Car branding proves more effective than billboards

The result reveals that Rand for Rand, branded private vehicles are 3.14 times more likely to result in an advertiser's message getting through to consumers.

Research

Two simple and similar sport related facts were displayed over the two-month period on the billboard and vehicles. The billboard showcased a soccer ball creative with the message "1937 first soccer shown on TV" while the vehicles were branded with a tennis ball creative stated "250km/h 2004 fastest serve ever".

A 15-minute questionnaire was compiled and targeted at 200 LSM 8-10 consumers in the Port Elizabeth area, via house to house interviews. PE was selected as it is a smaller city with a diverse range of racial, age and gender demographics within the LSM 8-10 category. Respondents were required to be 18 years and older and to have at least one car in the household. What is interesting is that the interviews were not conducted within close proximity to where the message was being displayed, but in the consumer's homes.

Neil Higgs from TNS comments, "Only 7% of people were able to give us a correct answer to the billboard question, however 22% gave the correct answer to the tennis question, which just goes to show the amount of cognitive uplift of message the branded cars achieved."

Pieter Groenewald, of brandyourcar.com, says that he believes in the saying. "Put your money where your mouth is," which is precisely what this media owner has achieved. As a new entry into the ambient advertising arena, it is important to prove to prospective advertisers and media agencies that the medium is effective, despite the fact that vehicle branding has been around for some time in the form of buses, taxis and trucks etc.

The branding enables the advertiser to target very specific driver demographics, as the advertiser can select specific models and colours of vehicles to brand, routes and regions that people traverse as well as tailored creative messaging. Flighting of the creative is guaranteed as the owners of the cars are required to submit monthly pictures, odometer readings and verification codes back to the company.

For more, go to www.brandyourcar.com.