Most Nashville advertising agencies ignore truck advertising, which typically comes in two flavors:
- A mobile box truck or flatbed truck dedicated to pulling an advertisement.
- An 18 wheeler or even a box delivery truck dedicated to making deliveries.
Mobile billboards are an effective form of outdoor advertising because we don’t notice them every day and the trucks bring the message directly to customers where billboards may be very limited due to zoning issues. For instance there are very few billboards in Green Hills in Nashville, Turkey Creek in Knoxville, or the Cool Springs and Franklin areas. Yet, what better time to remind someone of your product or message than when they are in one of these areas shopping. Businesses in all of these areas require deliveries and they have roads and parking lots.
Can truck advertising be memorable?
One of the ways I learned to read was a game I played with my grandfather on long trips on I-40 between Knoxville and Jackson, Tennessee. The winner would be the first person to each Stuckey’s billboard or Roadway truck. Those were simple but effective examples of outdoor advertising.
Imagine, however, if you took the time to create an eye catching design using Trompe d’oeil, or the art of deceiving the eye. These are images that make the eye think they are seeing something in 3 dimensions when they are actually looking at a flat surface. As we discussed last month, the technique has been around for centuries.
Do something really creative and have somebody like me feature your Nashville mobile billboard in their blog post or news article for even more publicity. In today’s world, you never know who will share something on social media.
Many delivery trucks and even many long haul 18 wheeler trucks travel the same routes daily and so they provide both the repeating message as well as uniquely memorable messages. Their audience includes pedestrians, other motorists, and people inside buildings as well.
Could you reach 10,000 people per hour with mobile billboards?
With the right planning for the route and time, a single truck could reach 10,000 people in an hour. For instance, consider a truck traveling near Neyland Stadium, Bristol Motor Speedy, the Pyramid, or Bridgestone Arena when an event ends. Or consider a truck on Kingston Pike, West End, or in downtown Memphis during the evening rush hour.