Wild ‘n Out signs
The original story was featured in the print edition of the San Diego Reader on October 21, 2018.
By Mike Madriaga
On October 11 at about 1:45 p.m., I saw a lady by the I-15 exit on Adams Avenue carrying yellow signs. I wasn’t sure if the lady just pulled the yellow and red Wild ‘n Out promo signs that were there (and now gone) hours before: I quickly flipped a U-turn and parked by the Kensington sign.
“Hi, did you see a lady cross the street with a bunch of yellow signs,” I asked a maintenance woman by the State Route 15 Commuter Bikeway entrance point; she said “No.”
I then walked eastbound and asked a man waiting outside Ponce’s; he didn’t see her either.
“The approximate cost for each one of these signs (measures about 3′ X 2’) can be anywhere between $8-$10 each,” said Gio S., a hip-hop club-and-concert promoter that once lived in Normal Heights. He now lives in Tijuana.
“The method of promotions is old school and not legal when they are put in public areas,” he said. “They will get fined for each sign that the city picks up. They can however be put in private property with the owner’s consent …. that’s why you see the election signs on private properties most of the time.”
Michael, another resident, was hanging out at Cafe Lestat’s (by the Normal Heights sign). “Yes, I saw the signs, and maybe the kids are not paying attention to the ads on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat — as much — so perhaps promo companies are reverting to guerrilla marketing to catch their attention.”
According to online promos, Wild ‘n Out “is the hip hop answer to ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ Musician and actor Nick Cannon hosts his own show with stand-up comedy and crazy games played to a lively studio audience.” The event will be held on November 3 at the Viejas Arena. The show first aired on MTV in 2005 and continues to air on MTV2.
Waka Flocka and Gio
“They will get fined for each sign that the city picks up.”
“They are capturing the millennial and post-millennial crowd,” Michael said, “surely not our ‘Yo! MTV Raps’ crowd where concert posters were mounted on the telephone poles back in the day. And, perhaps, the neighborhoods were not feeling the graffiti-inspired font used on the boards. It does look like tagging.”
“Naw, they do that removal to all of the signs,” said a lady riding a pink bike by where the signs once stood. “They don’t allow that here (plastering random signage in Kensington).”
I asked some younger San Diego State University students about what they thought of the foregone signs.
Two SDSU students said to me that they posted the Wild ‘n Out signs on their campus and said most students “don’t care.” Liz, a business major, said she hasn’t seen them, “so I would say they are not effective …. and only know about the event because of Groupon.”
Gio, an SDSU alumnus, has never booked Nick Cannon for his events, but his colleagues have in the past. “Most of the time, if the promoter who is bringing the show has a style of promotion, he will implement that in order to get maximum exposure,” he said. “Some do posters and others do flyers, but the most effective promo is via social media. As a promoter, in my opinion [the yellow signs are] a waste of money because the letters are too small and the color combination does not let the info stand out.”