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Business signage can be the target of wanton vandalism and graffiti, but instead of getting dirty about it, one nimble CENTURY 21 agent has used it to his advantage.
Sam Outch, a young sales agent with CENTURY 21 Castle Hill in Sydney’s northwest, discovered that one of his billboards had been defaced, with someone drawing “a pair of glasses and some squigglies” on his face (see image at bottom).
“I sold the property 21 days ago,” Mr Outch told REB sister publication My Business.
“I drove past it yesterday and I saw it and I just p***ed myself [laughing]; I was not expecting it, being on a high-traffic corner.”
Mr Outch said the first instinct of many people would be to take down or replace the sign. However, seeing the funny side, he decided not only to keep it in place, but to show his sense of humour to the world by taking a photo and sharing it on social media.
“It’s not anything too nasty, it’s not anything too rude. I thought, ‘you know what? It’s going to make people look at it even more. I laughed, so some people would look at that and think it’s pretty funny, so I decided to leave it up there. It’s up there for probably another two or three weeks until it settles,” the agent said.
“Everyone loves a good laugh. On Facebook as well, there’s been a lot of people commenting on it: ‘It suits you’. It’s been really good publicity. Most people would just rip the sign down [thinking] ‘this is making me look like an idiot’. But I thought it was funny, so I just thought I’d run with it.”
The post had dozens of likes within hours of Mr Outch posting it.
A day later, he also posted it on his LinkedIn page. Included with the photo, he wrote: “It takes an average of 21 days to get drawn on in Parramatta. Call me now to secure you[r] next property so we can put a signboard up as a blank canvas for the Parramatta Picasso.”
According to Mr Outch, damaged sign boards are a fairly common occurrence for real estate agencies.
“I’ve had people punching signs and putting holes in them and pulling them down. That’s quite common especially if you’ve got something near a pub. Also, there’s been people that just do your standard graffiti on them. Majority of the time, because of what they’re made out of, you can usually try and get it off, but it doesn’t always work,” the agent said.
In this instance, Mr Outch was just glad that people could enjoy a laugh from it and he has benefited from some extra publicity.
“I’ve had random people [commenting on the post], but I haven’t had any negative comments,” Mr Outch said.
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