Regina Russo and the Cincinnati Art Museum's Full Bus Wrap

Traditionally, the funding for non-profits’ advertising efforts are very limited, yet they need to get their message out in a big way.  It was Regina Russo’s job to see to it that Greater Cincinnati was aware of their new exhibit, and do so in a cost-effective manner.  She leveraged previously established relationships in the media world to help spread the word about the Cincinnati Art Museum’s “Circus Posters” exhibit.  However, it is a new method that is taking her message to the streets!

Enter Advertising Vehicles.  Regina worked closely with Advertising Vehicles and Cincinnati Metro to create a mass reach campaign that would achieve the Cincinnati Art Museum’s desired goals while staying within her budget.  It was clear she didn’t want to take a traditional, cookie-cutter approach to this campaign; she wanted it to be big!  When the dust finally cleared, her transit advertising campaign consisted of a plethora of displays (sides and backs) and the Cincinnati Art Museum’s first Full Bus Wrap. 

One major piece of the campaign that wasn’t mentioned above were their two “Bus Blips.”  Advertising Vehicles worked out a deal with Cincinnati Metro to take the Cincinnati Art Museum’s full bus wrap off of the street and park it near US Bank Arena, which was hosting the Ringling Brothers Circus the past two weekends.  As you can see, the bus was strategically parked in front of the main parking garage, making it a sight to see as people patiently waited in line!  Talk about a powerful addition to a marketing campaign!!

A great example of an effective design!

I always ask my clients one question during the design process for their first wrap.  On average a consumer has 4-6 seconds with a vehicle wrap… if you were on the highway, in traffic, and noticed your vehicle wrap, what stands out?  Is it the brand?  Is it clear what you do?  If your brand and your industry aren’t being conveyed in those 4-6 seconds, I would suggest taking another look at your design.

The most common culprit of this vehicle wrap flaw is a busy design!  Less is more!  I can’t emphasize this enough.  I realize you want your vehicle wrap to “Pop” and you want to tell everyone what you do, but a vehicle wrap is NOT a moving brochure!  Also, if you’re using professional designers, they are sure to be able to leverage stock photography (for the background element) and unique colors to make your vehicle wrap stand out during the most crowded of rush hours!!  When your vehicle wrap hits the streets, it should stand out and at one glance it should be obvious who you are and what you do.  Compare the two wraps below!   

It's obvious who they are and what they do!

Love the concept, if only they had read this before printing their wrap!

That vehicle wrap on their RV is now the backbone of MOLO’s marketing efforts. Turning heads on the highway and making a great first impression with new potential clients just wasn’t enough for Scott & Katy! The MOLO team not only wants you to notice them, they also want to be recognized. This led to the MOLO Mobile being front and center on their website, brochures, and the differentiating factor on their business cards. Heck, their vehicle wrap is even the default picture on their Facebook business page!!

One other point I’d like to make about MOLO involves perception. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential client waiting on MOLO to arrive for a meeting. When the MOLO Mobile arrives at your house, what is your initial thought? Probably something along the lines of “Wow.” That’s what vehicle wraps do… they give the wow factor! With the wow factor comes the perception portion of this point. Perception is reality. A vehicle wrap makes businesses look the part, even makes companies with one vehicle appear to be much larger that they really are. My point? Those people who have met with MOLO are pleasantly SURPRISED at just how inexpensive their services are priced! Why? That I can’t answer… but what I can say is that I have to believe the value of their first impression carries over into the perceived value of their services somewhat…

In Cincinnati, and most major markets, not as many as you would think!  Does your market have transit advertising (advertising on buses/mobile billboards)?  The mobile component of transit advertising enables your ads to reach new people every day!  Could you combine the platforms to reap the benefits of each?

Recently, Walmart turned two of their Cincinnati stores into Walmart Supercenters and wanted to spread the word.  In an effort to reach consumers who live/work close to those locations, as well as create an increased awareness of Walmart Supercenters, Walmart put together an Outdoor Advertising mix!  Their mix consisted of strategically places billboards and a handful of full bus wraps.  The creative was consistent across both platforms, ensuring that consumers recognized the brand and the message, increasing the frequency of their campaign.  This 1^st Quarter campaign is still in full force, so look for Walmart’s stationary and moving “apple” on a street near you!

If a business has a desire to create this, then maybe they need to blend old media with new.  Take our product for example, what if an advertiser used the massive reach of a transit campaign to promote a giveaway on their Facebook Fan page?  Using buses is one of the greatest tools left for reaching a large amount of consumers in your marketplace.  Putting this reach together with the ability to start a relationship with them through social media may be just the spark a business needs to impact the social media scene in a big way.  Imagine driving all over your market and seeing a transit campaign with 40-60 displays barking a brand and a contest to you.  Win (idea here).  Become a Fan to learn more.  Simple and effective.  Potentially thousands of people could join in the first week alone.  Making your online real estate even more valuable.

Media has changed in a major way over the past decade.  Consumers and their media habits have changed in a major way, but one thing that remains the same is a successful media strategy involves a mix of media.  So the next time the conversation turns to social media and getting results for your business; ask yourself how I can leverage the old media to get jump start on new media?

Have you seen any great ideas or ways businesses have leveraged transit advertising to impact a social media strategy?  If so we would love to hear from you.  Leave a comment below.