For many visiting performers, Dunedin Fringe Festival is all about the hustle.
Creatives have been venturing through the streets using a variety of tactics to make their shows stand out among the herd.
Christchurch comedy troupe Peppered Unicorn was in the Octagon yesterday at its confessions booth''.
The idea was pedestrians would submit anonymous secrets which would be used in scenes at the group's shows.
Member Jo Ghastly said part of its advertising strategy was the branded ''granny panties'' they wore over their clothing.
She did not mind attracting gazes downwards, she said.
The university and tourist accommodation sites were key places to distribute flyers.
''Backpackers are like this untapped market. So far we've been really lucky with generating audiences every night, so we must be getting the word out there enough.''
It was part of the group's strategy to approach women in groups, she said.
''We want a more female audience and that tactic seems to get a good reception. It's probably less threatening if you go up to a group.''
Group member Georgie Sivier said this was especially true when they were wearing their trademark undies.
''Otherwise they will think 'who are these lunatics?'.''
Palmerston North comedians Dylan Satherley, Justin Ngai and Nathan Cross were nearby, trying to promote their comedy show.
Satherley said they began with a ''moving billboard'', but decided to get more interactive by providing people with pieces of paper with written insults to use against the group.
Cross said they decided to take the ''roast approach'' because being engaging seemed better than just putting flyers into hands.
''They can remember your name and remember your face. So we decided to go up to the university. Some people were into it, some people were not into it.''
A ''tell-us-your-favourite-joke'' strategy was also hit and miss, he said.
''Now we've also got flyers, which gave us something to actually hand over. I think we've had a varied response, but it's largely been positive.''
Ngai said some people they stopped were ''too nice'' to use the meaner insults, so they separated them into ''light and dark roasts''.
