The Impact of Scam Schemes Using Advertising Wraps

Bus and Car Advertising Wraps

In recent years, bus wraps have gained increasing acceptance and usage among car advertising firms. This is majorly because of its affordability. Bus wraps are relatively much cheaper means of out-of-home advertising, especially when compared to other options such as billboards. In the interest of maximizing returns on investment (ROI) and minimizing advertising costs while generating more leads, many local businesses have embraced this advertising strategy. But the challenge of measuring the actual impact of ads remains largely unaddressed. In the case of car wraps, it’s even more difficult to ascertain the mileage achieved by the vehicle owners, in the desired locations. But by and large, vehicle advertising, including bus wraps is a popular advertising choice among marketers.

The main advantage of advertising wraps is that a car bearing a decal has the potential to generate very high impressions. This is, of course, dependent on the population of the target locations. Car wraps are intentionally designed to be appealing to the target audience. Hence, very high visually-stimulating graphics are employed in designing one. The graphics include a call-to-action phrase to motivate a potential customer to take action. Advertising wraps are also one of the cheapest forms of advertising and effortlessly place your brand in front of thousands of potential clients. According to an analysis by Arbitron Inc., a leading international media and marketing research firm (serving outdoor media, radio broadcasters, and advertising agencies in the United States and Europe), the cost of traditional advertising methods such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and outdoor signage far exceeds that of advertising on vehicles. This is based on the cost per impression (CPM) – $0.35 cost per thousand impressions for wrap advertising.

The risks of Car Advertising

Unfortunately, as beautiful as this prospect seems, car wraps or bus wraps may experience an increasing decline in usage because of the unhealthy activities of scammers in the field. Already, vehicle owners in America are wary of car wraps firms. People have been defrauded multiple times by fake car advertising companies. And the practice continues to grow.

There have been complaints of people getting emails and texts from these scammers up to 3 times in a week! They send unsolicited car wrapping deals to unsuspecting victims. They make them part with their money and still issue dud checks to them, thereby throwing them into debts. Usually, they’ll promise to pay you hundreds of dollars per month, while you drive your car around – a deal too sweet to resist – which is actually what true car ads firms do. Recently, students who are struggling with student loans have fallen for the scam too.

Despite the existence of legitimate mobile advertising firms, many vehicle owners would rather be once burned, twice shy when it comes to car wrapping deals. Besides this, there are growing advocacies against mobile advertising in some major cities because of the visual pollution they cause and their tendency to contribute to already existing traffic congestion. In fact, several state governments have passed legislation ruling against any motorized advertisement in metropolitan areas. And the more states that sign up for this policy, the grimmer the future is for mobile advertising.