It turns out that 96% of people said mobile ads are more effective than traditional outdoor advertising. But how do truckside ads gain their success? 

Take a look at the road, you see an array of cars and then your eyes immediately catch onto a truckside ad. A mobile ad sticks out amongst the crowd of vehicles; it’s just a matter of knowing how mobile ads steal the limelight and why business owners are lenient on using them.

Something New on the Road

Mobile billboards have a reputation for bringing in a lot of attention. According to a survey conducted by the American Trucking Association, 98 percent of in-car audiences noticed a truckside ad. On the road, these ads captivate others because they give something new and exciting to see. When stuck in traffic, most people look out the window. Instead of having people stare at cars for hours, have them look at something interesting. Having an ad on the road gives a person a break from seeing the norm which is why people tend to notice them a lot more. If people are going to look out the window, might as well have them look at what you have to offer.

Visual Impact

When truckside ads appear, people have the tendency to stare at them. Regular billboards make people glance at the ad, but truckside designers find ways to make others do a double-take and stare longer. In this industry, there is space to be creative and impress people.

Unlike, static billboards that are flat, truckside billboards wrap around a 3D surface. By taking advantage of the extra dimensions, designers can play around with angles and use perspective to make a striking ad that wows the crowd. Let us review this particular mobile ad done by Pepsi and how impactful it is as a visual.

In this campaign, the Pepsi company promotes Pepsi Light which is a Pepsi diet drink. This campaign conveys that the Pepsi light is so lightweight, it floats to the top of a loading vehicle. By using the surfaces of the truck, designers turned a flat image into an optical 3D illusion. If the Pepsi light ad were on a standstill billboard, the effect wouldn’t be the same. This message is conveyed properly because the ad is on a truck and not a billboard. People know that trucks carry cargo, so it’s more believable seeing this type of ad on the side of a truck instead of a billboard. This Pepsi Light ad does well because the design is specifically made for its platform.

In a survey, respondents recalled the static billboards 43 percent of the time. However, 94 percent of the respondents recalled moving advertisements. If people saw the same ad on a billboard, it wouldn’t make as strong as an impact. When an ad is on the road, there is more of a personal connection. People drive or walk across the street in order to travel around. If the object is in a familiar area, it’s perceived to be within reach and obtainable. When seeing the same ad on a billboard, the ad feels more out of reach, especially since standstill billboards are usually located at high surfaces so it looks out of reach and something that’s not easy to obtain. In essence, truckside ads have a visual impact that can turn a 2D ad into a 3D looking one, and is more memorable and familiar since it’s within a familiar area.

The Power of Wheels

Transit wraps, car wraps, and truckside ads, what do they have in common? They transform any vehicle into one that’s traveling around in style. Wheels give the power for your ad to go a long way; both physically and metaphorically.

Try to consider the functionality of wheels. If an ad campaign needs more exposure, why not move the ad to the people? By putting these wheels to work, a truckside ad can go beyond a single district and could explore half of the city within a single day. If you think about the numbers, an ad’s impressions will increase if it can go where more people can see it.

Not convinced? Think about how well truckside ads rack up compared to a static billboard. Standstill billboards can get 30,000- 400,000 impressions within four weeks. The impression count ranges depending on the location of the truckside ad. Truckside ads can get a minimum number of 50,000 impressions within a day, which can lead to 1,000,000 impressions or more within a month. These numbers aren’t surprising. According to an issue of Outdoor Advertising Magazine, 96 percent of respondents say that mobile advertising is more effective than traditional OOH. Truckside billboards have more exposure compared to a static billboard because they have the power to move to more people. So instead of investing in a standstill advertisement, consider making wheels your friend.

Huge Target Audience

If you think that not a lot of people go outside these days, you thought wrong. In an Arbitron Outdoor study, they examined overall media habits to find out which ads reach people the best. In their findings, they discovered that OOH marketing fills two of the top three slots.

According to this graph, the top three media reached audiences are drivers/passengers, daily radio listeners, and pedestrians. Truckside ads reach out to two of the top three most media reachable audiences. The media reach for OOH audiences do well because of how direct the message gets across its audience. By reaching drivers/passengers or pedestrians, an ad can reach a person directly instead of through online, a third-party source that can be ignored. 

This research also reveals that people are still active and continue to travel outside frequently. 96 percent of Americans mentioned that they moved in a car either as a passenger or a driver. Without the use of a car, eight out of ten Americans reported that they recently walked in downtown areas. And on average, pedestrians report walking an 6.1 miles within the past seven days. In-car audiences and pedestrian traffic are a significant reach opportunity for advertisers which is why truckside ads target them.

Truckside ads do a great job at advertising to two of the top three media reach audiences because these ads are visible to both an in-car audience and pedestrians. If a single truckside ad has a large target audience, wouldn’t the exposure be big as well?

Ad Frequency

Ad frequency refers to how often a person stumbles upon a particular ad. By having more people see a specific campaign, they’re going to have it fresh in their minds and can recognize the label more easily.

