Truckside advertising is fairly new to the booming market of outdoor advertising, and can best be described as branding a business or product on the sides and/or rear of commercial trucks, trailers, or cars. The advertised brand isn’t typically affiliated with the vehicle itself, however the vehicle is rented out by a company to use its blank canvas as a means of advertising. The launch of truckside advertising is purposeful in that it adds quality to and raises brand awareness for companies looking to advertise in an OOH format. As with every advertising stunt, the truckside medium is meant to promote, infiltrate, and generate consumer buzz, leading to a capitalized outcome. There are plenty of ways that truckside advertising makes this happen for companies desiring a bit more space on the marketing map. This article will focus on new opportunities for truckside advertising, and will examine how mobile billboards offer unique selling points that zoom ahead of other mediums.
Opportunity for More Freedom in Expression
Truckside advertising has the ultimate opportunity to travel from location to location spreading messages geared to different consumer demographics. Unlike other forms of outdoor advertising, let alone all other mediums of advertising, mobile billboards do more than just display: they drive. Truckside advertising is not a standstill advertisement; it’s a complete campaign on wheels. With static billboards in the outdoor advertising market, restrictions could be applied specific to placement, rates, and timing, but truckside advertisements don’t share those limitations. Of course, there will still need to be a campaign schedule and an art directed vinyl design but it will prove to be more flexible than a standard billboard ad. More freedom in expression with truckside advertising also means the ability for the advertisement to be seen by many more commuters when travelling on-road.
Opportunity for Longevity
When you use trucks to advertise your business, brand, or product, you are submitting to the widespread attention that the advertised truck will get. Blank canvas, white commercial trucks aren’t anything new to look at, but a vinyl wrapped, plastered in decorative advertising truck will receive many eyes for a great deal of time (depending on how long you want to push your schedule). Truckside advertising offers bundles that allow businesses to advertise on trucks for many months, even years. Comparing this to other mediums such as television and radio, where the paid ad will only last for a short while due to the large market, your truck ad can be a longstanding, solo campaign reaching just as many people, and at a lower cost. Truckside advertising isn’t cut short because of other ad time.
Opportunity to Spend Less on Advertising
The beauty of truckside advertising is that it’s typically a one-time cost procedure. Unlike social media advertising or other ads you may come across on digital platforms, truckside ads don’t cost you for impressions or conversions on a daily basis. In fact, mobile billboards have the lowest CPI in the advertising game. Also, vinyl wraps, which create the advertisement on the vehicle, are strong and able to last upwards of 5 years, meaning that the cost to replace generally doesn’t come up. Mobile billboards truly receive a high number of impressions for an affordable, typically one-time, price for the advertiser, their client, and the brand.
Opportunity to Gather Data
A groundbreaking result of outdoor advertising linked with cellular market data is that OOH advertisements now have the ability to generate more information about a consumer based on their search habits, via platforms like Google. Moving into the future, billboards will have the opportunity to get into people’s cell phones and uncover online behavior that can help marketers see who a beneficial target can be for them. Movia Media already uses AI mobile device retargeting on their advertising trucks to drive this interesting opportunity forward. The opportunity to gather more consumer data, via outdoor advertising and mobile billboards, is what can also help companies see who really is looking into their ad campaign and who it benefits.
As an added truckside opportunity opportunity moving into the election year of 2020, it’s said that political ad spending will hit a new high at about $10 billion. Could these advertisements include ones splattered onto trucks? The opportunity is there. Presidential campaigns see no shortage of media coverage and social buzz, but the opportunities for candidates to represent themselves, and their party, with their messages on mobile billboards could indeed be beneficial to commuting voters.
After taking a look at the rise of opportunities for a new-age platform like truckside advertising, it’s important to understand the benefits that this medium has on the success of outdoor advertising and the people influenced by it.
