Advertising on the Go
Truckside companies keep on rollin'
By Sheila Hayes Signs of the Times magazine
http://www.signweb.com/outdoor/cont/onthego0201.html

Early last year (see Truck Advertisers Drive into the Future), the OAAA announced its formation of the Truckside Advertising Council of America (TACA) to serve the needs of mobile advertisers. Transit messages -- typically affixed to moving vehicles or positioned in key transit areas -- are becoming increasingly popular among outdoor advertisers. As reported in Signs of the Time's October 2000 issue, transit ads, along with street furniture, are the outdoor industry's second most popular form of out-of-home advertising.

The dazzling graphics and high-tech imagery used on trucks today are garnering local and national media attention. Many brands, including McDonald's, Saab, the Texas Lottery and Sprint PCS, have successfully implemented truckside-advertising and mobile-billboard campaigns in the past 18 months to reach their target audiences where they work, play and congregate.

Offering unprecedented cost efficiency, truckside advertising incorporates new tracking systems that measure impressions/performance and enable advertisers to assess campaign effectiveness.

Truckside advertising uniquely matches advertisers with third-party urban delivery trucks and over-the-road conveyance or freight trucks. Also known as "pure advertising," mobile billboards serve short-term, promotional purposes. They are typically found on flat-panel, advertising-dedicated trucks.

Due to the increasing popularity of truckside and mobile-billboard advertising, several new outdoor media companies offer national coverage, as well as an array of service and production options. While some firms provide adhesive-vinyl applications, others offer framing systems that use a welded-beading/aluminum-frame track process and allow the use of non-adhesive vinyl substrates. Both processes boast appealing benefits with photorealistic output of more than 150 dpi.

In a December 2000 milestone, the Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Measurement (TAB) launched its new truckside media measurement methodology.

According to OAAA chief marketing officer Stephen Freitas, "Outdoor advertising is experiencing unprecedented growth in resources and revenue, and truckside advertising plays a key role in fueling this growth by providing advertisers an important new planning option."

"Marrying basic advertising with technology to drive truckside and mobile-billboard mapping and measurement is a complete value-added benefit," says Mark Freeman, a truckside advertiser and president of the Chicago Downtown Owner/Operator Committee. "The photo quality and food-focus of our Chicago trucks is ideal for driving impulse purchases -- the core of our downtown business," Mark continues.

The images showcased here are examples of this outdoor-advertising media format.