Rapid Realty, a real estate firm based in New York is reportedly hiking its employees' annual salaries if they agree to get a tattoo of the company's logo.
According to the CBS New York, Anthony Lolli, the owner of Rapid Realty is offering 15 percent pay hike to the 1100 employees scattered over 62 locations for "permanent advertising". Apparently, 40 of the staff members have already stepped up to ink their bodies with the company's logo.
The idea of a tattoo for an advertising campaign stemmed from an employee who volunteered to tattoo the logo a year back when he was working with a tattoo artist to find commercial space in Manhattan. But the new branding strategy is going viral only now.
The tattoos are all paid for by the company. Each tattoo costs around $300, which is financed by the company itself. Moreover, there are no restrictions on where the tattoo is made too, reports The Metro.
Tyler Evenson was the second person to get the company's logo inked on his right arm. He also said that it didn't matter much because he already had a lot of tattoos and was quite committed to the company.
"When I did it, we were very proud of our company and where we worked and it was fun for us. When I did it, it wasn't a big deal for us. I would consider myself a pretty good agent. I had been here for a while and established myself with the company," Evenson said to ABC News.
However, Lolli himself hasn't got a tattoo yet. He plans to get one soon.
Some people think the strategy is absolute "rubbish". A comment on the web read:
"Now we know the price of the average American. Reminds me of the old joke about the young "lady" at a party, with the punchline, "We've already established what you are. Now we're just debating the price."
This has to be the tackiest, most revolting thing a company could ask a person to do. Why not just give the people an increase without them having to put such an ugly disgusting tat on their body. Shame on this company for asking such a thing for a few bucks."
The strategy of advertising through tattoos is called "Skin advertising," which made its way to the world of marketing in 2000. But how long do these tattoo last? Is it worth the effort and pain?
During the American presidential election, Eric Hartsburg, a 30-year-old Mitt Romney supporter got an "R" tattooed on his right temple in support of Romney's campaign. He is currently on his way to removing the tattoo through laser surgery.
