Investment Analysis: Measuring the Value of Vehicle Wraps (Part 4)
Effect on Brand
For years companies have been sponsoring events, athletes, and racing vehicles. Consumers enjoy music and sitcoms yet rarely do advertisers get credit for making the programming free. With wrapped vehicles individual vehicle owners or renters directly benefit from advertising. By sponsoring rental vehicles advertisers can link the pleasures of vacationing and saving money to their brand.
A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product service, or company. It is not what you say it is. It’s what THEY say it is. Today, buying decisions are made more on symbolic cues than features, benefits, and price. Through differentiation, brand has evolved from a focus on “what it is,” and “what it does,” to “how you’ll feel” and βwho you are.” While features, benefits, and price are still important to people, experiences and personal identity are even more important.
Advertising does two things: (1) It influences brand choice of customers who are ready to buy now (2) It builds brands awareness among consumers who are not ready to buy. In an information-rich and time-poor world, the value of your brand grows when customers can quickly say yes to your offering.
The fact that a person uses a brand is likely to create awareness of the campaign as a result of the known psychological phenomenon of Selective Perception. Although wrapped vehicles are not the same size as tractor-trailers there is a similarity in the attention they draw on the road. The American Trucking Associationβs study; The Visual Impact of Trucks in Traffic, showed:
- 96% noticed truck side ads
- 98% said fleet graphics created a positive image for the company
- 96% said fleet graphics had more impact than billboards
- 75% of people developed an impression about a company and its products
- 29% would base a buying decision on the impression
In outdoor, the media is the message. There is no delivery device but the advertising itself, nothing to hide behind. Thus knowing what factors consumers notice and respond to is paramount in creating effective outdoor advertising.
One of the biggest advantages of sponsored vehicles is the word-of-mouth effect. The uniqueness of this type of marketing generates a viral marketing unlike other of out-of-home methods. To maximize the buzz factor; advertisers should take advantage of each of the touch points a rental vehicle could have:
- Rental Car Companies Website
- Rack displays within the rental location
- Sponsored Driver Educational handouts
- Fully wrapping the vehicle for maximum effect
- Press releases and news stories this type of rental is sure to generate in the beginning
