up around cities for decades, strategically placing posters throughout the city in target neighborhoods.
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Dedicated Wild Posting: This poster method offers brands guaranteed placement of posters in specific locations, ensuring visibility and control. Dedicated wild posting often requires a higher investment for this guaranteed placement.
Identify the wild posting approach that works best for your brand, cities, budget, and goals.
There are two styles of wild posting: wheatpaste and snipe, each with its own advantages.
Wheatpaste
Wheatpaste posters, characterized by their thin paper construction, are adhered to walls and construction sites using a liquid adhesive. Their ephemeral nature and raw aesthetic lend a grassroots, authentic feel to brands.
Snipe
Snipe posters, crafted from cardstock, offer enhanced durability and versatility. Stapled and taped to streetscape walls, objects, and even café bulletin boards.
Diverse Applications
Wild posting advertising serves many purposes, catering to various marketing and communication goals. Wild postings are used by companies to:
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Build Brand Awareness: Establish a swift, strong, and credible brand presence.
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Promote Events: Create excitement and anticipation for upcoming events, especially concerts.
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Highlight Product Releases: Capture attention and drive interest in new products.
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Branding: Integrate wild postings into overall branding strategies, reinforcing brand identity and messaging.
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Cultural Integration: Wild postings allow brands be in the mix with city culture.
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Activism: Posters a super effective for raising awareness and advocating for social and environmental causes.
Rapid Campaign Execution
Wild posting advertising offers quick turnaround time, enabling brands to launch campaigns within weeks. This agility allows brands to seize on market trends and opportunities.
Driving Consumer Engagement
Engagement is sparked when a strong call-to-action is incorporated into wild posting campaigns. Contests, scavenger hunts, and incentivizing people to share on social media are a few examples. QR codes should be on every poster to direct those interested to websites, social media channels, or landing pages.
Cost-Effectiveness
Especially in cities with high pedestrian densities, wild posting emerges as the most cost-effective advertising medium, offering the lowest CPM (cost per thousand) value. Examples include Chicago, Boston, Portland, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington DC, Toronto, New York, London, etc. Posters in these cities have the advantage of reaching a large audience, maximizing their return on investment.
Tailoring Poster Size
In cities like Los Angeles, Dallas, and Houston, where most people drive to their destinations, large wheatpaste posters are the best choice. Due to their imposing size, they ensure visibility to motorists, effectively capturing their attention.
Small to Mid-Sized Cities
Snipe-style posters are more effective in small- to mid-sized cities like Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Nashville, Raleigh, and Portland, where wheatpaste on construction sites is less prevalent. Placed strategically on street poles, shop windows, and café bulletin boards, these smaller posters connect residents every day.
Global Reach
In addition to North America, Wild posting advertising campaigns are possible in major European cities like Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, and Milan. While poster sizes and approaches may vary slightly across regions, wild posting's core principles remain consistent, engaging city audiences worldwide.
A Comprehensive Advertising Process
The Wild Posting campaign includes PDF proofs, printing, shipping, installation, and proof-of-performance reporting. As a result of this comprehensive approach, campaigns are executed precisely and accountable, maximizing impact and measuring results.
Sustainable
In addition to recycled paper and soy-based inks, wild posting uses zero VOC wallpaste.
Measurable Impact
Wild posting campaigns go beyond aesthetics; they are measurable marketing tools. It is possible to track consumer impressions and marketing attribution, providing valuable insights into campaign performance and audience engagement.
