AC/Non AC Bus Branding

Bus Advertising and Branding is a tremendous marketing idea. If used intelligently this marketing avenue can successfully build up brand awareness and act as a major catalyst in developing business.

Where do you advertise when you want to reach everybody?

Transit advertising is all about placement of print ads on buses and other vehicles, at bus shelters and at train stations. It is a very vital medium for reaching an audience of all ages, both genders, social and educational backgrounds and incomes. With Transit Advertising you are not just reaching the riders and drivers. But with these "moving billboards" you are addressing vehicular and pedestrian traffic on roads, commuters and by standers, families and professionals in their respective vehicles, students shopping or right on campus, and tourists finding their way around town on their visit to the cities.

Internal Transit Advertising was at one point in time considered by advertisers to be not that effective and advertisers used to shy away from it because of the perception of who the passenger in a bus might be. For instance the thought was whether the desired audience travelling in the bus a person who could not afford a car? Meaning, the advertiser was unsure of the economic background of a bus traveler and of his purchasing power. But, today this apprehension has diminished. Today out of concern for the environment and the popularity of programs such as Park-and-Ride, a wide range of business professionals, teachers, college students, and many other types of workers leave their vehicles in mall parking lots and ride the bus to and from their jobs. It proves to be convenient for them and at the same time saves them the often high cost of parking and the wear-and-tear on their cars. At times it also provides them the opportunity to review material for a morning meeting, study, or just relax and gather their thoughts for the busy day ahead. In such times Internal Transit Advertising becomes a great marketing strategy for brand promotion. Advertisers can use this medium to reach out to a diverse audience without having to bother about the socio-economic background and the purchasing power of the audience. Cards displayed inside the bus reach passengers who spend an average of 30-40 minutes on the bus. Usually this is the time when they are not pre-occupied with any other thing and are paying lot of attention to their surroundings. If at this time they come across an advertisement in the interior of the bus definitely they are bound to pay apt attention to it. And bulls eye! Your ad is just there for them to read the whole time. Just imagine the impact that it would create.

Not only can you reach some very upscale customers on the inside of the bus, but you can also reach a large variety of people by advertising on the more traditional exterior signs. Available in a host of shapes and sizes, exterior bus signs display advertising messages to thousands of people in cars as well as pedestrians.

Moreover, buses cover large distances. They travel through cities and outlying suburban areas, to shopping malls, universities, business districts, amusement centers, supermarkets, theaters and convention sites. This means wider area coverage at affordable costs. Local customers as well as visitors and tourists in your area as well as other places will be exposed to your large moving messages.

Why should you use Bus Advertising and Branding?

Bus Advertising and Branding vouches for the following features which as an advertiser work tremendously in the favour of your business and helps you to effectively reach your consumers

You can't avoid or zap advertisements on the sides of big buses.

You can't ignore the beautifully illustrated bus advertisings and brandings.

It definitely cannot be turned off or muted like on television.

It reaches drivers, passengers, vehicular traffic on roads, pedestrians ,by-standers and residents of buildings on the roads no matter what radio stations they're listening to.

The large, colorful, innovative designs immediately capture your imagination and demand undivided attention.

You can avail exclusivity in your space with no competitors in sight.

It delivers a wide range of varied audience spanning strata, economic class, age, gender etc.

It offers immense flexibility of ad size, location and placement.

How does Bus Advertising and Branding work?

Transit Service level buy's are calculated on the number of buses required to effectively reach all routes that comprise the local transit system.

Service levels are either calculated by the total number of routes or the total number of buses within the local fleet.

Superkings, Kings and Queens are exceedingly visible to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the roads. They may vary in size based on the make and model of bus and the space available for ad placement between the wheel wells. National advertisers usually request for Kings as they are signature transit products. The advertisers get a good opportunity to creatively use the entire surface of the bus including window surfaces in Full wraps. Full wraps are capable of demanding complete attention and create high brand awareness.

Full side wraps cover the entire side of a bus, from bumper to bumper, spanning the full height of a bus, thus generating a large, eye-catching and impressive view.

Half side Wraps are the same as a Full wraps, except for window coverage.

Full backs are a high-impact wrap covering the entire back façade of a bus. This is the most popular and widely available specialty product.

