Transit advertising is a great way to get noticed and remembered by potential customers without breaking the bank. It’s also an environmentally friendly option for advertising because it helps reduce traffic congestion, gas consumption, air pollution, noise pollution etc
You want to advertise your business, but you don’t know how. The most effective advertising is usually the one that people notice and remember. But it can be hard to get noticed in the sea of advertisements we see every day. So, what is transit advertising?
What is transit advertising?
Transit advertising is what the name implies: Ads in public areas that are usually accessible to a large mass of people, such as buses and subway trains.
Transit advertising is popular for several reasons: It’s very measurable, and it’s available at a variety of sizes and locations.
Also, because transit ads typically cover entire sides or “wraps” of buses or trains, they’re seen over and over again every day by the same person when he or she travels to work or runs errands.
Importance
Advertising in public transportation systems is important to companies both large and small. Whether it’s retail stores or national businesses, the right ad can really make an impact on potential customers.
Demographic
Transit advertising is a unique opportunity to reach those who don’t own cars or have an unreliable form of transportation.
By understanding the demographics you hope will see your ads, it’s significant that they’re correlated with ridership numbers for public transit – otherwise their potential impact may be limited!
Targeting specific demographics can be useful for certain products.
For example, if you want to specifically target daily commuters then certain train or bus lines may have more of them than other ones and depending on what kind of advertising is most needed (professional parents with kids in tow; tourists looking for a quick escape from their busy life) these are significant factors when choosing where your ad will appear.
Types of Transit Advertising
There are two main types of transit advertising: The first involves placing ads on what you might think of as “traditional” vehicles, like buses or subway trains that travel along fixed routes with set schedules.
The second type is what’s called “street furniture”: Bikes racks, bus stops, benches, etc. If you take a look at what many major cities have done to beautify their streets capes, you’ll realize what an impact these items can have for advertisers!
Indoor
This refers to advertisements placed inside the vehicle and inside transit shelters. Indoor advertising can be the static advertisement (such as posters, boards, leaflets, and others), video advertisements (displayed on video screens) and audio advertisements.
Outdoor
This refers to advertisements placed on the outer surface of vehicles and transit shelters. Outdoor transit advertisements can be further divided into roof advertising and onboard advertising.
Roof advertising, as the name suggests, are advertisements placed on the roof of the vehicle. Onboard advertisement, on the other hand, refers to advertisements that are placed on the lateral sides, back or front of the vehicles.
Examples
The above is an example of one of the most successful examples of transit advertisement is by The Martin Agency which created a “Don’t jump” bus campaign for Careerbuilders.
This particular advertisement, placed on tops of buses, could be seen from tops of buildings and offices and helped Martin Agency win a Bronze Lion from Cannes.
Advantages
You Just Can’t Be Ignored!
For the past 50 years, bus, and cab advertisements have been a staple of public transportation.
Your audience will be unable to escape your ad by changing channels or fast-forwarding like they do while watching TV or listening on radio; it’s just impossible when someone is sitting right in front of you!
In fact, this form provides an undeniable advantage: you are able to make sure that every person sees exactly what he needs at all times – which gives him no choice but act now
They All Are There, You Just Need To Grab!
With transit advertisement, you can target a wide range of audience members that have different needs.
Based on your product/service and budget requirements for the campaign targeting, these demographics such as age or income level may also differ depending upon what they require at any given time.
For example, if it is necessary to engage students with advertisements about their upcoming exam schedules, then more focus might be placed on this particular group since many are stressing over school work during finals weeks while other commuters could just use some information about train delays before getting into a car accident!
Long Exposure!
Advertising on public transport has an opportunity to get noticed by passengers. This is because they spend up to 30 minutes in their journey bored and restless, so you have a long enough time span where your advertisement could be seen or remembered before it’s too late for them not remember what was advertised later down the line when their mind starts to wander again!
Frequency At No Extra Cost!
One great way to get your message across and make sure it resonates with every single person who sees it is through ads. With over 5 billion people using public transportation worldwide, this choice can have an impressive reach! If they’re taking the same route each day or two like many everyday commuters do on buses and trains then there’s a good chance that someone might see your ad at least 20–25 times in just ONE month—that gives you some serious numbers when considering how much exposure may help serve their purpose better than ever before.
You Can Be Just In Time!
Shoppers often use public transport while going shopping and a bus running along the route of your advertisement could help in drawing attention from people who are always on their way to or coming back home with loads of groceries.
Disadvantages
- The nature of transit advertising makes it difficult to reach a specific segment of the audience. For example, the advertisement will not reach those who do not take the public transport system. It might also sometimes reach people who may not have a certain lifestyle or behavior that the advertisement is looking to aim at.
- Many times, commuters might not be in the mood to look at the advertisement. While at other times, they might be busy reading the newspaper or a book, thus limiting the reach of the advertisement.
- The Transit advertisement message should be short, crisp, and creative. Commuters do not prefer long and complex messages. Another factor which businesses need to keep in mind is the limited space available to them for this kind of advertising. Thus, businesses have to be more innovative when it comes to having that perfect transit advertisement.
- The reach of Transit advertising also depends on its surroundings. For example, an advertisement on the outside of a bus might get lost when it is splashed with mud. Also, these advertisements are subject to vandalism. The weather too can play spoilsport and add to the wear and tear of transit advertising, and thus businesses need to be constantly monitoring their transit advertisements.
What is meant by transit advertising?
Are transit ads effective?
Advertisers use bus advertising because they are guaranteed a great reach at an affordable cost, depending on size, area, and longevity. It’s effective in reaching out to both men and women, of various age groups, because awareness about a product/service sees no gender, really.
How do I advertise public transit?
- Transit Ads – Digital and printed ads located inside or outside of vehicles and CTrain stations. …
- Bus Benches – Benches located at bus stops throughout the city. …
- Passenger Shelters – At bus stops throughout the city.
In short, transit advertising is a form of bus or subway advertisement that targets potential customers in the transportation hubs. Transit advertising can be an excellent way to reach your target market.
If you’ve been thinking about starting a campaign but aren’t sure how best to use this medium for your business, we have some tips and tricks up our sleeves!
