ROADVERT HELPS COUNCILS EASE BUDGET PRESSURES BY TURNING VEHICLES INTO MOBILE BILLBOARDS

Unique Roadvert system opens up new revenue streams for local authorities

Local authorities have readily embraced the use of their vehicles to spread messages about council services – now they are being given the opportunity to positively promote their fleets as revenue-earning assets.

While the public are accustomed to seeing campaigns about recycling and bin collections on refuse lorries, they could soon be seeing advertisements with a more commercial slant on council fleets.

As austerity bites councils are looking for new ways to ease budget pressures and thanks to an innovative new system – Roadvert and the iRoadvert Beacon – they can now explore the avenue of selling third party advertising.

For the first time they can avail themselves of a tool that provides evidence of the audience of the vehicle and justifies the pricing of the space.
Turning council vehicles into ‘moving billboards’ which generate earnings is one option that will benefit local residents by helping local authorities to balance budgets and protect services.
Roadvert is an online tool that predicts the audience of a vehicle and its value as it goes about its daily business.

When combined with the iRoadvert Beacon, it is a particularly powerful tool that will allow advertisers to engage with the local community. iRoadvert Beacon is a device that can transmit messages to smartphones and tablets within 75 metres of a vehicle as well as capture data from the kerbside which due to Roadvert Media can be communicated by location and time.

Both innovations have been brought to market by Spedian, the company behind Spedian™ lightweight, reusable vehicle graphics that are popular in local authority circles for the ease with which graphics can be applied and removed. Campaigns can be easily refreshed, with panels being stored for later re-use, without causing any damage to the vehicle or leaving any sticky residues behind.

Lawrence Craig, CEO of Roadvert, said: “Generating extra income from on-vehicle advertising on council fleets can only be of benefit to residents in these times of austerity – it will ease the burden on council taxpayers.
“Local authorities are already using their vehicles to communicate their own messages to local communities, now Roadvert and iRoadvert helps them to take the next step and promote campaigns on behalf of third parties.

“It is a vast untapped market and one which could deliver much-needed financial benefits to local authorities at a time when many are in desperate need of some extra income to help balance the books.”
One of the first councils to adopt Roadvert, without the beacon, is South Staffordshire District Council which plans to sell space on two of its refuse trucks to local businesses through its entrepreneurial arm, the Business Hub.

Business Hub Lead, Imre Tolgyesi, said: “Roadvert is a really cool website that enables us to see how many people will view the advertisements and we will use that information to sell the advertising.
“It’s another tool in our armoury to generate money directly for our public services. Every pound that we generate will help. If each department could raise thousands of pounds a year it would go a long way to retaining services for the benefit of local residents.

“We’ve not sold advertising on refuse trucks before because the financial incentive wasn’t there. But times have changed and councils have to adopt a more commercial perspective now.”

Editor’s note: For further information contact Celeste Clarke at Century PR on 024 7622 8881 or email celeste@centurypr.co.uk.