Brutal Balloons

This is our story 🎈www.brutalballoons.com 

[brutalballoons-blog]

How We Re-Invented Balloon Modelling: Behind The Scenes 🎈

When we created Brutal Balloons we wanted to create an easy way for people to ruin special occasions. It’s that simple...

In the past we’ve struggled to communicate who we really are and what we stand for - just a couple of Oxbridge graduates applying our degrees, creating abusive balloons to ruin all special occasions. Balloon selfies were not enough. Balloon boomerangs were getting boring. We needed to up our game to really connect with our audience. We needed to humanise the abusive balloon. Finding a way to build a meaningful connection with real people. Something no one had ever dreamed or attempted before. 

We needed to combine our passion for rude balloons and people into one, beautifully composed set of photos. 

“Humanise the abusive balloon like no one had ever done before” 

So how does one humanise the abusive balloon? A question we weren’t sure we could even answer. But we did it and here’s how...

1. Transform the living room into a photography studio 

We can’t really do these shoots in public. They are too offensive. So while the housemates were out, we transformed the living room into a professional photo studio. Serious set up! 

2. Fill the Balloons with the perfect amount of helium 

Too little and they’ll be floppy, too make and they’ll look ugly. Balloon filling is an art not to be underestimated. A true craft.  We take it very seriously here at Brutal Balloons. 

3. Find the perfect model 

Find a model that believes in your vision. One who can look you in the eye and convince you to buy them without saying a word. @soph_xpp (that’s an instagram handle if you live in a cave / don’t actually know her real name to be honest) was perfect. After months of searching, we found her and knew she was the one. 

4. Shoot! 

The Rude Hen Party Mix 

Half of the original 12 Balloons 🎈

If it’s all going wrong, remember...

This took fucking hours to get every balloon perfect...

5. Release into the wild (Sorry not sorry, Greenies) to ruin peoples day...

And, The result is beautiful... 

The Hen Party Mix

The Birthday Mix 

The Original Abusive Mix 

Big thanks to Kojo Photography for the the shoot & edits, and a massive thanks to Sophie for incredible art we’ve created. 

Facebook and instagram won’t let us advertise this stuff. So if you like what we do we’d appreciate the share! If you want to hear more about our ambitions of spreading the filth and generally ruining special occasions we’re on all the social stuff - facebook, instagram and our website.

xoxo🎈 

[brutalballoons-blog]

Engineer to Balloonier: The Brutal Balloon Story 🎈

The dreaming spires of Oxford have long been a bastion of Southern supremacy, but then one day, after 5 years of various attempts at climbing the corporate greasy pole, one graduate has seen the light. Going only by the moniker of “the founder,” the brain of this aerospace engineer turned entrepreneur (or as he prefers, “balloonier”) has transformed a world class education into the humble beginnings of a helium filled balloon empire. 

“The Founder” receiving his engineering degree from Oxford University

Knowing there had to be a way to put his engineering degree to good use, the founder pursued the first idea that came to his head: print profanity on balloons. Some interesting email exchanges with a Chinese supplier and transferring the contents of his bank account to someone he’d never met before on the other side of the world later, 100,000 balloons were on their way to London. 

Spicy email exchange...​

It turns out 100,000 balloons is quite a lot, 2 palettes in fact. Not thinking too far ahead about where to store them, the founder resorted to the bedroom warehouse approach:

Just a few of the balloon shipment stored in the founders bedroom...

“Although it didn’t happen very often, trying to explain these giant bags of latex in your bedroom to a girl after a few beers was never easy” ​

Falling strongly into the category of, ‘things you’d rather not tell your mother about,’ these balloons have been a roaring success selling out in just 6 months, defying not only expectations, but conventional wisdom, rationality and the underlying belief that people make decisions unintoxicated. 

Brutal Balloons has plenty of fans...

Now with almost thousand’s of followers, Brutal Balloons has not only struck a chord, but become a rallying point for those seeking to express themselves in the physical world through inflated rubber gestures – a nostalgic relief from the typical group chat or insta story ego. ​​

“What started as things I’d post in the letterbox on my way to work in the morning has now become a full-time warehouse operation. It’s outrageous!”

The evolution of Brutal Balloons...

International sales have been booming as well, with balloons shipping all over the world, proving there is no cultural barrier to profanity. 

Popular destinations for international fans...

The success has not been without dramas and setbacks. The first year was emotional for Brutal Balloons. Eviction from two shared properties due to the sheer mass of balloons being stored in shared spaces (once the founder’s bedroom had reached max capacity), A litigation for the original brand name (Balloons Against Humanity) by games giant ‘Cards against humanity’ and a police investigation into the use of brutal balloons for malicious hate crime through the mail...

Police investigation...

Run in with CAH...

With these teething problems firmly in the past, the only way is up for Brutal Balloons with a highly anticipated release of more balloon variations on their way in 2018. To celebrate a successful (ish) first year in business, Brutal Balloons recently launched a billboard campaign around the UK to promote their mission of ruining special occasions. Here are a just some of them...

Bradford National Media Museum

 Manchester Piccadilly 

London Waterloo 

​“We recently ramped up our marketing efforts, placing light-hearted billboards nationwide in a hope to drive awareness. Although we have absolutely no idea if they are doing anything, it certainly makes for some entertaining emails to reply to”

If you’d like to here more about some of our helium filled plans for the future, hand over your precious data here and sign up to our mailing list so we can harass you when we release new products or generally make stupid ideas such as these. 

Thanks for reading! 🎈

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Might this be the world’s most filthy balloon?!🎈#balloons #abusiveballoons #rudeballoons (at England)