Guerrilla Marketing: Sublime Juxtaposition

I have no doubt that Cultural Studies professors of the future will write windy academic articles about the sublime juxtaposition of fat/obesity discourse represented by these two posters. Just tell them you saw it here first.

5 ways in which you can help publicise the Big Bum Jumble

There are two weeks to go to the Jumble and we need your help for the final push for publicity.

Here are some of the ways in which you can help.

1. Use the flyers and posters
Download the flyer and poster and print some copies. You can do this on a printer, or you can take one copy to a photocopy place (like a newsagent, a post office, or just sneak some copies off the copier at work) and run some off there. Give flyers to people, or leave a little pile at local places, like cafés, libraries, community centres, pubs, anywhere that people leave flyers. Go to shops and any kind of place you can think of and see if the owners will let you put a poster in the window. Put posters in crazy places, be daring, take pictures and send them to us so that we can stick them on the blog. The first person to put a poster on the railings of Buckingham Palace wins a prize. That is no empty promise.

2. Use your big mouth
Tell your friends. Tell them in person over a cup of tea, call them up and tell them, send them a text about it. Go round to their house and put a note or a flyer through their door, telling them that you bet they'd really enjoy supporting the Jumble. If you have a job, tell your colleagues, even the annoying ones, they will think you are a cool person who does interesting stuff, which of course is true, and your boss will give you a pay rise, ok, maybe not, but you never know. Tell your Facebook friends too, and invite them to join the Big Bum Jumble event page. Use Twitter. Use anything!

3. Take over the media
Tell your local paper and radio station. They will be in the phone book, or you can Google them. Encourage them to have a look at the Big Bum Jumble press release. If you feel brave, present yourself as a Jumbler and invite them to run a story about why you think the Jumble is a great idea. Drop us a line if you need help with this.

4. Link link link
Link to anything you like that has been published here, or that mentions the Big Bum Jumble. Even if it says: "The Big Bum Jumble is a giant waste of time and anyone who likes it is a loser". All publicity is good publicity. You can use the share buttons at the bottom of each post, or Google 'Big Bum Jumble' and see what comes up.

5. Random stupidity
Do something really ill-advised in the name of the Big Bum Jumble. A tattoo, for example, or some kind of performance art. Try not to get arrested.

Thanks!

Kay's Flyering Tales

Kay's been out and about flyering for the Big Bum Jumble. She says: "I've been carrying around flyers and posters from the Jumble in my bag for a few weeks now. Maybe I've given one to you? I've heard a few people say that they would be too shy to give out a flyer, or worried that giving out a flyer for a fat thing to a fat person might cause some offence. I'll tell you a bit about my experience and perhaps this will embolden people to go out there and start telling strangers about the Jumble.

"I've been flyering in my local shopping streets, East Ham High Street on a Saturday, Walthamstow Market during my lunch breaks from work. My best technique involves skulking around outside Bon Marché or Evans to catch disappointed shoppers on their way out. I find saying "Can I give you a flyer for my Jumble Sale, all plus sizes!" gets people taking them happily. I've had lots of people thanking me and saying what a good idea it is. Quite a few have said that they'd had similar ideas themselves.

"The other thing is that I found out where slimming clubs met. Where better to find potential Jumblers, eh? A pub on my local high street hosts a slimming club and I went in to leave posters, which they happily accepted. The customers were interested. I said: 'You don't have to be fat to come,' and they answered, 'We're all fat here!' 

"Of course, some people don't want to take a flyer but I've only had two negative experiences in all these weeks of flyering, both of which I loved. One woman said that the name Big Bum Jumble was 'not very flattering' (tee hee!) and the other was a super-cool teen girl who gave me a drop dead look. Thrills!"

You too could have adventures like these! We really need help in the final run-up to publicise the Jumble as much as we can. Simply download and print our gorgeous flyers and posters and get busy. You can also post digital versions on your blog or website, or just link to the download page. Let us know what happens.

5 reasons why you should donate your clothes to the Big Bum Jumble

We're still looking for donations for the Big Bum Jumble. We want this inaugural event to feature as much plus-sized goodness as possible, in as many sizes and styles as we can get. To do this we need your help.

