Green pigs pop up at Alki and elsewhere in Seattle: Turns out to be guerrilla advertising

Thanks to Al for the photo – Alki is one of the spots around Seattle where green pigs like those have suddenly popped up. Given the location, we first called Seattle Parks to see if the pigs were some sort of authorized art; nope, no one had asked permission to place them there, and Parks was working to track down who had, before having to spend crew time to take them down. They had heard of sightings elsewhere in the city, so next we went to Reddit‘s SeattleWA subreddit – and indeed, someone elsewhere in Seattle had already solved the puzzle: A real-estate company that has done this elsewhere.

Sue H February 13, 2018 (10:28 am)

I saw one of those this morning on 3rd/University on a ledge above the sidewalk. I assumed it was something someone stole from Pike Place Market (something having to do with the market pig) and just left it there.

Nancy Folsom February 13, 2018 (10:39 am)

Less “guerilla” and more “using publicly funded spaces for free advertising space.”

John February 13, 2018 (10:57 am)

The city should charge the company for illegal posting, littering and clean-up.

Mike February 13, 2018 (10:35 pm)

Agree

anonyme February 13, 2018 (11:18 am)

This is littering. Period. The company responsible should be fined and required to remove each and every piece. It now becomes non-recyclable trash that property owners will be forced to clean up.

Also John February 13, 2018 (11:37 am)

I do not work for them or have anything to do with them…..

I do like the thought of a fix fee. Think about how much money the typical realtor walks away with for doing so very little. They advertise your house….show it over a weekend….get numerous offers…picks the highest…paper work…and they walk away with 3% of the value of your sold house. Lets say you sold your house for $650,000. That realtor just walked away with $19,500. No way can they justify that! How long does it take you to make that money? 3% was fine when the average value of our homes was $185,000 (when I bought mine), but not now with our much higher values. Oh…and remember you also have to give the same to the buyers realtor… Absolutely a joke!

To an experienced realtor the paper work is simple….and the reward is way to large.

Katie February 13, 2018 (1:57 pm)

Look into savvylane.com They are a local fixed fee real estate company. They sold my home and I saved thousands in commissions.
brandon 5406 February 13, 2018 (3:28 pm)

Gosh John, I wish every house sold was that easy. Because then everyone would be an agent for all the “easy” money. But if you’ve had a bad “commission” experience, there are some low cost options out there. Let’s see how fast those options work in the marketplace.
Tom February 14, 2018 (3:11 am)

Why don’t you do a little more research on what a real estate agent actually does in today’s market before throwing your worthless 2 cents to the wind.

“Simple” paperwork also involves a negotiation process to help your client submit a winning bid against multiple offers in a low inventory environment. Dealing with county and state regulations, and staying within the law when filling out “simple” paperwork to avoid being sued by some dimwit like you.

Dealing with inspections, making sure the clients home is ready for sale, competing with multiple agents in a competitive market, meeting deadlines with closing and escrow and the list goes on.

Sure, commissions are nice when you can get them. Stick to what you do (and who knows what that might be), and let agents do what they do. How would you like someone to blast your profession on an open forum without doing some research first?

As for the green pigs? Sam I am, eat Green Eggs and Ham.

MJ February 13, 2018 (11:53 am)

Anonyme

The pigs are cute, if you want the City to fine the instigator I’m ok with that but for consistency the City needs to treat everyone equally for littering.

And frankly, I have less issue with the pigs than I have with people littering hyperdemick needles and trash. These are the people that need to be fined! Hyperdemick needles are a safety issue as is some of the trash littered about.

SaraB February 13, 2018 (12:10 pm)

I agree with other commenters: this is trash and exports the cost of someone’s business onto the public commons. We can discourage this self-centered greed by not patronizing businesses that disrespect public spaces. Don’t get me started on the bike sharing companies that, in my opinion, are doing the same thing, although I recognize there is argument to be made that the bike shares provide some public benefit, unlike real estate promoters.

LIfetimer February 13, 2018 (12:24 pm)

That company is terrible. They represented a relative and gave little help or advise, and the advise they gave turned out to be a huge detriment to them. In hindsight they should have hired an expert, but they thought they would have been more represented than they were. I guess if someone was well versed in the buying and selling process, it would make sense for sure. At least in the current Seattle market. That being said, I do believe that you get what you pay for (if you chose the right firm / person / etc) in pretty much all industries. At least that has been our experience when trying to cut corners. Just my opinion.

Apey February 13, 2018 (12:41 pm)

Cute idea, but in all fairness, didn’t a local company get into some trouble some time ago for using unauthorized sandwich boards to advertise? This seems somewhat similar, so should not be allowed.

littlegreenpiggy February 13, 2018 (12:59 pm)

Don’t worry, we’ll retrieve all of our pigs and send them to a great home.

ImNotSpartacus February 14, 2018 (9:07 am)

Like so many well-intentioned guerilla marketing campaigns, this one backfired. Or…did it? Only one measurement: is the company name more recognized? Next time your average person is looking to buy or sell a home, will the name of this company come to mind? Well…who actually KNOWS the name of this company? Nope, didn’t think so. I won’t post it here to give them free advertising. When I go to sell my house, will I think little green piggies? Nope, I’ll probably think “local realtor” or maybe “Redfin.” Time to send your marketing interns back to data entry.
Jethro Marx February 15, 2018 (8:03 am)

If you’re out corralling pigs today, some half a baker’s dozen are laying down on the job in the bamboo patch next to Meany theatre at the University of Washington.

c

R February 13, 2018 (1:04 pm)

They are all over Renton as well.

wscommuter February 13, 2018 (1:05 pm)

They should have gone out on Tuesday (see David Wiesner for children’s literary reference).

