Class A Marketing analyses the advertising techniques of drug dealers

Class A Marketing is a new website that analyses the text messages that drug dealers send to their potential clients and discerns what recognised advertising techniques they employ. The project was the brain child of art director Georgi Georgiev who overheard his friends laughing about a text message one evening and decided to investigate further. “Having worked in advertising for years, I have developed a certain attention within me to always be on the look for unconventional and interesting communication. These texts were something I hadn’t seen before,” he says. “After doing some research I realised that these messages are a widely developed practice in London. It took me a while until I managed to gather enough material but found a lot online. After looking at quite a few messages I managed to identify certain marketing techniques that were part of my daily work in the advertising world.”

Whether it is flash sales or the use of humour, it seems that the drug dealers of the capital are writing their texts in a manner that would make a professional copywriter proud. “Class A Marketing shines a light on how clever drug dealers have become. It seems the market drives innovation,” says Georgi. “I have no intention in promoting or glorifying drugs in any possible way. I just find great creative joy in investigating a social taboo and acknowledging its existence. Also, if the dealers have learned how to adopt marketing and advertising techniques, maybe the industry could learn something from the dealers…”

Georgi has designed a series of t-shirts with some of the messages and analysis on them, the profit from sales will be donated to the Blenheim charity who provide support for people with substance abuse issues.