Here's why you should donate your unwanted clothing in sizes XL+ to the Big Bum Jumble

1. It feels great to have a clear-out
Don't hang on to clothes that don't fit you, or which never looked good in the first place, send them to us instead! Don't torture yourself by wishing something that doesn't suit you now will look amazing on you in some mythical future. It won't. Get rid of it all instead and make space in your wardrobe for things that do fit and look hott on you.

2. You'll be taking part in a unique and historic event
As far as we know, no one else has ever embarked on an event like this on such a scale in the UK. By the simple act of donating your unwanted size XL+ clothes, you'll be helping to pave the way for more events like it in the future. Remember that the Big Bum Jumble is not-for-profit, which means that all money raised will be ploughed back into similar low-cost community events and activities.

3. No Polar Bears Will Die
The Big Bum Jumble is good news for Mother Earth. It's all about recycling, reusing, appreciating things, and preventing clothes from ending up in landfill. If you donate your stuff to the Jumble and then, by some unknown reason, find yourself in the Arctic one day surrounded by hungry Polar bears, you will have a better chance of escape once they find out that you took part in this eco-friendly event and thus helped keep the ice caps frozen. Polar bears like this sort of thing.

4. You'll be helping to promote happiness, confidence and self-esteem in people who wear size XL+
Here's the scenario: you donate some big-sized clothes, someone who wears a big size tries them on, thinks they look wonderful, buys them, loves them and always feels great whenever they wear them. You will have helped create this. Aah, warm fuzzies!

5. All big-sized clothing is welcome
We want stock for the Jumble that reflects the diversity of bigger-sized people. It doesn't matter if you're trendy or dweeby; a fella, a lady, or any points inbetween; younger, older, richer, poorer, none of this matters to us, we want your donations. It helps if you live in London but we can arrange pick-ups of large amounts of clothing from elsewhere. Neither does it matter if you're donating a few things or a truckload; stuff you've worn to death or things you've never worn; high fashion, everyday clothes, uniforms, vintage, unfashion, workwear: we want it all!

Here's how to donate

Arranging a pick-up of your stuff couldn't be easier, simply email bigbumjumble@gmail.com and we'll sort something out.

You can also bring along donations on the day.

Pass it on!

PS. Even if you've got no clothes to donate or don't wear aize XL+, you can still support the Big Bum Jumble by helping with publicity Feel free to download and print the Big Bum Jumble flyers and posters, and distribute them wherever you can. You can also tell all your Facebook friends about this fantastic event, and link to us too if you feel like it.

Guerilla marketing: the chill cabinet

Jumble madness is hitting East London and there are still weeks to go until the ribbon is cut and we all pile in to the Big Bum Jumble. Witness this example of guerrilla jumble marketing, offered by an anonymous jumbler of Bethnal Green.

We still need help getting the word out about the jumble because a) we want people to come and b) we want donations of clothing to sell. Take a leaf out of this saucy jumbler's book, download the Big Bum Jumble posters and flyers, stick 'em up all over the place, and send us pictures of your most demented publicity coups.

Guerilla marketing: the sociologists are in the house

Dr Bill Savage rose to the challenge thrown down here and has offered her own example of Big Bum Jumble guerrilla marketing – at her university's Sociology department! She tells us: "I am carrying posters with me wherever I go." You should too.

Phooey to those dullards in Cultural Studies, their part of the noticeboard looks crap!

Got pics of your genius Big Bum Jumble marketing strategies? Send 'em please.

Mobile Advertising Campaign!

No expense has been spared on promoting the Big Bum Jumble, hee hee hee.

Kay has thrown down the gauntlet for insane Big Bum Jumble guerilla marketing via the most uncool car of all time: the Nissan Micra. Can you top that? Send in your pics and we'll publish them. No promo tactic too bizarre!

Remember: the more people who come and bring stuff, the better the pickings.

Click for flyers and posters to download and spread about.

Flyers and Posters

Look! Look! Flyers and posters for you to download, print and distribute. Send 'em to your friends, plaster them around the place, amuse us with your most audacious BBJ publicity coup.

Big Bum Jumble Flyer (.pdf 147kb)

Big Bum Jumble Poster (.pdf 168kb)

Thanks to Meryl Trussler for the grrrl design, Simon Murphy for the label design, and Charlotte Cooper and Bill Savage for ideas and technical image wrangling.