Over 1oo cites in the United States, and more than 15oo cities worldwide, have now become #occupied. The Occupy Wall Street movement began in New York City as an outcry against corporate greed along with the widening inequality gap, and has grown into a movement that no one anticipated, especially marketers. Typically an event of this size, with this much publicity, would be garnering a tremendous amount of intrigue about sponsor- ships and have companies clamoring for the opportunity to share a piece of the pie. This movement, however, is a bit more fragile. Matt Creamer of AdAge dug into this oddity in one of his recent articles, What Does Occupy Wall Street Mean for Marketers?
Creamer soon discovered that although there is a large amount of public support for the protesters and the movement, there is still an even larger amount of hesitation from the corporate sector to get involved commercially with Occupy.
It leaves the question to be begged, would the movement be more successful with an official sponsor? Are there advantages and resources that an outside group could bring to the table that the people on their own are lacking? Or would aligning with a big time corporate partner, with the finances to support the endeavors of Occupy, simply pollute their message?
The answer is not certain. Option 1) stay the course and hope for the best, or option 2) alter the routine and see what happens. If protesters continue to occupy these areas, they will inevitably receive attention for their cause, but who knows for how long and if it will be positive attention. If they were to bring in a sponsor, however, to help contrive a more unified, compelling voice they may garner more success in their movement, but risk losing integrity and the progress they have already achieved.
It appears as if Occupiers are marketing themselves, and it is in a sense what we are all doing every day. With every post, tweet and update we are shaping the image of who we are. Some of us, like the occupiers, are doing it on a larger scale and have taken the role of ad agency, PR firm, and marketer into their own hands. For the time being it appears that #occupy is doing just fine #ontheirown, so any hopeful and daring sponsors will just have to wait and see if they will ever get their chance.
