Pittsburgh's Hottest Promo Trend: Sinkhole Bus Merch

By Joseph Myers

Promo Marketing’s Philadelphia base is notorious for its need to engage in public transportation troubleshooting, but since last week, we have found company in the Keystone State. As officials look to remedy a situation that saw a Pittsburgh sinkhole claim a Port Authority bus as its victim, businesses have humorously responded with products and merchandise, including a whole bunch of T-shirts and other apparel items.

The last week has been a puzzling one for bigwigs in the Steel City, but since the matter did not result in any injuries and because micro-moments tend to lead to financial success for the enterprises that quickly capitalize on them, we admit that a few of the creative ways to commemorate the incident were pretty funny:

SINKHOLE DONUTS! 🍩 The Oakmont Bakery created a new donut with a Port Authority bus sticking out of the middle. https://t.co/u4w5lHZWhf

— KDKA (@KDKA) November 1, 2019

Celebrate the season with the 2019 Sinkhole Commemorative Ornament! Shipping mid November. Order at https://t.co/VQvbEpxGfn #pittsburgh #holiday #sinkhole #art pic.twitter.com/nxxPxQZEU2

— toby atticus fraley (@tobyfraley) October 30, 2019

For the foodies among us, local entrepreneurs are selling sundaes, doughnuts and cupcakes that bring a little levity to the matter, but our promo radar really went off when we became aware of the apparel associated with the transit head-scratcher. That's not to say we don’t admire the $30 ornament that a local artist is selling and that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has dubbed “the apex of sinkhole bus merchandise mania until further notice.” We just think the apparel goods have a better shot at generating more impressions and achieving micro-moment supremacy.

Over 41% of people have already started their holiday gift shopping. If that's you, or you want it to be you, we have an idea for you. @Rob_Rogers #PittsburghSinkhole shirts make the PERFECT gift. https://t.co/ZQbhvnQDY5

— Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (@PINJNews) November 4, 2019

A visit to the Pittsburgh Current website’s merch section reveals five T-shirts and a hoodie adorned with an image of an uplifted bus, with the products partnering with a button, a mug, and a tote bag to give consumers the means to make light of an occurrence that has leaders looking at the city’s aging infrastructure. The combination of food-centric offerings, artistic displays and apparel selections again reinforce that if we just look around often enough, we could end up with an example of marketing gold.

While Pittsburgh surely did not want to have to deal with something that calls into question its infrastructural integrity, its creative inhabitants are stimulating the economy through their various wares and are continuing to show that in the race to sustain their livelihood, mostly anything could serve as an inspiration.