One way to reach consumers where they shop is to leave your ad on their parked cars.

A step up from traditional leafleting is using specialty postcards printed in full color and stuck to car windows with tiny suction cups.

To find out how to get your client’s message attached to your targeted audience’s automobiles, read on.

This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts

What
Messages printed on postcards that are placed on car windows with small suction cups.

Who
GoGorilla Media, headquartered in New York.

How it works
Messages are printed on postcard stock, which is die-cut to hold small suction cups.

Street teams affix the cards to targeted cars. They’re attached to car windows, typically on the driver’s side, by the suction cups.

The ads are cleaner and more visible than traditional advertising flyers, says senior account manager Suzanne McNamara. "People don’t want you to mess with their windshield wipers. This is our answer to that.”

The program is called GoAuto. GoAuto campaigns are used for branding as well as promotions. Standard ads are postcards measuring 4.25 inches by 6 inches. Part of the postcard or the entire postcard can be a coupon. One or both sides can be printed. Four color process is used.

In addition to postcards, items like magnets or air fresheners with an advertising message can be attached to cars using suction cups.

Creative is provided by the advertiser. “It should be bright, funny, sexy,” McNamara says.

“People always ask us is this something that makes people unhappy when they find it on their cars and the answer is we haven’t gotten any negative feedback,” she says.

“We do this stealthily. We’re sneaking in there so we don’t want to make too much of a spectacle.”

Creative can tie into the suction cup or auto theme. The postcards can be cut into any shape the advertiser requests to relate it to the product or to enhance the message. For example, Comedy Central used “Make your message stick” in its campaign at the Los Angeles Staples Center.

The program is used primarily by national advertisers, McNamara says.

GoAuto is available all four seasons. The program is turnkey and can be used on city streets as well as suburban parking lots.

Markets
The program is available in any market, and by region as well. For example, Nextel used it in small markets in the South, McNamara says.

How it is measured
One ad is placed on each targeted car. The advertiser’s message is also seen by passing pedestrians, McNamara says. GoGorilla estimates that each piece generates 25 impressions, based on their street teams’ traffic reports.

What product categories do well
Entertainment, retail, electronics and service providers top the category list.
Ads for alcohol aren’t accepted.

Demographics
Groups can be targeted by location.  Audiences can be targeted by neighborhood, by street and by specific parking lots, McNamara says.

When a photography studio wanted to reach mothers to advertise family and children’s portraits, the ads were placed on mini vans and on cars that had car seats in them at mall parking lots.

Consumers can also be targeted psychographically by the type of cars they drive. Sites or locations based on demographic targeting can be provided by the advertiser, or GoGorilla can provide locations based on the client’s target audience.

Making the buy
Lead time is four weeks. The cost per piece is $1.90, and the minimum buy is 5,000 pieces. Sales are by number of pieces, with one piece per car. About 5,000 cars can be reached over two days.

Multiple markets can be reached simultaneously.

Who’s already on ads suction cupped to cars
Nextel and Comedy Central have used GoAuto.

What they’re saying
“We blanketed an E3 gaming convention as part of a bigger upfront campaign with ‘Make your message stick with viewers.’ Our young male viewers show up at movie openings, they play games on computers. They’re very receptive. So this was an organic way to position this message for this niche.” – Peter Risafi, executive creative director at Comedy Central.

Web site info
GoGorilla at www.gogorillamedia.com