Driving the message to Limerick consumers

New to Limerick city and county are SLOGO SmartAds an advertising company specialising in 'Mobile Billboard Advertising.

Trucks which carry no cargo except their billboards, are something of a rarity in Limerick and Ireland as a whole. But according to experts it is an industry that is expected to continue to expand in the coming years.

The spike in outdoor advertising and mobile billboards in particular, comes as advertisers are increasingly heading outdoors to reach their target audiences. And they're no longer relying solely on highway signs to attract attention. Mobile billboards patrol the streets of both small cities and major metropolitan areas.

Critics say the advertisements are little more than eye pollution, particularly in a society already saturated with commercial messages. But these criticisms have done little to deter companies, which in the last decade have nearly doubled the amount of money they spend on outdoor ads.

"It's all about what you can do to be a little more unexpected to catch people's attention," says Joanne McMahon, of SLOGO Smartads. "The consumer has more and more control than they've ever had before and outdoor advertising is trying to think of creative ways to break through that."

The SLOGO Smartads trucks, for example, can drive through specific areas targeting the wealthy, college students, or other key audiences. And they also use global positioning technology in their trucks, so that clients can know exactly where their ad was driven and how long it stayed in a specific spot.

Some clients just want to reach a large number of people. So the mobile billboards often flock to busy neighborhoods or crowded highways. That strategy has raised the ire of some environmentalists, who say mobile billboards unnecessarily clog the roads.

However, the owners of mobile billboard companies counter that their trucks have a minimal impact on the environment — and that they have as much right to the roads as anyone else.

"Everybody's got the right to use the highways and byways and we can go everywhere a car can go," says Patrick Carr, of SLOGO Smartads.

For many companies looking to grab a share of the lucrative outdoor advertising market, the biggest threat comes not from environmentalists, but from the competition.

The Outdoor Advertising Association predicts that the industry could see double-digit growth over the next five years. That means even more firms will want to get in on the action — and companies will face greater pressure to get creative and come up with new ways to reach elusive consumers: http://www.limerick.com