Vehicle Advertising

[cyanide]

Well this post is a little off the beaten path,
but I'm looking for advice/suggestions/experiences...

We all know the multitude of different ways to advertise/promote our businesses through the Internet, but what about conventional advertising?

Our company is looking outside the box, so to speak, and have begun advertising through print and signage.

Okay, to the point:
Even further away form the Internet and print advertising...

We were recently contacted by a client who would like to offer us a deal on advertising.
The advertising would go on their vehicles, and not any ordinary vehicle.

We're talking Hummers!!. They have 4 of them !

Unfortunately, I don't know the details (cost, length of time, etc.). We're heading into a meeting at the end of the week.
But what are your thoughts? Would(can) it work for an Internet-based company? Has anyone done anything like this? Needless to say, I'm ultra-excited about this. Obviously cost is the biggest factor, I know it won't be cheap, but more importantly, will it work??
Any and all coments/experiences are very much welcome and appreciated.

Thanks!
here it is:

[matauri]

Vehicle advertizing is very big in Oz Cyanide. I am currently getting my magnetic signs done for my car now. I dont know about the cost there, but here its about $150AUD for 2 door signs. It in effect makes your car a travelling business card.

There are different ways in which businesses approach it here. Some will have door signs (like I am getting), others will have transparent rear window signs that simply state name of business & website address, and other will use their vehicle registration plates (which I am also getting done).

The biggest advantage for vehicle advertizing is that it is relatively cheap, no time limits, and if the vehicle is used a lot it covers a large audience. When at traffic lights or when car is parked in car park it is easy for potential clients to jot down your business details.

One thing I would suggest though.... dont try and put too much on it. If they are vehicle body signs, then include your trademark, company name, email & url, with say a 4-5 words esc or slogan. If they are transparent rear window signs, then only your company name (& small logo maybe) and your url/email.

Is this a sponsorship deal Cyanide? Or are they jsut letting you advertize on their vehicles?



Cindy

[voodooboy]

cyanide,
I did some research on this type of marketing for the last start-up I worked for. We were looking into bus wrapping. (Where the entire bus is wrapped in a vinyl banner) It is very expensive.

I would definitely look into the cost and travel time. Where are the vehicles parked when not on the road? Are they in a parking garage, or are they parked in the front corner of a corner lot? And what kind of traffic runs that area? When they are on the road are they running through your target market area? (i.e. hosting providers might see a greater return if the vehicle ran through suburbs rather than a manufacturing industry.) And what is the average travel time for each vehicle? Are people driving these vehicles 5 miles a day or are these vehicles covering 100’s of miles each day? Are they posting cheesy magnetic door panel banners, or are they going to do a vinyl wrap over the vehicle? Who has control over the design? And what kind of company is it? Who is going to drive the vehicles? Do you want your company to be a liable participant in an auto accident? Even if it is not your vehicle, your name is all over it. These are all questions we asked when looking into this type of campaign.

I would check out a couple companies that deal in this market such as:
http://www.ad-wraps.com/
http://www.adsonwheels.com/Car_Wrap_Main.asp
http://www.onpoint-marketing.com/car...dvertising.htm

(I am not promoting any of these companies) Get a hold of some of their clients and find out what their results were with this kind of marketing program.

Hope this helps. Best of luck to you.

[rocky1]

I would definitely say that it has potential cyanide, I ran across an ad on wheels one of the local TV stations has ripping around Bismarck, ND the other day, and it works. Theirs is advertising their Website, and they have a bright yellow Volkswagon painted up to read Catch the Internet Bug!, with the station call sign and logo to follow. Honestly, it was almost difficult to resist chasing it down, just to see what it was about!

[cyanide]

Matari:
Thanks for your feedback.
Yes, it seems this type of advertising has become pretty big here as well. I have a few clients that have put up signage on their cars/vans.

One thing I would suggest though.... dont try and put too much on it. If they are vehicle body signs, then include your trademark, company name, email & url, with say a 4-5 words esc or slogan. If they are transparent rear window signs, then only your company name (& small logo maybe) and your url/email.

Very good point. Car whizzing by, there's not much time to grab their attention.

Is this a sponsorship deal Cyanide? Or are they jsut letting you advertize on their vehicles?

