It’s uncommon that an advertising campaign submits art for three distinct ads, but Visit El Paso did. (Author’s note: Coincidentally, the only other client to do the same is also a visitor’s bureau.) They wrapped 10 of our pedicabs, and had a uniform wheel cover installed on all 30 wheels. Their campaign also required a second set of handlebars be attached to the drivers’ seat posts so they could hang Viewfinders that held discs/images of El Paso. The real fun part, however, were the daily 3-hour tours. One driver was for hire each day for 4 days.
You see, El Paso has a mascot. His name is Amigo Man. He visited Austin, too, to serve as El Paso’s goodwill ambassador. It was hilarious. Everywhere his smiling, sunny face went, he drew crowds for photo ops. It also helped that he was mobile in a pedicab and taken everywhere where there were crowds. His handler would distribute stickers and candies and the like.
We also met the El Paso city councilman who pushed their visitor’s bureau to promote tourism during SXSW. That they chose the pedicab company run by a native son made it kind of special, really. The campaign was near and dear to David’s heart.
We closed out their SXSW effort by joining their takeover of the bar Stay Gold.
But their campaign didn’t end there! They, as is customary for SXSW advertising campaigns, still had until the end of March. As chance would have it, the pedicabs their ads were wrapped on were also all licensed to operate in Houston, where the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo was still ongoing. In addition to the crowds during the entirety of SXSW, they were seen by several hundreds of thousands more in Houston, and also enjoyed approximately 38,000+ impressions on social media published by Movemint Bike Cab accounts alone. This Flickr collection shows the story well.
This post is a part of our “Visitor’s bureau” portfolio.