Fast Facts

What
   Utilizing Segways for branding and promotions.

Who
   Several agencies are using Segways in their campaigns. For this article, Media Life spoke with:
MassiveMedia, headquartered in New York City
Gigunda Group, headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire
Turtle Transit, headquartered in Lancaster, Massachusetts
Segway Los Angeles, headquartered in Santa Monica, California

How it works
   Segways are wrapped, extended with signage, and rebuilt with branding messages. They travel in small groups, often in conjunction with other mobile media.
   MassiveMedia has added another element:  projecting images from the Segways onto walls, sidewalks and limo exteriors.
   “They make street teams more mobile, make them taller for people to see them, and they’re also funny to look at,” says MassiveMedia managing director Rob Rukstalis.
  Creative can range from placing a logo on a Segway to rebuilding it to resemble a product. “The trick is to make it eye catching and the other part is to use it cleverly,” says Scott Schoessel of Gigunda Group.
   “The more 3-D you can do, the better,” says James Riseborough, the owner of Massachusetts-based Turtle Transit, which designs and builds branded Segways.
   Turtle Transit transformed a trio of Segways into giant noses topped with giant glasses, a la Groucho Marx, with the Puffs tissues logo in the lens of each pair of glasses.
   “We have used Segways to hand out premiums,” Riseborough says. “We built Charmin chariots, and guys in football pads and helmets rode them around outside the Super Bowl using air horns, blinking red lights and bubble machines. We built a 40-foot by 20-foot fake football field, and they were tearing up and down that.”
   New Hampshire-based Gigunda Group teamed with Turtle Transit to create the Charmin Potty Palooza, a bank of portable restrooms installed at family events, utilizing wrapped Segways to guide the public to their location.
   Attached signage provides 12 square feet of ad space, Rukstalis says.
   Branded Segways can be used in both indoor and outdoor locations. Use is often event-oriented. Segways are most often used in groups, but an advertiser could utilize a single vehicle.
   Shell Oil had Turtle Transit build a single branded Segway that it used to direct consumers to its service stations for gas giveaways, Riseborough says.
   Branded Segways can be used as a stand-alone but are most frequently used as an element in a multi-faceted campaign.
   “We’ve used them as buzz vehicles, tearing around the bigger item, handing out samples or printed material, and getting people’s attention to come over and get XYZ,” Riseborough says.
    National brands most frequently utilize branded Segways in their campaigns.
   Segways are used year round in warm climates, indoors as well as outdoors. In the colder climates of the East and Midwest they are in use primarily in spring and summer.

Markets
   “Everywhere,” says MassiveMedia’s Rukstalis.
   States have individual rules on Segway use, says Gigunda Group’s Schoessel. “Ninety five percent of our programs are national, and we have not run into any issues in the way we use them. Though at first large malls were concerned, we haven’t had any problems.”
   Segway Los Angeles will be offering ad programs in Southern California by the end of July.

How measured
   Sampling numbers and coupon redemption are used as applicable.
   “Measurement is the hottest topic in experiential marketing,” Schoessel says. “At the low end of the scale that measures effectiveness you can count touches with consumers. From the broader perspective you can pick apart each aspect of a program and look at what was successful. Segway or Segway and sample combined, for example.”

What product categories do well
   Just about anything could work, Riseborough says.
   “Product launches, product awareness and sampling are how a variety of companies use Segways.”

Demographics
   Time and place are utilized to target specific audiences, Schoessel says. Demographic data is often gathered during the course of Segway campaigns, Riseborough says. “What will happen is you do a sweepstakes to get names, ages and email addresses.”

Making the buy
   MassiveMedia:
   Lead time is two weeks. Factors that affect price include how many markets and length of campaign. “A Segway street team is about twice the price of a regular street team,” Rukstalis says.

 Gigunda Group:
    Lead time depends on the elements in the program and what an advertiser wants to do with the Segways, Schoessel says. Fabrication can take four to eight weeks while wraps are done quickly.
   Cost also is contingent on the entire program and specifically what modifications are done to the Segways.

Turtle Transit:
   Lead time for fiberglass creations is four to five weeks.

Who’s already on Segways
   Heineken, Sony PlayStation, Freschetta Pizza, Major League Baseball, Charmin, Puffs, Shell Oil, Comcast, Pampers and Campbell’s have all recently used Segways in campaigns.

What they’re saying
   “The reason we like to use Segways is threefold. First, their mobility and flexibility. They’re very easy to propel and maneuver around busy areas like malls, festivals and state fairs. They’re not big like a golf cart. The second reason is they draw a level of attention. They’re unique and interesting. People stop and want to engage the drivers in conversation. Third, they take brand ambassadors and elevate them. You’re relatively tall when you’re riding a Segway and easy to spot, especially if in costume or uniform.” -- Scott Schoessel of New Hampshire-based Gigunda Group, which used Segways for Charmin and other campaigns.

Web site info
  MassiveMedia at www.massivemediainc.com
   Gigunda Group at www.gigundagroup.com
   Turtle Transit at www.turtletransit.com
   Segway Los Angeles at www.Segway.la

Etc.
   Segway Los Angeles is launching an advertising program that will be fully operational by the end of July, says company president Jason Stemmler. It will be offering branded Segways for rent and sale. Rentals include drivers.
   “We can sell the unit itself with the ad skin or provide it on a rental basis, say for a three-day trade show, with the operator. We can be really creative with it, include text, a logo, make the whole thing one object. It can be used for product sampling, to cover ground or simply to get more attention,” Stemmler says.