Scott A February 13, 2018 (1:47 pm)

I just saw a couple of pigs attached to the railing of the Olive Way overpass above I-5. They were on the outboard side of the railing above traffic. These are thin steel plates as far as I could tell this morning as I biked over a couple in the 2nd Ave bike lane. Really dumb or reckless promoters to threaten freeway traffic with falling steel pigs.

Lisa February 13, 2018 (1:49 pm)

This is outrageous. I cannot believe we have to be subjected to the likes of poor innocent green piggies being set up in the open like that. I’m a vegetarian and am outraged that their likeness could be used in such a cruel and unusual way.

Oh the horror. How will I get this out of my head? Some things cannot be unseen.

Yes it’s garbage being masked as free advertising. Just like all the soda cans and empty packages strewn along the Alki walkway. Exactly like that.

littlegreenpiggy February 13, 2018 (2:19 pm)

We love pigs. We’re paying tribute to their beauty. No bacon here.

littlegreenpiggy February 13, 2018 (2:18 pm)

Don’t be silly, they’re cardboard.

brandon 5406 February 13, 2018 (3:31 pm)

Aren’t these displays under the same wrap of posting on telephone poles which is unregulated.

While not a fan, I do look at the Phinney Ridge neighborhood and like the Monkeys that are displayed by the businesses as a show of community support. Would love to see W,.S. adopt something similar, but more tasteful that green pigs.

Stand February 13, 2018 (3:42 pm)

They attached them to saplings down at Alki park and damaged the trees. If you live in West Seattle contact – https://www.seattle.gov/council/herbold Lisa Herbold and ask her to take action. This kind of crap has to stop.

WS February 13, 2018 (5:45 pm)

How did they damage the saplings?

CoolitWS February 13, 2018 (5:14 pm)

These are pigs people, my goodness relax.

Jethro Marx February 13, 2018 (6:05 pm)

They’re cooler than campaign signs. Better design sense too, but aside from that, I’m not too chuffed with the flat-fee model. Realtors and listing agents work for their paycheck and it’s not calculated by the hour and pretending every house ought to pay the same is ridiculous. I had one mediocre and one great (West Seattlite!) agent and I was happy to pay for the service.

It’s easy to talk about what they do and how rich they must be but it’s just nonsensical blubbering unless you look into the average salary versus hours worked.

And how did we get this worked up over pigs? They wanted publicity and they’re getting it.

Myles February 13, 2018 (7:55 pm)

Maybe they’re building an army of pig men

April February 13, 2018 (8:56 pm)

Low fees = low service! You get what you pay for!
Us Brokers work up to 18 hours a day just for you!
Neon green pigs are not very flattering.

Calmdownitscardboardpigs February 14, 2018 (12:11 am)

In this market houses sell themselves. How are homeowners getting what they pay for with $20k+ in broker commissions? Seems a little absurd to me.
- Mike February 14, 2018 (7:02 am)
  
  You’re putting a lot of faith in a system that’s not regulated like the licensed agents are. Ever read the fine print, you should, you might change your mind. One lawsuit over a bad sale that size and it’ll ruin your entire life.
  
  That said, the company that put these green pigs out needs to clean them up and be fined for not getting permits to do this and littering.
- RayWest February 14, 2018 (10:03 am)
  
  I totally agree with you, Calmdownitscardboardpigs. Ten or twenty years ago, when average housing prices were far less, then the amount of commissions paid were more reasonable. This is the here and now, and home prices here have double, tripled, quadrupled, etc., but real estate agents are not increasing the number of hours they work in relation to rising prices, especially now. Many homes are often on the market for a matter of days before being sold, so I don’t see why it costs $30,000 or more to sell someone’s house. And yes, I realize agents are not getting rich and realtors’ operating expenses have also gone up, but not to that degree.

zark00 February 14, 2018 (11:23 am)

Houses in this market do not “sell themselves” – not even close. The two Redfin listings on our block sat unsold for weeks until the owners switched to a real agent.

Trelora, behind the green pigs litter, are a Colorado based discount
brokerage. Nothing more, just a discount brokerage. Anyone who uses a
discount broker in this market is a complete idiot.

Redfin is also a discount brokerage. This what Redfin, themselves, say about selling a home through Redfin:

“Customers who sell through Redfin Now will typically get less money for
their home than they would listing their home with a real estate agent,
but get that money faster with less risk and fuss,”

So yeah, if you’d like to fail to capitalize on the hottest real estate market, then use a discount brokerage. But really, don’t, not in this market, it’s a really stupid idea and you will lose money.

alki_2008 February 15, 2018 (5:54 pm)

Your info is incorrect – “Redfin Now” is a completely separate program than selling a home with Redfin . This program entails Redfin purchasing a home directly from a seller. And “Redfin Now” is only available in parts of Southern California. Perhaps do some research before spreading misleading information?

Selling with Redfin, where the home is made available to local MLS, is completely different from Redfin Now.

According to Redfin’s own website homes listed with Redfin sell for about $3k more than comparable homes listed with other brokerages.