Unfortunately, I'm not sure at this point, hence this meeting. I doubt it's sponsorship as theri company is totally unrelated to us. I believe they use these Hummers for their own advertising, so it's quite possible that they'll be asking us to essentionally 'tag along'

ghstdrgns:
Bus wrapping, hmmm. That seems to be pretty big as well. Thanks very much for all those questions to ask. It helps tremendously !

Very expensive, yes that was my immediate thinking.
I have a feeling they'll want something in return, maybe some type of bartering deal

I did a little research and saw somewhere that a vehicle blitz of a city could cost as much as $20,000 or more per month. yikes !!

rocky1:

I would definitely say that it has potential cyanide, I ran across an ad on wheels one of the local TV stations has ripping around Bismarck, ND the other day, and it works. Theirs is advertising their Website, and they have a bright yellow Volkswagon painted up to read Catch the Internet Bug!, with the station call sign and logo to follow. Honestly, it was almost difficult to resist chasing it down, just to see what it was about!

Really !
I think that's become a popular method for radio stations. Pretty sure I've seen that here as well
They pick up a somewhat unusual vehicle, like the new bugs, put something catchy on a bright/funky coloured background and it grabs everyone's attention.
hmmm....

[voodooboy]

Last weekend a local pub had the Bacardi crew out and about. They had a vinyl wrapped motor home and VW Beatle. I have to admit, that Bacardi Bat logo looks really cool on a car that is all black with red accents.

Did you know there are companies that actually give away cars to people that do a lot of driving? They sell the cars to companies, cover them with ads, and lease the car out. Your lease fee is only for insurance coverage payments. I applied, but didn't get one. I was hoping for Red Bull or one of the local rock stations. Oh well.

[cyanide]

Originally Posted by ghstdrgns

Did you know there are companies that actually give away cars to people that do a lot of driving? They sell the cars to companies, cover them with ads, and lease the car out. Your lease fee is only for insurance coverage payments. I applied, but didn't get one. I was hoping for Red Bull or one of the local rock stations. Oh well.

I do. And in Toronto, I believe they were paying $500 / month to have this advertising on your car.
I think it's brilliant !
I'm not surprised you were turned down (no offence)
Apparently the rules are pretty stringent. Obviously if you spend most of your day in the office, then you're not exactly a good candidate, like me. I heard also, the waiting list is huge !

[flood6]

Dude, if the hummers end up being too expensive, I found an alternate vendor for you. She said she'll only charge a case of Molson per month...I'll take a $20 (USD) finders fee.

[alienzhavelanded]

From a marketing perspective, it could be a good thing, but as someone else said if it's coming out of your pocket study cost and other factors before jumping into the pool.

If it works out, you can get some good advertising that will definitely be noticed, as Hummers tend to catch eyes. Solid idea, but must be perfect in execution.

The Martian

[Y2M]

I would consider the Return on Investment (ROI)?
“Marketing and Advertising is supposed to build an argument for your business that makes your prospects draw the conclusion that they would have to be an absolute fool to do business with anyone else but you, regardless of price.”
Can you really get that message across on a vehicle?
Would you be better off doing a direct mail, fax or e-mail campaign for the money spent. Vehicle advertising is Fortune 500 advertising at its best. Will you be able to track any of the new leads you get were a direct result of the advertising? I would hope so...other wise how do you know your money was well spent.
In a nutshell, marketing & advertising is the argument you build, the case you design, and the reasons you give why a prospect should do business with you.
Envision your marketing situation as a court case - your prospects are the jury, you are the defendant and you must prove to them without a doubt that your product or service is the most practical alternative amidst all the competition. Again, is your logo/ branding on a vehicle going to do this for you?

[Steven Glover]

I paid a 100.00 bucks for signs for my tahoe and the first week I used them I had a guy at a stop light talk to me at the light and then we both pulled over and I sold him two websites. That more than covered the expense.

I think the trick is to make sure the sign is graphically catchy.

[cyanide]

Originally Posted by flood6

Dude, if the hummers end up being too expensive, I found an alternate vendor for you. She said she'll only charge a case of Molson per month...I'll take a $20 (USD) finders fee.

Sweet !
Is that your neighbour ? he he
So, a Case of Molson, eh ? You have our brand in Texas? or do I have to ship it?

Originally Posted by alienzhavelanded

If it works out, you can get some good advertising that will definitely be noticed, as Hummers tend to catch eyes. Solid idea, but must be perfect in execution.