Half backs offer the same benefits as Full backs without window coverage. KingKongs, also referred to as Ultra Super kings, provide coverage from wheel well to wheel well, spanning the height of a bus. KingKongs with full window coverage are available in several markets.

Kong, same as a KingKong, without window coverage (wheel well to wheel well, bottom of the bus to the bottom of the windows).

King Pairs provide a tremendous creative opportunity as they're typically located on 60' articulated coaches (accordion fold in middle), designed to accommodate two Kings side by side on the Driver/Road Side.

What are the Types of Bus Advertising and Branding?

King and Queen signs are located on the sides of transit vehicles. They are the largest of the signs and are attached to the bus with aluminum frames.

Tail signs are located on the rear of transit vehicles. Stopping at traffic light or stuck in a traffic jam consumers are bound to notice and view your message stuck behind a bus. The consumer knows what the back of that bus says by the time you start moving again.

Interior cards are smaller and placed within the interiors of the bus and are seen only by the riders. They line the tops of the bus windows and include a sign located on the divider behind the bus driver (behind the driver sign). Some buses are assigned to school and college routes, as an advertiser you can ask your transit company if signs can be put those particular buses to reach the younger audiences. You can buy all of the signs--inside and out--on one vehicle for tremendous impact. These "super-buses" or "mega-buses" can be fun buses to charter for special events.

Is Bus Advertising and Branding worth considering?

Bus Advertising and Branding has become more popular than ever in the last few years. In certain cities the trend has set in to "wrap" an entire bus to advertise messages with the theme of a company, a product, a service, a museum or even to camouflage a wrap for an Army recruiting campaign. If it still isn't so popular in your city, it's on its way, so do not be afraid to be the first to wrap a bus with your advertisement!

Impossible to miss and a lot of fun to look at --these giant moving advertisements are a sure short eye-catcher and definite head-turner. A bus wrap is a costly marketing tool and you will generally be required to sign a contract that will keep you paying rent on your bus for a minimum of one year. But if you have the budget and your company or product lends itself to the size and shape of a bus, you can get a lot of returns from this form of advertising and business will boom. Discounts are available for buying multiple signs and for multiple-month contracts.

Now, if you don't want to wrap an entire bus, you can purchase one side and the back or one side and the front and share the bus with another advertiser. You can also purchase just the back or just the front of a bus.

Outdoor billboards and transit signs are very effective when used together, whether it is a full outdoor billboard or repeating your own store sign. The combination keeps some of your signs anchored and some mobile for great coverage.

How is the designing and scheduling of Bus Advertising and Branding done?

When considering your design for bus advertising please keep in mind that you have to treat them as moving billboards. Understand that people won't have a chance to look at the message and read it for a long period of time, as the bus will fleet by them in few seconds or minutes. So, use of bright colors, bold and highlighted fonts, illustrative pictures to attract attention and simple ideas with just a few words for effective will do the trick as far as transit advertising is concerned.

The bus company will provide you with a complete list of routes on which their buses travel. After which you can decide in which way you want to do transit advertising. Whether you advertise in, on or all over the bus, you can sometimes request that your bus travel on very specific routes or, if your message has broad audience appeal, on many routes so as to cover your maximum desired audience throughout your contract period. If you plan on being a regular transit advertiser, speak to the director of marketing at your local bus company about placing an ad in the next batch of schedules printed. Schedules are usually updated annually, so if you decide to do this, use a generic ad that won't become outdated over that period of time.

• BEST has introduced semi deluxe and Air-conditioned services on certain routes.
• From 19 November 2004, Route Special 8 plying from Churchgate to World Trade Centre started accepting cashless smart cards for Automatic Fare Collection in BEST buses.
• BEST currently has 1500+ environment friendly CNG (compressed natural gas) buses on its fleet and plans to increase the number of buses.
• On August 18, 2005, BEST introduced the first lot of disabled-friendly buses(five buses with special wheel chair-accessible low floors) into its service.
• Due to the 7/11 bombings, BEST installed an audio-visual surveillance system on each of its buses to monitor suspicious behaviour aboard its vehicles.
• Almost all buses have two LCD TV's per bus. BEST Buses are most maintained buses.