How Obey Became a Giant | Sticker Marketing | PrintFirm.com

Andre-the-Giant-has-a-Posse

The most successful sticker campaign in marketing history is up for debate, but it’s impossible to discuss this topic without mentioning an unknown art student’s experiment that launched a cutting edge clothing brand. I’m talking about Shep Fairey’s “Andre the Giant Has A Posse” sticker circa 1989, which represents the beginning of the Obey revolution.

Confuse and Question

 

“The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker.”

Before Obey’s rise to international fame over an intellectual property dispute (see the iconic Obama “Hope” 2008 Presidential campaign poster), Fairey was studying Illustration at the Rhode Island Institute of Design. A committed street artist and skateboarder, Fairey used his artistic talents to bring Heidegger’s phenomenology concept to life. While teaching a friend to create stencils, Fairey came across a newsprint of professional wrestler Andre the Giant. Amused by the image, he turned the stencil into paper and vinyl stickers that dubiously declared, “Andre the Giant Has A Posse” along with the wrestler’s massive height/weight stats. The ambiguous sticker started appearing all over the city with the help of the local skate scene, and soon spread across the Northeastern United States. Within a few years, Fairey’s stickers became an international sensation. Faced with a lawsuit in 1995, Fairely abandoned the original design in favor of the current likeness seen in the Obey logo.

Sticker Art Analysis

Fairey never intended to start a global movement, at least not with the original stencil. His guerrilla marketing achievements still stun traditional art critics, and his image undoubtedly appeared at the right time in America’s cultural journey. In retrospect, it’s easy to see how he combined several elements of anti-establishment subcultures to form a definitive symbol of Gen X irony. A campy pro wrestler symbolizes the absurdity of mainstream media; the word “Posse” comes from the early days of hip hop. The sticker’s message speaks to insiders, leaving everyone else to decipher the meaning or be left out.

The takeaway: Don’t worry about specific promotions when designing your sticker. Concentrate on connecting with the people most likely to enjoy it, your brand’s core fan base.

Influence Marketing Lessons

Fairey insists that he only wanted a few laughs from friends, but this approach got a lot more than he bargained for. By targeting a select group of people close to him, Fairey managed to tap into a branding goldmine. Once he planted the seed, the skater crowd did the leg work for him.

The Takeaway: Unless you have unlimited resources, be strategic with your stickers. Reserve them for people involved with larger social circles, the people whose choices impact their peers.

Published by Katherine Tattersfield

Katherine is a professional copywriter and social media manager at PrintFirm.com. She fell into online marketing in 2010, and built her career around this dynamic field. She earned her B.A. in Political Science from California State University, Northridge (Summa). When she's not writing, Katherine enjoys photography, skateboarding, graphic design, and chasing her dog around with her husband. Connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Plus.