Saturday, February 4th 2012. The night rain turns to a steel tipped mist that cuts through the city sky. All I have are my wits, my camera and a back pack full of Slim Jims against the unforgiving masses consuming down town Indianapolis. I’ve been separated from my party and thus parted from any method of extraction. I’m alone. Alone to do battle against the elements, annoying New Yorkers and the hell bound hordes of street marketers pulling at your being as if to drag you to the pit of damnation. No. This isn’t the cute cookie cutter commercials that you watch during half time from the safety of your own home. This is advertising at its most gritty, at its most ugly, at its most primal ……….I give you the Super Bowl, welcome to the jungle.

It’s 9:30pm. I have been standing in the cold rain waiting for my ride for an hour now. We’ve relayed locations and I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to make it out of Indy without losing a body part due to frost bite. While searching for my rescuers, my paths cross with numerous marketing street teams, trying to persuade and even sometimes force me to pay attention to their product. Flyer here, sample there. Scan this QR code for your chance to win whatever. I even saw a woman wearing fish net stockings in 39 degree weather standing on a wooden barrel twirling a hula hoop in order to get people to come into a bar…… I’ve got to get out of here.

What causes businesses to use these sorts of methods in situations such as these? The more important question is how effective are these methods, really? Out of the estimated one million people who passed through Indy, how many took those flyers and scanned those QR codes? I would understand more if it were local business using these methods. With the lack of resources that larger companies have, one has to do what is necessary in order to compete. However; companies such as the NFL itself were using these methods and it begs the question, why? People standing on the corner waving flyers just seems very 18th century to me. All that’s missing is the bell and Paul Revere hat.

I guess what I’m asking is, do we as consumers respond well to “in your face” advertising? I know I don’t respond well to it at all. It seems desperate and impersonal. In all actuality it makes me see the brand they’re representing in a negative light. I even came into contact with various religious factions using these tactics in order to spread their message. Everybody is clawing for attention, looking for the slightest sign of weakness before they attack. This wheel needs reinventing.

At this point I’m ready to give up. It was well passed 10:00pm with no word from my convoy. I had started to come to grips with the fact that I might have to find a hotel room for the night. But with the drastic increase of hotel room rates because of the game, it would make more sense if I just put a down payment on a house. All seemed lost. Lost, until I heard a loud honking which cut through the crowd with reckless urgency. My ride! I’m saved! Using the small amount of energy I had left, I sprinted toward freedom and away from the armies of overaggressive advertisers.

As the city faded into the background and I began to regain feeling in my toes, I was already thinking of ways to improve what I saw; understanding what is wrong and thinking of ways to fix it. How can we become better? As a marketer it’s in our blood to build a better mouse trap………the wheels are turning.