THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 14, 1994 TAG: 9407140661
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
You're driving down the street, minding your own, when a beaming news anchor with foot-long teeth and big, big hair preens in your rearview mirror.
'60s flashback? Media overkill? Nope. It's advertising. And it could be coming to a bus near you.
Forget those square and wimpy cardboard ads on the sides of Tidewater Regional Transit buses. The financially strapped agency is considering ``illustrated buses,'' in which the whole bus - THE ENTIRE BUS - becomes a giant 500-horsepower, stop-and-go billboard.
For now, though, the ads-on-wheels are stalled. The Tidewater Transportation District Commission on Wednesday delayed a decision until September while Portsmouth Mayor Gloria O. Webb and others check whether whole-bus ads violate local billboard ordinances.
Illustrated buses are being billed as the future of transit advertising. Ad gurus describe them as ``combining the size of a billboard, the impact of a blimp and the penetration of a bus.''
For its part, TRT could receive a guaranteed $1 million over five years, just for sponsors to rent the buses. That's a hefty incentive for a transit agency recently forced to ask Norfolk for an additional $300,000 to make ends meet.
The move represents TRT's first attempt to get money without asking riders or cities for cash. But it's old hat to other local transit folks.
PENTRAN, the Peninsula's transit agency, has been using illustrated buses since 1984.
At the intersection of Pembroke Avenue and King Street in Hampton, they began arriving in droves at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. First came the Hardee's bus, its lettering stretching the length of the bus. Across the street rolled the Chuck E Cheese's bus, its windows adorned with the company logo, with cartoonish mascots frolicking below. No inch of space need be wasted. Bus illustrators have found a window covering that can be painted over yet allows passengers to see out.
According to PENTRAN's head, illustrated buses have become as vital as gasoline.
``I would characterize the `adopt-a-bus' program as being one of the catalysts in our success,'' said Michael S. Townes, PENTRAN's executive director.
Initially, there was reluctance on the Peninsula. Folks did not want a Route 57 bus to become the ``Heinz 57'' bus. But the year after the program began, and ever since, PENTRAN has not had to grovel before city officials from Hampton or Newport News for capital funds. They used ad revenue.
This fiscal year, PENTRAN anticipates making $364,800 off these rolling promotions.
PENTRAN has 44 illustrated buses on the road, the largest fleet in the state. Richmond has three. About 25 TRT buses, 20 percent of the fleet, would be converted if the plan went through.
If TRT should decide to abandon some of its traditional blue-and-white color schemes, help is close to home. Rick Ricketts, president of SignMasters in Virginia Beach, is one of a handful of experts nationwide who design and paint illustrated buses. People at his company call themselves ``the Mobile Michelangelos.''
Ricketts' firm has more than 50 buses on the road in Columbus, Ohio; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Newport News; and Nashville, Tenn.
``It's been growing very well for us,'' Ricketts said. ``It's enabled us to pick and choose our sign jobs because, you know, you're only as good as your last bus.
``What this does is really create some excitement.''
Maybe too much excitement.
The Central Ohio Transit Authority in Columbus recently rolled out a Pizza Hut bus. When it did, riders called wanting to know where the pizza bus stopped and what kind of pizzas it served.
The newfangled buses have even gotten Frank Fortuna, a 45-year-old PENTRAN driver for the past 22 years, to say stuff like: ``I like the mauvey-pinky color.''
As for passengers, most interviewed said they were unmoved by the mobile icons. But not Angela Askew, a 29-year-old mother of three. She'd rather ride the ads.
``Regular buses don't have an effect on me,'' she said. ``It's just a bus. It's better when it's got something on it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photos by
LAWRENCE JACKSON (TOP) and CHRISTOPHER REDDICK
TOP: An ad for an eye-care firm covers a bus run by PENTRAN, the
Peninsula's transit agency. Tidewater Regional Transit in South
Hampton Roads is considering such ``illustrated buses.''
ABOVE: Scott Taylor and Jill Shaffer paint a bus design for
SignMasters of Virginia Beach, an expert in the field.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ILLUSTRATED BUSES
TO ADVERTISING: Because of their size, impact and reach, analysts
call them the future of bus advertising.
TO TRT: The agency could get a guaranteed payoff of $1 million
over five years.
KEYWORDS: TIDEWATER REGIONAL TRANSIT
TIDEWATER TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT COMMISSION
by CNB