Due to new graphic technology and a new breed of alternative outdoor-advertising firms, advertisers can now put their dramatic art and compelling messages on moving, truck-side billboards.
The fast-rising popularity of such wraparound ads is boosting the growth of outdoor advertising generally, according to David Margolis, president of San Diego-based Trykor Rolling Media Inc., a truck-side graphics firm. Outdoor advertising’s share of total ad revenues, now 2.3 percent, is up from 2 percent in 1990 and is expected to reach 3 percent in the next few years, according to one trade report.
Truck ads can get where billboards can’t, or where billboard space simply is not available. For example, at a recent convention of surgeons in San Francisco, Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon division put truckside ads for a topical skin adhesive on the streets around the Moscone Convention Center as thousands of medical professionals were coming and going. Billboard space in the area is virtually nonexistent.
A recent Comdex trade show in Las Vegas saw a 53-foot trailer bearing a dramatic ad for Olympus Digital Photography in a parking lot across the street from the main entrance of the convention center. In Silicon Valley, FreeAgent.com, a human-resources firm, put its ad on 15 trucks circulating in the busy Highway 101 corridor where billboard space, if available, can cost $75,000 to $100,000 a month. These circulating trucks, owned by common carriers, were on the road throughout the Santa Clara County area up to 12 hours a day, five to six days a week, at a cost of less than $100 for three months.
While organizations like American Trucking Association claim that such billboards have more impact than stationary billboards, measurement has been hard to come by until now. In response to the medium’s growing popularity, the Traffic Audit Bureau has developed a methodology to measure the audience of truckside advertising, using GPS technology and traffic data.
Trykor Rolling Media is a full-service mobile-outdoor-advertising firm founded in January 1998, headquartered in San Diego and with offices in New York and Minneapolis. The company can be contacted at (619) 275-4464 or by e-mail at Info@trykorrollingmedia.com.