A step in the right direction, but still not a great place for many companies to promote themselves.

in reading ben’s comments, it sounds like a good jumping off point to discuss outsourcing

j.

Thank you for the clarification regarding the ownership of StrategicDomination.com. Nice of your client to so prominently display your agency on their homepage.

I don’t believe anyone believes you are a charity.

Nor do I believe anyone has a problem with you giving homeless people options. They are adults and it’s not like you are paying them with Night Train.

The problem lies in the fact that your company is capitalizing on the plight of the homeless in an incredibly insensitive and self-serving way.

Strictly from a strategic marketing standpoint, I can’t find a single application for Bumvertising that I’d recommend to any client in any category.

You can do better, Ben.

In fact, if you did a little good, your company would have a lot more clients.

Imagine the story you’d have to tell if Bumvertising evolved from a company people are paying attention to for all the wrong reasons, to one they looked up to for all the right ones.

What might it look like?

Imagine being able to tell this story instead:

- – -

NEWNAME Marketing knows the streets better than anyone. Since we were founded in 2005, we’ve work homeless and at-risk people giving them opportunities while helping clients gain the benefits of advertising in high-traffic areas.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and the company’s founder, Ben Rogovy, started the company as an inexpensive way to get marketing done for his company, PokerFaceBook.com.

The concept gained international media attention, due to its unique (but controversial) approach of adding client’s advertising to the bottom of the cardboard signs used by panhandlers. The company’s former name, Bumvertising, was ridiculed far and wide.

Rogovy’s work with the company opened his eyes to the everyday challenges faced by the homeless, and he changed the business model and the company’s name to NEWNAME Marketing.

NEWNAME helps companies do well by doing good.

Our REAL street teams of marketers REALLY know the street. Our sandwich boards share your advertising message and show the world you care about the plight of those less fortunate.

Our street teams are professional. All are outfitted with fresh shirts and jackets, free.

They are paid a wage for the work they do, and percentage of all of NEWNAME Marketing’s profits go to homeless charities.

Let NEWNAME Marketing help you grow your company, show it’s commitment to social responsibility and help provide the homeless with real opportunities.

Our clients include Quiznos, Sleep Country USA, Washington Mutual Bank, GOOD Chevrolet, etc.

- – -

Wow.

Now there’s a company with a story. Now there’s a company I’d want to talk about.

In fact, if that’s a company you are interested in building, let me know. I’ll personally help you build it.

But only if you’ll kill Bumvertising.

Happy marketing,

Patrick

Your opinion is unfortunately not alone. Since 2005, there have been many people who have had problems with the fact that our agency treats homeless men and women like adults, capable of making their own decisions.

Although I wish I could do more to help the less fortunate, I must remind you that I am running a business, not a charity. Putting a mutually beneficial situation in front of people who have been ignored by the general public is our niche. For their help, we compensate the bums with food, water, and money – a transaction they are grateful for.

Our new Bumvertising™ video series gives an honest view of actual Bumvertising™ vagrants, and our interactions with them – do these guys seem distraught to you?

StrategicDomination.com, an excellent multiplayer war game, was not created by our agency, although it would be nice if it had been!

Regards,

Ben Rogovy
President, Bumvertising™
http://www.bumvertising.com

This is more than appalling, it’s stereotyping and exploitation at it’s very worst.
These “bums” are people that need and deserve real help – not a “job” that leverages their bad fortune and habits for the sake of another’s economic gain.

Advertising related tactics aside… this kind of irresponsible exploitation of humanity should be publically ridiculed as a deep fault in our profession and society. If he really wanted to help them, he’d give them food, money, and assistance in finding the help they need and deserve…without concern for his own gain.

While his web hits may have increased, his brand value has equally decreased – perhaps at a far greater rate than any gains.

Disgusting from every perspective. What kind of society are we to allow this kind of obvious, public abuse of those less fortunate?