Wheatpasting Chicago

What neighbourhoods do you cover in Chicago?

We work across Wicker Park, Pilsen, Logan Square, Bucktown, the West Loop, Andersonville, Bridgeport and Downtown along the Magnificent Mile corridor. These are the areas with the strongest foot traffic and the most active street culture in the city. We hand pick every location based on your target audience. Music and creative campaigns land hardest in Wicker Park and Logan Square where the arts and independent music community is most concentrated. Fashion and lifestyle brands do best in Bucktown and the West Loop. Pilsen is one of the most visually rich neighbourhoods in the city with a deep mural and street art culture that makes it a natural fit for wheatpasting campaigns targeting a creative and culturally engaged audience. We know these streets well and we will put your posters where people actually stop and look.

What kinds of brands and campaigns work best with wheatpasting in Chicago?

Music releases, film and TV campaigns, fashion drops, nightlife and event promotions, sports campaigns and consumer brand launches all perform strongly on Chicago streets. The city has one of the most diverse and culturally active populations in the United States and audiences here span music, sports, fashion and food in a way that few other markets can match. Chicago has a long history of street level visual culture rooted in its music scene and its neighbourhood identity and wheatpaste campaigns here feel native to that tradition. Brands targeting the 18 to 35 demographic consistently get strong results across Wicker Park, Logan Square and Pilsen.

How long does a wheatpasting campaign run in Chicago?

Most campaigns stay up and looking good for 2 to 4 weeks. Wheatpaste bonds strongly to brick and concrete and Chicago has some of the best brick surfaces in the country throughout Wicker Park, Pilsen and Bucktown. Chicago winters are severe and extended cold, snow and freeze thaw cycles can accelerate wear on exposed placements. We factor seasonal conditions into location decisions and favour sheltered and covered surfaces during winter months to extend campaign life. If a poster gets covered or damaged during the campaign we will replace it. We photograph every installation so you can see exactly where your posters went up across the city.

Chicago campaigns typically run between $2,000 and $8,000. Where you land in that range depends on how many posters you want, what size, how many neighbourhoods you want to hit, and whether you need us to design the artwork. A small run of 25 posters across one area sits at the lower end. A bigger push across multiple corridors using large format 48x72 inch posters sits toward the top. Everything is all-in with printing and street installation included in one price so there are no surprise costs on top. Fill out the form and we will come back to you with a quote within the hour.

Yes, everything is done in house. We print and we paste. Most wheatpasting companies outsource the printing and charge you separately for it. We have our own print operation so you deal with one team from start to finish, the turnaround is faster, and we can catch any quality issues before a single poster goes up on the street. You bring us the brief or the artwork and we handle the rest.

Our most popular size is 24x36 inches which works well across most Chicago street locations and gives your artwork real impact at eye level. For high visibility walls in Wicker Park, Pilsen and the West Loop where you want something that commands attention from a distance we go up to 48x72 inches. Chicago has exceptional wall surfaces for large scale multi-sheet takeovers particularly throughout Pilsen and Bucktown. We print everything in house so we are not limited to set sizes and if your campaign calls for something specific we can work with you on it.

Yes. Our graphic designers work with you on the artwork if you need it. Chicago street culture has its own visual language rooted in its music and neighbourhood identity and what works on a screen or in a studio does not always translate to a Wicker Park or Pilsen brick wall at street level. We know what reads well from a distance, what holds up across different Chicago light and weather conditions, and what actually gets photographed and shared. If you already have print ready artwork great. If not we can build it from your brand assets.

Set your file up with a 1/8 inch bleed on all sides and keep any important text or logos at least 0.25 inches inside the trim line so nothing gets cut during finishing. Resolution should be between 150 and 300 DPI at full print size. 300 DPI gives you the sharpest result and 150 DPI is usually fine at large format viewing distances. Colour mode needs to be CMYK not RGB and PDF is the safest file format to send us. If you are not sure whether your file is set up correctly send it over and we will check it before anything goes to print.

For most campaigns we can go from artwork approval to posters on Chicago streets within a few days. If you have a tight deadline around a show, a release, a launch or a live event tell us upfront and we will work around it. Same day printing is available for urgent jobs. The fact that we print in house means we are not waiting on a third party to deliver stock before we can start installation.

We photograph every poster at the time of installation and send you a full set of campaign photos showing each placement in context on the street. You can see exactly where your campaign landed across Chicago. Photos are delivered within 24 hours of installation completing.