How We Work: Print Distribution
A detailed logistical overview of all the print distribution services we offer.
Hand-to-Hand (H2H) Flyering
These are either event sessions or location sessions.
At an event session, the street team member will flyer for 30 minutes at the entry/exit to an event (i.e. for a play that starts at 7.30pm, our staff will arrive at 7.00pm. For a gig that ends at 9.00pm, they will arrive 5 minutes before the end and stay until 9.25pm).
At a location session our staff member will hand out flyers at a given point (i.e. at a tube station or farmers market) for up to 60 minutes.
At either session, we aim to give out 100 flyers, though this is a generous estimate for event flyering, and quantities can vary due to sizes of crowds and audience capacity – gigs for example often distribute more.
The street team member will provide written feedback about each session along with a selfie of them with your flyer at the location. For most of our staff, we track their arrival and conclusion of each shift using the geo-tracking capability of Strava.
We will send completed feedback to you at the end of your campaign, but please feel free to get in touch about any specific shifts.
We usually aim to run your activity from between two weeks before your show opens, until one week into it (for a longer run).
However, if there is a particularly relevant targeted event outside of this time-frame, we would always recommend flexibility so we can target it.
If a particular session provides really good feedback during your campaign, we might recommend swapping a future shift to retarget this event.
When booking your campaign in, we are happy to research and provide suggestions for suitable H2H shifts at no extra cost. We also have a high level of awareness on which venues are worth flyering and which are trickier (due to logistics of entry/exit and/or security issues).
We ideally need a week minimum from booking to allocating to our team, though if we have good availability, can be more flexible. Booking in batches and well in advance is preferable.
Example H2H feedback:
Poster drops
These are distributed by our street team to a variety of different local businesses (pubs, cafes, hair salons, shops, venues etc), usually close to your venue.
Street team provide a photograph of every poster up in its place. We will send completed feedback to you at the end of your campaign, but please feel free to get in touch for updates at any point throughout the campaign.
We usually need a week to complete a poster/flyer drop campaign, though it varies slightly depending on our team’s availability.
We need a week minimum from booking to allocating to our team.
We require a minimum order of 20 posters.
Example photo proofs:
Flyer drops
We offer either local or bespoke flyer drops
Local drops are general drops of flyer stacks to any receptive local businesses in an area, often close to the show's venue (pubs, cafes, hair salons, shops, venues etc.)
Bespoke drops involve creating a tailored list of venues based on your demographic and then send our team to these locations to drop poster and/or flyers. We frequently put together and target runs for arts, music, family, specific nationalities and LGBTQIA spaces. Whoever your audience is, please share as much information as possible and we will put a list together.
We usually distribute between 30-50 flyers per drop.
For the bespoke drops, if a target venue rejects the print, we advise our team to then make that drop a local drop and find somewhere nearby that is suitable and receptive. This means we will always make up the total number of the campaign, even if some places say no.
For our more regular runs (e.g. OWE/fringe theatres), we have a good idea of where will say yes/ne.
To distribute brochures, please specify the thickness/number of pages and we can let you know quantities.
For either bespoke or local drops, street team provide a photograph of every stack of flyers in its location. We will send completed feedback to you at the end of your campaign, but please feel free to get in touch for updates at any point throughout the campaign.
Timeframes are similar to poster drops.
For either type, we require a minimum order of 20 drops. (This can be split across posters/local/bespoke flyer drops.)
Example photo proofs:
Door Drops
We work with Royal Mail, mailing houses and our street team to distribute flyers/brochures through people’s front door.
Royal Mail needs a three-week turnaround and is the cheapest of these options for widespread distribution in a given area. They can only distribute to whole 4-digit postcode areas, e.g. E15 3__.
Our team can be more agile and target smaller areas but are more expensive.
Mailing houses are better for sending letters to a targeted list of businesses/addresses.
Alternative Print Options
We are used to working with a variety of alternative distribution methods – whether its distributing coasters to pubs or handing out fans at hand-to-hand shifts, feel free to suggest any more out-there/creative ideas. We have flyered at Wimbledon, Chelsea in Bloom, Comic Con and on roller skates. We love a challenge!
We offer extremely competitive rates on printing flyers and posters – please get in touch with your quantities and we can put together a quote.
You must send us finalised design at least one week before your first shift to give us time to process the order and street team ample time to collect the print from our offices.
Our address is:
Mobius Industries
St George's Bloomsbury
6-7 Little Russell Street
London WC1A 2HR