Guerrilla Marketing Meets Asian Soul Food
College Marketing Co. deployed guerrilla street teams across four major U.S. cities, Atlanta, Tampa, New York City, and Boston, to drive foot traffic for Wagamama's restaurant expansion. The program ran in waves starting in February 2023 and continued through parts of 2024 and 2025, giving the brand a sustained street-level presence in each market rather than a single launch-week push. The Atlanta and Tampa markets carried the heaviest early activity, with brand ambassadors working sidewalks near each city's Wagamama location for a full week in February 2023 before the program expanded into New York City later that year, staffing multiple dates near the brand's Midtown Manhattan address through November 2023. Tampa saw additional activation dates through December 2023, and Boston joined the rotation in 2025 with street team coverage near the Prudential Center location. Across every market, teams of two to three brand ambassadors worked transit hubs, sidewalks, and college campuses distributing promotional offers and food samples, creating direct, face-to-face interactions that converted passersby into diners. The campaign generated local buzz through strategic flyering, sidewalk chalk art, and costumed street performers, tactics coordinated market by market rather than as a single simultaneous blitz. The result was more than 50,000 flyers distributed and over 12,000 direct interactions across the four-city footprint, with a 38% increase in foot traffic at participating locations. College Marketing Co.'s staggered, multi-wave approach let Wagamama test and repeat the program in each market independently, extending the campaign's reach well beyond its initial launch window.
Campus & Student Marketing
Food & Beverage
June 2023