CASE STUDY
ZAMFORIA: ANTI-ADVERTISING &
PRODUCT EVANGELISM
BACKGROUND
Zamforia has its roots in street art, hustle, and rebellion mixed with positive messaging and creativity.
At the time they also wanted to avoid standard fashion & product-related advertising to achieve authenticity.
The brand’s ethos is “world discovery” so it made sense they wanted to make the customer feel that they “discovered something cool and unique.”
GOALS
Develop virility in product design & packaging
Create events to facilitate brand growth vs. specifically marketing the product.
Increase foot traffic to retail store & online sales
Leverage customers to define brand story, making them evangelist
Leverage guerilla marketing for mass market approach
Also for ZAMFORIA, check out these:
THE PACKAGING
We created eye-catching, creative packaging, including: shirts packaged in potato chip bags and even wrapped in cellophane & stryofoam resembling butcher-shop. The experience assisted in virality and word-of-mouth marketing.
EVENTS
While the ZAM did not want to advertise products specifically, memorable events were a different story.
From festivals to scavenger hunts involving local businesses to a fake surf competition & beach volleyball tournaments to trending events like “freeze mobs” to various fundraisers to product release parties to sponsored nights at colleges around the east coast.
Large and small, collectively they created and activated a community to build the brand.
We gave people something to talk about.
Due to the success of events, a charity foundation named Project ZAM was created to help kids travel the world. The promotion of charity increased the following by the positive message and corporate philanthropy. This increased product & brand evangelism.
GUERILLA MARKETING
Two core pillars were created:
Sticker Campaign: ZAM leaned into their “love” messaging with stickers. By handing them out at thousands events to putting them up around the USA they turned up ubiquitously. The logo recognition paired with the street presence that was important for the brand: The medium is the message.
Street Art & Murals: Continuing with the streetart methodology, tags and murals also were created. Press followed. Social virality was created when people took pictures with the murals.
THE OUTCOME
While the ultimate goal would be to sell as much merchandise as possible, the largest win for Zamforia was the brand and culture that was built.
It became and authentic homegrown brand with a loyal following spanning 20 years.
Some of the greatest evidence of the growth were the fans, dozens of whom had the Zamforia “Love” Logos tattooed on their body.
