Hey! We appreciate you being here. Hopefully this colorful primer will help inform your pedicab advertising decision-making. Thanks for reading, and we look forward to hearing from you. (See also: Advertise with us.)
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Billboard trike
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- Billboard trikes don’t have to adhere to the same regulations that govern pedicab movement. Want to advertise in Hyde Park? Southpark Meadows? We can do it. We are also the only pedicab company in Austin to have a fleet of billboard trikes.
Canopy
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- We are the only pedicab company in Austin to have canopies available for all of our pedicabs. We are also the only pedicab company to tailor-make canopies for advertising campaigns.
Cool R’ Rax
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- Cool are racks, cooler racks. However your pronunciation, these are handlebar-mounted coolers. They are within reach of the pedicab driver, perfect for product distribution. We’ve used them for energy drinks, water and popcorn. We can carry additional product in the pedicab’s trunk space, in a satchel connected to the seat post, as well as maintain a depot at our conveniently-located east side shop.
Driver branding
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- Providing pedicab drivers with branded t-shirts is a sound investment; those t-shirts will be worn long after a campaign has ended. Thinner shirts or athletic jerseys are preferable, mainly due to the physical work involved. Sometimes advertisers complement the shirts with hats, e.g. PwC paired their tuxedo t-shirts with chauffeur’s caps for their SXSW 2014 campaign. (Author’s note: I still wear clothing advertisers provided me since my first SXSW back in 2010.)
Driver for hire
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- “For hire” means compensating a pedicab driver to provide free rides for pedestrians/potential passengers. This is unsurprisingly a hit with both drivers and passengers. If the pedicab driver has a hashtag available, printed either on the pedicab or the branded t-shirt, passengers frequently will post their appreciation on social media for all to see. For example, Whataburger adopted “#fryride” for SXSW 2016 (and a release party in San Antonio, home of their corporate headquarters) and SkinnyPop Popcorn created specific hashtags for three festivals.
Fixture (including signboards)
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- With a fun or eye-catching signboard or fiberglass fixture, they stand out prominently and *always* generate a lot of conversation and photographs among pedestrians and passengers. They add wind-resistance and/or extra weight to the pedicabs, but we’re all professional athletes so that doesn’t matter. We like to make things, so feel free to pitch ideas. We are the only pedicab company in Austin to offer this service.
Full wraps
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- We do all our printing to keep costs low. A full wrap offers 25 sq ft worth of advertising space. A creative team can use all that space to its fullest potential. It really allows for “complete” pieces. Depending on the time of year, that wrap is likely to stay wrapped on the pedicab until a later campaign requires it to be peeled off.
iDash
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- We have 32 iPads, and created protective casings for them that hang from beneath the pedicab driver’s seat post, in full view of their passengers. PwC used them in 2014 to provide their clients with Austin-specific information about eateries and the like, and Budweiser used them in 2016 to play a humorous public service announcement regarding drunk driving featuring the actress Dame Helen Mirren.
Panel ads
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- The budget option! The complete package covers 15 sq ft — that is to say the pedicab’s back, sides and kickboard. The most inexpensive advertising option is simply to cover only the back. (The latter is used most frequently by one-off chartered events, to be described later in a solo post.) While we prefer wraps, a personal advantage is that these are easier to apply to our pedicabs. (Author’s note: We used to contract third-party vendors to print our ads, which was costly and left little room for error. Once we began in-house production, the costs dropped to the extent that a full wrap isn’t that much more expensive than a complete panel ad package. If you check out our Flickr page, you can see when the change began.)
Wheel covers
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- Wheel covers offer approximately 10 sq ft worth of additional ad space. These are the cheapest advertising option. We fasten the wheel covers with zip-ties around the spokes to ensure they won’t fly off. Amazingly, we are the only pedicab company in Austin to offer this service.
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David Knipp can be reached in the following ways:
Phone: (512) 665-2454
3 PM to 12 AM
email: david@austinpedicab.org
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