That's what i was thinking. I'd actually would love to get a Hummer myself. It definitely is a head-turner. But will it get some biz? hmmm...
ps, I deleted the extra posts

Originally Posted by Y2M

Would you be better off doing a direct mail, fax or e-mail campaign for the money spent. Vehicle advertising is Fortune 500 advertising at its best. Will you be able to track any of the new leads you get were a direct result of the advertising? I would hope so...other wise how do you know your money was well spent.

You make some good points.
We actually did a direct-mail a little while ago.
As a test market, we sent out a couple thousand to businesses only. We only received 1 phone call, but they turned into a client and ended spending $5,000 and $300/month. So although the response rate was kinda poor, the conversion rate was perfect and what looks like will be a life long client.
We'll probably try that again soon.

Originally Posted by Steven Glover

I paid a 100.00 bucks for signs for my tahoe and the first week I used them I had a guy at a stop light talk to me at the light and then we both pulled over and I sold him two websites. That more than covered the expense.

That's awesome !!
I love to hear stories like that.
I'm sure that exact scenario is pretty rare, but still proof that it does work.

[Steven Glover]

If I remember correctly he later referred another customer to me.

[matauri]

Originally Posted by cyanide

Steven Glover wrote:
I paid a 100.00 bucks for signs for my tahoe and the first week I used them I had a guy at a stop light talk to me at the light and then we both pulled over and I sold him two websites. That more than covered the expense.

That's awesome !!
I love to hear stories like that.
I'm sure that exact scenario is pretty rare, but still proof that it does work.

Not so rare! I was ready to head to the city (about an hour away) to find a signwriter for my signs & my office stationery & promotional gear. One day I was parked at the lights & saw a signwriter advertizing his business on his car 4 cars ahead! It said everything exactly how I wanted mine to be. So I chased that car until I could get close enough to get his contact info. :-)



Cindy

[zululander]

Hi Cyanide

We are a SMME IT firm in Empangeni, South Africa. The WebShop is one of a number of departments, including IT Sales, Services, ISP, VISP, Consumables and specialist repairs to laptops.

We run a small fleet of company vehicles, each displaying our corporate image.

The results are far reaching, lending credibility to us over competitors, giving high visibility in the area, and identifying us as a stable company that is here to stay. I think this is rather imoportant in an industry where insolvency and closing of outlying branches is common.

Even when we meet a prospective client, a regular comment is,"I have seen your cars."

Other strategies that we have thought of but not yet implemented are:
1. Corporate uniform
2. Corporate imaging on delivery bags, like Debonairs Pizza
3. Website domains on car bumpers
4. Radio camopaigns, advertising the web address, like: "The Richards Hotel, the only place in Richards Bay that you really want to stay - richardshotel.co.za"

One question that i would like answered, if anyone cares to comment, is what budget should go to offline promotion vs online. Currently we spend about R3000 a month on advertising, and all of that offline!

[Steven Glover]

What should you spend on offline marketing? Thats a whole new topic. There are a lot of threads about ROI (Return on Investment) that would probably interest you. The skinny as they say is don't spend more than your bringing in, ;)

[minstrel]

I drive about 1.5 - 2 hours a day between home and various offices so I notice stuff on cars and I do believe it's effective advertising, at least in terms of raising your profile.

However, one caution: I can't remember the phrase exactly but a while ago I spotted a van with a beautiful custom paint job including a logo, "motto", and a website address painted on the sides. It was all very catchy - it also had a glaring spelling mistake in the "motto". My first thought (and why I wish I could remember the phrase) was that the typo suggested the opposite of the message he was trying to convey. My second was, "I wonder if he knows that's spelled wrong?". And my third was, "That would be expensive to fix".

Not like running a spellchecker on your web pages and uploading the corrections...

[zululander]

Originally Posted by Steven Glover

What should you spend on offline marketing? Thats a whole new topic. There are a lot of threads about ROI (Return on Investment) that would probably interest you. The skinny as they say is don't spend more than your bringing in, ;)

Thanks Mr Glover

I wil check out some of those ROI threads. On the "skinny" as you put it, I find a good principle is that sowing generously facilitates a good harvest, although the crunch is where to sew.

Some marketing "vehicles" turn out to be like hard ground, where seeds cannot take root, others fall on rocky places and get blown aside by the wind, while others land on good soil, ready for planting & well fertilized and these ones yield the highest return. I suppose the challenge is discerning the good soil from the bad.

Does anyone have any other offline advertising experience related to the internet that has yielded a good return?