Buses Opening Doors to Some Moving Ads

There is nothing very special about a city bus. As the saying goes, another one comes along every minute. But a giant, rolling radio dial or apple crate is something else again.

That’s the thinking behind a new advertising program that gives advertisers the chance to convert a Detroit Department of Transportation bus into a mobile billboard.

The first of these custom-painted buses, prepared for Detroit radio station WCZY-FM, hit the streets about a year ago and is designed to resemble the dial of a radio.

In June, Comprehensive Health Services Inc., a health maintenance organization that uses an apple as its symbol, began advertising with a bus painted to resemble an old apple crate--right down to the wood-slat construction and large labels at either end. The company reinforces the message with matching stationary billboards.

“We’re extremely pleased with it, and so is the client,” says Gil Testa of the Troy advertising firm Stone, August, Baker, which represents Comprehensive Health Services, or “Wellness Plan.”

“We’ve very definitely had an awful lot of feedback, both from public representatives and even a great number of . . . our medical providers,” he said.

Rocco Iacobellis of Gannett Outdoor Advertising, which handles advertising for the Detroit transit system, said his company was “trying to find innovative ways for getting transit advertising in the forefront of (advertising) agencies’ minds.”

“What we did was try to create a little perk that would show them they could have some fun with it, create some impact . . . and still have a solid (advertising) program.”

The cost of the special bus promotions--$65,000 for six months, paint job included--rules out most small advertisers, Iacobellis said.

“We find we get a lot of calls, unfortunately, from people who say, ‘Can’t you just paint one of these for us? We’re having a family reunion.’

“When we explain the costs, it just blows them away.”