Wild Posting Services
1.) Wild posting recommendations to reach and influence your ideal audience
2.) Poster proofing, printing, and shipping
3.) Placement in specific geographic areas on specific dates
4.) Daily poster replenishment to ensure visibility throughout your advertising campaign
5.) Proof-of-performance reporting
6.) High-quality content for your social media channels
Wild Posting Strategy Tips
1.) Street posters come in a variety of styles, sizes, and approaches; ask which is best for a particular city and your brand goals
2.) Snipe cardstock-style posters are excellent for promoting events as they are more versatile in terms of placement (e.g., indoor, outdoor, on-campus, etc.), providing considerably more reach
3.) Wheatpaste wild postings are commonly utilized for awareness, branding, and story-sharing
4.) Focus on cities with tremendous footfall, like Chicago, Boston, Philly, and NYC
5.) Wheatpaste posters have a wrinkly, textured surface in comparison to smooth snipe cardstock-style posters
6.) Design the artwork for your posters in a big and bold way, with minimal text, so people can easily comprehend brand intent and message while walking or driving by
7.) Each city, and often each neighborhood, have distinct poster cultures, defining where it is acceptable to post
8.) Posters are impactful when grouped, although each wild posting design should stand on its own
9.) If your campaign goal is consumer engagement, include a QR code and an irresistible call to action
10.) Deploy two or more different types of wild posting formats to stand out in big cities
11.) 48" x 72" wheatpaste posters are excellent for showing people life-size or larger-than-life brand visuals
12.) These large 48" x 72" wheatpaste posters are the right choice for cities with more vehicles than footfall impressions, like Los Angeles
13.) 24" x 36" wheatpaste wild posters are strategically bright when you want to highlight several brand messages or visuals in one location
14.) Rollout new poster designs weekly to keep your initiatives fresh
15.) Integrate augmented reality (AR) element as part of your poster campaign
16.) Leverage wild posting content on social media
Testimonials
"It was a pleasure to work with you and your team. Everything turned out amazing. So many people were excited to see the posters around town!" - Roux, Yuga Labs.
"Thanks for all the constant communication and proof of placements. It was great to work with you guys, and I appreciate all you put into the campaign." - Leila, Part and Sum.
What is the effectiveness of wild posting?
Compared to other outdoor advertising formats, wild postings provide a better return on investment (ROI).
Each poster is viewed by an average of 2,500+ people per day in big cities.
To reach desired audiences, posters are placed in target neighborhoods.
Brand awareness, interest, purchase intent, and often direct sales (via QR codes) are attributed to poster campaigns.
They are effective for promoting events and store openings, as well as complementing digital and other out-of-home advertising (OOH).
In comparison to traditional billboards, which are secured monthly, these are purchased weekly, making them more targeted.
Many brands view wild posting as effective from a credibility perspective as it aligns them with trendy neighborhoods and edgy marketing tactics.
Lastly, wild postings provide social media channels with unique content.
Bonus Tip: During the spring, summer, and fall, when people spend more time outside, wild postings are more effective in cities such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC, creating more brand impressions and engagement. Conversely, posters are more effective in cities like Houston, Miami, Phoenix, and San Antonio when the weather is pleasant in the late fall and winter.
Wild posting during events and holidays
Outdoor advertising using wild postings is particularly popular during citywide events and holidays.
A variety of events such as Pride, Miami Art Basel, Comic-Con, Fashion Weeks, and marathons increase your poster's audience reach and, more importantly, allow you to reach a specific audience.
Wild posting advertising increases during the holidays as posters remind people to purchase products or attend events.
How does wild posting fit into your company's strategy?
Wild postings can significantly contribute to your marketing efforts if you desire three or more of the following brand outcomes.
1.) Create high-level brand visibility in big cities
2.) Reach people in specific neighborhoods
3.) Build cultural credibility
4.) Share your brand story, offerings, and activism
5.) Generate consumer engagement
6.) Receive original content for your social channels
7.) Become the backdrop to people's lives in big cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles
Wild posting availability
Wild postings outdoor advertising coverage in the top 50 US cities, including:
New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, San Diego, Dallas, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Seattle, Nashville, Baltimore, Austin, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Atlanta.
In Canada, wild posting coverage is available in Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto.
European wild posting coverage includes Paris, London, Milan, Madrid, Berlin, and Amsterdam.
And, within the above cities, brands often leverage wild poster advertising to become part of these trend-spreading neighborhoods:
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
DTLA, Los Angeles
Wicker Park, Chicago
Back Bay, Boston
Pearl District, Portland
Northern Liberties, Philadelphia
Capitol Hill, Seattle
Mission District, San Francisco
Little Five Points, Atlanta
Wynwood, Miami
Bushwick, Brooklyn
RiNo, Denver
Venice Beach, CA
Who's the best wild posting company?
The answer to "Who is the best wild posting company?" depends upon your brand objectives and requirements.
Anyone can put up posters, but when, where, and how they're placed makes all the difference. Choose a wild posting company that can provide you with advertising strategies to solve your specific needs.
And certain wild posting companies excel in certain cities. Do you need to connect with people in Portland or New York City? The best company has extensive experience in reaching your target audience in your desired market(s).
To find the best wild posting company, interview a few, including ALT TERRAIN, to uncover who can provide the options to create the most effective outdoor advertising campaign outcomes for your brand.
