Transit advertising is growing at a fast rate, creating competition for traditional media. The new fad in advertising is evolving from being a communication  wrap-around on company cars, mass transits and commercial vehicles, among others. The trend is offering individual car owners an opportunity to earn some income by allowing their cars
to be used  for advertising communications, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

Trend-spotters in advertising communication are not sleeping. Everyday, they are awake, devising a cost-effective platform for advertisers to enhance the impact of campaigns on brands and create return-on-advertising-investment. In the latest trend, Nigerian private car owners are offering a viable platform for advertisers and advertising agencies. This benefit has been enjoyed by owners of land, taxi cabs, public mass transit and a host of others for a long time. But, with the new window for private car owners to rake in advert revenue, car owners are now advert message and campaign drivers.

Transit or driven media, is the practice of covering or wrapping any vehicle in vibrant, custom-designed vinyl sheets, turning a vehicle into a mobile billboard. The purpose of this is to provide advertising impressions. Unlike a stationed media such as billboards, transit advertising has an advantage of moving to any location after approval from outdoor regulatory authorities. The media, it is believed, has the power to further shrink the market share of traditional 46-sheets billboards and its modern form, Digital LED billboards which are stationed at specific locations, mostly traffic areas.

Branding a private car for transit advertising is not common in Nigeria. Media planners for a long time had relied on public mass transit, taxi cab or buses designed for sales promo while most companies also wrap their official vehicles with their communication materials sometimes.

The reason is that branded vehicles enjoy more audience than stationed hoardings. According to Outdoor Advertising Magazine, an international publication, wrapped vehicles have a 97 percent recall rate and 96 per cent of survey respondents thought transit advertising is more effective than traditional outdoor advertising. Another survey by a research firm, 3M, also noted that 91 per cent of the target noticed the text and graphics on these wrapped vehicles with 80 per cent recalling the specific advertisement.

This perhaps explained why the platform is popular abroad. For example, in some advanced markets, where such discovery had been established, brand owners are increasing their spending towards this line. A media company in South Africa, Provantage,  reported that this medium is reaching an estimated 18.2 million commuter daily. “This advertising medium poses enormous benefits for both the car owner and advertiser. The car owner will be compensated for every month which they have the advertisers’ campaign on their vehicle – which enables them to make extra cash. Advertisers benefit from getting enormous exposure for their brands, reaching their target markets for a lower cost than they would have to spend on other traditional and non-traditional medium of advertising,” say brand experts.

During the unveiling of the new trend in Nigeria on Monday, the managing director of brandmycar.com, Amaka Okolo said that advertisers are searching for cost-effective means of promoting their communication materials. She said the branding of private car though new in Nigerian marketing space, provides low cost mobile out of home advertising spaces on private cars and transit vehicles for effective brand messages and communication.

“This will help connect people with brands, match car owners who want effective mobile exposure, giving them a source of living and take the brands into smaller localised places where regular outdoor advertising cannot,” she said.

She said the goals of the platform is also to drive outdoor advertising, where it is most effective and visible, as car owners commute daily to schools, shops, churches, mosques and works. According to Okolo, “What makes this service unique is that it is the first of its kind in Nigeria and it is easily reached, very flexible, visible and recent.”