Commuters and consumers on the streets of Johannesburg and Cape Town can now take a ride in one of London's famous taxi cabs, thanks to mobile media group Graffiti and SACab who have imported 20 hand made London cabs - the only vehicle to have been specifically designed to function as a taxi - that will operate in partnership with Imperial Chauffeur Driven Services.
Graffiti Managing Director John Rice says the cabs form a vital part of the company's visually dominated business, as it seeks to aid in building the supplementary infrastructure that will feed primary modes of transport for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, such as the airports and Gautrain.
Rice says the cabs are an obvious choice for South Africa's mobile marketplace: "South Africans are not big users of car pools or public transport and as a result, there are more and more vehicles and commuters on our roads every day. This makes mobile media a very attractive channel to reach your target market in a unique manner.
"We also spend an incredible amount of time in our cars commuting from A to B usually as a single driver, so media in this environment is a welcome distraction and especially media displayed on a London cab which automatically stands out in the daily traffic grind."
Against this backdrop, the cabs have begun servicing key areas, such as the airports, prominent hotels, business and shopping centres, where commuters have already expressed eagerness for this service, creating queues for the cabs.
Brands such as British Airways, Famous Grouse, FNB and Ericsson have already utilised the cabs for their campaigns.
