Moscow Buses Will Sport Ads Made in U.S.A.
Madison Avenue jumped on the glasnost bus in more ways then one Thursday.
An American firm that sells advertising space on buses from Los Angeles to New York signed a multimillion-dollar licensing agreement to sell ads on every public bus in Moscow--and a dozen other Soviet cities.
By July, Transportation Displays Inc., a New York-based firm that claims to sell more bus ads than any company in America, expects to place ads on the sides of more than 14,000 buses in Moscow alone, for such companies as Pepsi-Cola and McDonald’s.
Although there has been advertising on buses in the Soviet Union before, this is the first organized effort to license the sale of the ad space. Weary Soviet commuters may soon have to get used to seeing such omnipresent ad slogans as “You deserve a break today.”
“This kind of opportunity only comes around once,” said Bill Apfelbaum, president and chief executive of Transportation Displays. “Russia is one of the few countries that, until now, has hardly allowed any kind of advertising.”
Because the agreement was just reached with the Soviet government this week, the firm has yet to sign on any advertisers. But it expects to reach agreements with several major American packaged goods makers, soft-drink companies, fast-food outlets and even some airlines. The company is also negotiating with advertisers from Europe and the Far East.
The move is regarded by advertising executives as an early attempt to cash in on the new marketing opportunities in the Soviet Union that go hand in hand with perestroika. And many more advertising entrepreneurs are expected to follow suit. Earlier this month, Izvestia, one of the Soviet Union’s largest newspapers, placed ads in Forbes and Business Week that invited American companies to advertise in their paper.
Not all American advertisers are jumping on the bandwagon. Warner Bros., for example, recently signed a joint agreement to build movie theaters in Moscow. But a Warner Bros. executive gave little indication on Monday that the company would be very interested in advertising on the sides of Moscow buses. “Who knows?” said John Jacobs, vice president of media at Warner Bros. “When American marketers look to Russia, some are already finding out there’s not as much discretionary income as they thought.”
But at least one American advertising executive said Transportation Displays will probably be successful. “Any form of commercial communication in Russia will be new, therefore it will be news,” said Gerrold R. Rubin, president of the Los Angeles agency Rubin Postaer & Associates. “Besides, this seems to be one that will be very accessible.”
Indeed, because there is little private transportation in the Soviet Union, the majority travel by bus. Consider, while Los Angeles has about 2,000 public buses and New York has about 4,000, Moscow has more than 14,000. The bus ads are expected to be seen by up to 300 million people throughout the Soviet Union.
But they will not come cheaply. The bus ads, which will be about 12 feet long and 2 feet high, will cost about $500 each, said Apfelbaum. It would cost about $200,000 to appear on 400 buses--which Apfelbaum suggests is a minimum for much market penetration. Although cigarette advertising will be permitted, no ads for alcoholic beverages are allowed, he said.
Will his company blight the landscape in Moscow? “It’s not blight, it’s a way to brighten the dreary environment,” said Apfelbaum. “Besides, Moscow will never look like La Cienega Boulevard.”