Moving billboards have an excellent ad frequency because these campaigns promote as much as possible within a couple of weeks or more. These campaigns take advantage of the fact that some people have a daily work schedule and travel to the same places around the same time. If a truck drives around an area at the same time everyday, there’s bound to be someone who will remember the ad. This repetitiveness is a good thing for mobile bill-boarding, because 80 percent of people recalle a specific truckside ad. By having a person recall your ad, your company is one step closer towards getting a new client.

If you want to let people know who you are and what you’re selling, better get a truckside ad starting. After all, ad frequency is a crucial element to having a successful campaign.

Positive Company Branding

A research conducted by the Trucking Association reveals that 98 percent of people think positively of companies with an advertisement on their fleet vehicle. This effect is likely because companies that invest in vehicle graphics are more credible and trustworthy. Having a truckside ad shows that a company has time and money to invest into campaigns and are less likely to be a scam.

Also, truckside advertising makes a company look more accessible by letting people know that their services are available locally. I remember times when I found a cool store but couldn’t visit it because it wasn’t located in my city. These truckside campaigns make it easier for a person to understand what type of services are available to them. So if you want your company to be more attractive and accessible, on the road ads are the best alternative for you.

Worth Every Penny You’re Giving

Truckside ads stand out by being on top. From a recent vehicle graphics study, someone calculated how much it would cost to pay for an impression on each media platform. Truckside advertising is deemed as the most affordable alternative advertising platform, as shown below.

Vehicle Graphics $0.15

Billboards $1.78

Radio $5.92

Newspaper (1/4-page ad B/W) $11.66

Prime Time Network TV $11.30

Looks like truckside ads triumph because vehicle graphics can cost as little as 15 cents per impression. Why do vehicle graphics cost so little? Well, let’s consider the facts. When making a moving billboard, there’s a design and production fee of $3000-5000. This fee is a one-time thing unless you want to update your billboard design and change it into something else. There aren’t any other extra expenses outside of production cost and rental.

The gain is more than the production cost for mobile billboards. Truckside ads do better in sales compared to static advertisement. Static billboards increase sales by 54%, but moving billboards result in a rise in sales by 107%. Truckside ads are an affordable marketing method of getting impressions, and it works effectively as well. isn’t it worth every penny you’d spend?

Eco-friendly

You must be thinking, how is having a truck on the road environmentally friendly? Wouldn’t having a truckside be bad for the environment since there will be more gas emissions?

Yes, truckside ads would be bad for the environment if they cause more trucks to drive around the road but, more truckside advertisement does not necessarily equate to more vehicles on the road. Instead of putting more trucks on the way, some truckside ad companies partner up with third-party delivery truck companies and place an advertisement on their trucks. So instead of creating more traffic, truckside ad companies take advantage of blank space that’s already there. By using third-party trucks, there is no of extra pollution emissions.

However, truckside billboards are not  100 percent environmentally friendly. After the campaign ends, the billboard will be thrown out, which causes environmental waste. There are potential ways to avoid waste production. Some billboards are printed with eco-friendly materials so they could be recycled. Other billboards are electronic so instead of printing an ad, it’s projected on an existing screen.

If waste is involved, keep in mind that traditional advertisements are printed once, so it’s possible for the design to last for years if preserved carefully. Digital ads production generates waste, because there is a lot of electricity involved. Digital ads use bright lights and screens that waste power. Whether they are on the road or parked, an electronic ad has to be turned on to advertise.

Some truckside ad companies know about the environmental harm their advertising platform can cause, which is why they try to protect the planet in some other way. Ad companies like Hauler Ads Truck Advertising care about the environment. For every four week campaign, Movia Media plants 100 trees. Not all companies are green, but if partnered up with the right truckside ad company, there would be a total of zero gas emissions and a way to help the environment.

If this isn’t enough, lets look at some metrics based on a study carried out by Arbitron National.

• Americans spend 20 hours a week in cars, a 31 percent increase from 2003.
• Although only 35% of people actively pay attention to truck commercials, 91 percent of people notice them.

71% of people who pass a billboard pay attention to it.

• Of those who watched, 29% indicated that truck side advertising would influence their purchasing decisions.
• 56% of individuals say they believe a firm is succeeding when they see truck side advertising.
• It has been demonstrated in multiple studies that using truck side advertising in conjunction with a continuous advertising effort increases awareness.

What Makes Truckside Ads Special?

Now, when you look at a truckside ad, will you look at them differently? Truckside ads are unique in small ways. When looking at the wheels of the truckside ad, think about how they can rack up impression numbers by moving towards people. Or think about how the ad catches your eye and how memorable it is. Truckside ads manage to stick out in the audience’s eyes. A truckside ad company’s way of turning a truck into an effective ad is what makes moving billboards so special.

Keywords: benefits of truckside ads, good points of truckside ads, what makes truckside ads unique, mobile billboards

Sources:

https://movia.media/wp-content/uploads/attachments/oastrainingsalesresearchstats.pdf

https://allovermedia.com/5-benefits-of-truckside-advertising/

https://dashtwo.com/blog/how-much-does-billboard-advertising-cost/