Wild Posting Process + Timelines
1.) Ask what is best for a particular city and your brand goals (wild poster formats come in a variety of styles and sizes)
2.) Receive the standard rates and custom wild posting options
3.) Confirm wild posting dates, cities, and neighborhoods 3+ weeks before the start date
4.) Receive wild posting Specs & Tips for your designers
5.) Provide artwork 2+ weeks before your desired start date
6.) Submit poster campaign deposit 1+ week before the start date
7.) Posters placed over one week, not all on the same day
8.) Receive 25+ wild posting photos three business days into your initiative
9.) Access weekly recaps with wild posting reporting pictures from each city neighborhood
How much does wild posting cost?
The cost of wild posting varies depending on the city, poster size, geographic coverage, and number of locations. The cost of printing and implementing a noticeable one to two-week wild posting initiative in most major cities ranges between $7,500 and $25,000.
Another question we receive is how wild posting compares in terms of CPM (cost per thousand) and ROAS (return on advertising spend) with other outdoor advertising options. In some cases, wild postings are higher than traditional billboard advertising, but pack a bigger punch in branding, influence, and connection to people's lives.
Takeaways
Wild posting is the original outdoor advertising medium, and with the growth of cities, it is becoming more impactful every year.
Posters are effective - they deliver brand awareness, credibility, content, engagement, and sales.
People look to street posters for event happenings and to discover new brands.
Reach ideal audiences with neighborhood-specific placement.
Choose from a variety of wild posting styles and approaches.
It's competitive out there, and wild postings give your brand a needed edge.
Connect
Share your target audience, cities, and brand goals for a complimentary wild posting recommendation on our Connect page.
Explore More
Tap into other ways to display your brand throughout cities with Guerilla Projection and Mobile Billboard.
Wild Posting FAQ
Wheatpaste postings are thin paper advertising posters adhered via paste throughout cities.
Once pasted on walls, wheatpaste posters have a wrinkly texture.
Wheatpaste posters can be placed with or without permission.
Permission-based wheatpaste wild postings locations consist of 16 to 24 posters grouped, surrounded by a metal frame, and attached to the side of buildings.
Permitted wild postings allow you to buy out the entire location or be in the mix with other posters.
Traditional wild postings are placed on construction sites, boarded-up storefronts, and abandoned properties.
These traditional wild posting placements stay in place until they are posted over, cleaned up, or worn away by the environmental elements.
Wheatpaste wild posting can be single poster placements or grouped to create more advertising impact.
Snipe wild postings are 11” x 17”, 13″ x 19″, and 18" x 24" cardstock posters placed in visible outdoor and indoor locations in target neighborhoods.
In Europe, Snipe Wild postings are known as boards or boarding.
Poster placement locations typically consist of construction sites, street poles, inside cafes, on-campus, and retail shop windows.
Snipe Wild Postings posters are placed via staples, tape, push-pins, and magnets, depending on location.
With Snipe Wild Postings, there are no predesignated or “owned” locations.
They are particularly effective for promoting local events, highlighting product releases, and brand promotions.
Pull-tab wild postings are 8.5” x 11” or 11" x 17" size posters with take-one pull-tabs at the bottom, inviting consumer engagement.
Poster placement locations typically consist of but are not limited to, construction sites, street poles, inside cafes, college campuses, retail shop windows, and public bulletin boards.
There are no preset or “owned” locations with Pull-Tab Wild Postings advertising medium, although they are placed in target neighborhoods selected by you.
Pull-Tab Wild Postings are useful for tease-and-reveal, cause marketing, call-to-action, and quirky and light-hearted advertising initiatives.
Pull-Tab Wild Posting advertising initiatives are available in Los Angeles, Houston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, San Francisco, New York City, Washington DC, Austin, and many other cities.
Dedicated wheatpaste poster Installations are site-specific and highlight a single brand advertising campaign with 24 or more posters in a single location.
Dedicated wheatpaste wild posting installations often consisting of multiple poster designs and specific layouts.
This form of wild posting advertising is placed with permission of the property owner and often require city permits.
The most popular wild posting sizes in the United States are as follows:
Wheatpaste posters sizes are: 24" x 36" and 48" x 72"
Snipe cardstock poster sizes are: 11" x 17" and 13" x 19"
European poster sizes vary based on country.
