Message on the street

UNDER THE RADAR: KARL McCARTHY BLUE STEEL MEDIA:ASK KARL McCarthy about the unique selling point of his alternative advertising company, Blue Steel Media, and his response is simple: "We can deliver the 18 to 30 age group, the most difficult market for traditional advertising to reach".

For advertisers, it’s a compelling answer. Eighteen to 30-year-olds are particularly attractive because, typically, they don’t yet have mortgages or children and so they have more disposable income – and lead particularly active social lives.

On the other hand, especially at the lower end of that age bracket – with the possible exception of well-targeted niche radio advertising – they tend not to be overly impressed with traditional advertising or its messages.

“They’re numb to it,” maintains McCarthy, who, at 26, knows this market intimately. “They’re impatient with it. They don’t see it as relevant to them – and they’re constantly looking for alternatives.” So he and business partner Russell Altman aim to provide those alternatives . . . through so-called “guerrilla marketing”.

After a business degree specialising in accountancy, McCarthy spent two years in the Middle East, working as part of a Cairo-based management consultancy team with Convergys, and later with Accenture. When he returned to Ireland in 2007, anxious to put his business experience to work, he set up recruitment website Irishgradjobs.ie, which he is in the process of selling – apart from a 20 per cent share which he intends to hold. It was through Irishgradjobs.ie that the idea behind Blue Steel Media was born. “We were looking at inexpensive ways of advertising the website and came across street advertising, which has been popular in the UK and Holland for a few years. Essentially, it uses a high-pressure, steam-cleaning hose and a stencil to imprint an advertiser’s logo and message on the pavement.

“It’s perfectly legal. The advert has to be on public property, of course. But the beauty of it is that you can put an ad on the ground beside a bus shelter, for example, for a fraction of the cost of placing the same ad in the advertising panel of the shelter itself. We were the first to use it in Ireland, but only to advertise our existing business. Then we started getting inquiries.”

A campaign of 66 stencils costs € 3,100 and lasts four weeks. “You can see why it’s particularly attractive around university campuses, near nightclubs or shops in the city centre, or suburban shopping centres. And, of course, it’s clean.”

Blue Steel has also sells “handvertising”, where the usual hand stamps used at the doors of nightclubs are modified to include advertising logos and messages. Introduced last July, Irishhandstamps.com now operates at 42 venues, mainly nightclubs, in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast, with Heineken among its clients.

“My business partner, Robert Altman, was in the printing industry, dealing particularly with nightclubs, and he opened a lot of doors for us. From the clubs’ point of view the attraction is that they get a share of the advertising revenue.”

The latest development is a Bluetooth proximity marketing network they are installing around the nightclubs, allowing them to send advertising messages to Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones within a 100-metre radius.

“People will be able to accept or reject the downloads. But this is something we have to be very careful with – it can’t be annoying or intrusive.”

Blue Steel’s turnover this year will be € 245,000, with € 320,000 projected for 2009. Given its rapid growth so far, McCarthy says it will be the largest alternative media company in Ireland in the next few years.

“This type of advertising may be low-tech and low-brow, but it’s also innovative, effective, cheap and even cool. In this economic climate, there’s a lot to be said for all that.”

ON THE RECORD

Name: Karl McCarthy

Job: CEO of Blue Steel Media

www.irishstreetadvertising.com

www.irishhandstamps.com

Age: 26

Background: Business degree, specialising in accountancy, from Portobello College. Spent two years in the Middle East working as management consultant with Convergys and Accenture. Set up Irishgradjobs.ie in 2007, and is in process of selling but will retain 20 per cent. Blue Steel Media, set up with business partner, Russell Altman, runs Irishstreetadvertising.com and Irishhandstamps.com.

Inspired by: Warren Buffet … "who's never put a foot wrong in so many years in business".

Challenges: Convincing Irish companies that "guerrilla marketing" is an effective way to increase advertising.