The answer is no. It is usually no to most of the three hundred street marketers and chuggers that stop me every day as I walk to and from Speed Towers. Why? I find their incompetence offensive. I think as a brand employing street marketers, you need to have real control over what they are saying, what they are wearing and how they are engaging with the public – effectively, how they are representing your brand. Just today – I have walked passed maybe ten limp-wristed flyer boys/ girls extending a piece of paper to me. Sorry what was that? Do I want a piece of paper? No thanks. Do I want to know about happy hour at the bar round the corner? Yes maybe – but you need to actually say that. And no, charity representative, you calling me “darling”, “gorgeous” or “the woman that you have been looking for all day” will not motivate me to stop, talk to you, sign up to a direct debit and contribute to your commission.

 
Taking it a step further – I was walking behind a Betfair street-team today. Seemed like a nice enough bunch of students but what were they saying to me about the Betfair brand? Basically that they can’t decide between whether they want Pizza Express or Chinese for lunch. Strolling around town like a Croydon bowling alley gang not thinking twice about the brand on their backs and the agency most likely paying their minimum wage in to their accounts this afternoon. Seems a shame for a brand so strong.

 
On the flipside – you stumble across street marketing that is genuinely engaging. Walking up Regent Street a couple of hours ago amongst the crowds of tourists, I heard the roar (sort of) of a group of mopeds and manly voices – it was a team from Top Man. I don’t know where they were going or what they were doing but they looked bloody cool and If I was a guy, I would be heading straight there to get my disco shirt for tonight.

So the lesson? Street marketing can be great- engaging, inspiring, a talking point for days to come. Or it can be annoying, off brand and a complete waste of money –doing more damage to a brand in one afternoon than all the good a business has spent years, not to forget millions, developing.