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PRZOOM - /newswire/ -
Asperup, Funen, Denmark, 2013/06/28 - Intelblast exchanges reverse graffiti advertising on public pavements for graffiti removal, whilst training local unemployed citizens in Spain - Intelblast.com.
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Battling Spanish unemployment
The idea is very simple. A company wanted their logo “printed” on sidewalks, near bus stops, walking zones etc.. Instead of the company just paying the council directly for the floor space needed for this green marketing campaign, INTELblast came up with an idea that exchanged pavement space for graffiti removal, and training/educating 4 local unemployed people in theoretical and practical graffiti removal, highlighting two areas of concern for both the local authorities and citizens by offering a service that has seen its budget eliminated from a high percentage of councils, whilst offering specialist cleaning training in the hope that those educated can find work with some of the bigger municipal cleaning companies in Spain.
Public and private collaboration
In conjunction with the council of Sitges, near Barcelona, INTELblast and its client in this project, Swapsee identified the unemployed candidates, the locations for the non-permanent logos and where the practical training/graffiti removal should take place. The need for removing graffiti in most parts of Spain is enormous, but neither money nor focus has been the issue since the beginning of the crisis.
SWAPSEE is the first company who has seen the opportunities in this new way of marketing and besides financing the education and graffiti removal, they promoted a “clean Sitges” campaign asking the locals to post photos of graffiti that they thought should be removed on their home-page. The uploaded photos were evaluated and counted by the participating partners, two lifts at the train station underpass of Sitges had the majority vote with the drawn voter winning 100,00€, both lifts were cleaned during the practical training whilst Catalonias national TV station, TV3 recorded a six minute live report.
INTELblast will set-up a service, where people can upload photos of their graffiti problems to its web-site. Once a system has been selected for the removal of the graffiti in question then INTELblast will find sponsors for the cleaning by educating more unemployed or if the council is prepared to cover the cost, then these projects will be offered first to those participants who have been educated and who will be contracted directly by INTELblast for the project.
INTELblast (intelblast.com) are also setting up a unique initiative where the trainees can start up their own self-employed graffiti removal service by financing through microloans the start-up cost for equipment and consumables needed to get their business. A helping hand in times where most banks have shut off credit lines, for all without an income.
Advertising is paying for education
The “printed” logos are temporary and will disappear after 2-4 weeks depending on the amount of pedestrian traffic. The logos are printed by placing a stencil on the sidewalk, logo appears in the dirt once washed over by a normal high pressure water cleaner.
Luke Murphy from INTELblast says “It is our hope that the participants, with their new set of skills, will get an opportunity to start a new career. Either employed by a cleaning company or as self-employed graffiti remover”.
After the first class of new graffiti removers graduated at the beginning of June there was real sense of optimism by both organizers and participants.
Besides a certificate for participation in the training, each of the participants will have their CV sentv to a large number of cleaning companies, who have agreed to look at their newly acquired skills with a view to hopefully finding vacant positions for them.
If the councils in Spain take a positive “attitude” in allowing short time advertising campaigns on public sidewalks and at public transport sites, in return for the education of unemployed, then INTELblast as organizer and coach- & finance partner has expressed a commitment to investing in the concept.
More sponsors already lined up
German electronic retailer, Media Markt and the Spanish high end fashion designer Custo have also shown an interest in having their logos on the roads and sidewalks. Dutch based “Green Graffiti” has many years of experience in finding companies who will pay for the these kinds of campaigns and their Spanish “delegation” based in Barcelona has just reached an agreement with INTELblast to find more advertising funds for reverse graffit campaigns.
Finding projects and the matching expertise is not an issue. Through partners located in most European countries INTELblast besides graffiti removal also offers ductwork cleaning, lava/granite blasting and as something very unique also industrial cleaning of processing equipment using dry ice.
With an unemployment rate above 25% it is only a small step in the right direction. But with a lot of belief, commitment and creativity a light has been lit in a dark time.
Contact, Luke Murphy at INTELblast S.L.
E: luke[.]intelblast.com - P: +34 648 538 940
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genni[.]intelblast.com 
