CASE STUDY : The HighRoad Car Transporter Advertising Media System

Background

Since the transportation of motor vehicles began at the start of the century, companies have been trying to devise ways to accompany the transported vehicles with the manufacturer’s advertising.

There is about 20 tough criteria to overcome to enable car transporters to carry advertising – such as how do you change the advertising enroute as the transporter drops off (say) Ford and picks up Vauxhall, drops of these and picks up Toyota – and so this continues each day and week the transporter is on the road. By their very nature, transporters are built to flex with the road, differences in weight of load and weather conditions. Any system would have to flex with the dynamics of the transporter. Any system must not inhibit the driver accessing the vehicle. Then there is the weather and effect this could have on the transporter whilst moving (eg cross winds) at high speed on a motorway, crossing a bridge, etc.

I was told emphatically by fleet managers that devising a system for car transporters to carry advertising was an impossible feat. Many car transporter companies and engineering firms had tried over the years and failed. One company had even gone out of business trying to develop what turned out to be a very expensive solution that eventually broke down under trials.

Rationale

It is very reasonable for car transporters to carry advertising whilst carrying cars in the motoring environment – in full view of motorists – who are motoring in their current car and in a motoring frame of mind. In motorway and A-road surveys, most motorists glance at passing car transporters to see what they are carrying. Car transporter advertising makes good marketing and financial sense.

Solution

Detailed plans were drawn up and various prototypes were hand-built and tested, refined, and constructed in a workshop for bench testing.

A scaled Corgi toy car transporter was adapted with the scaled advertising system and we built a mini enclosed wind tunnel and video recorded the ‘near-as-dammit’ effects of a transporter carrying advertising and the system on the road.

Satisfied as much as we could be, the decision to build a full size system was built and applied to a loaned car transporter for ‘static yard testing’ – and upon approval then progressed to full road testing on an A-road and then motorway. IT WORKED!

The car transporter carrying my system was then invited to travel for inspection at a main fleet depot in SE London travelling from Stoke-on-Trent to Purfleet via the M6, M1 and M25 motorways – the system’s most arduous test todate. Photographers recorded the journey at various points on the motorway and the vehicle arrived at the depot as it left the workshop.

The fleet manager and technical director satisfied with the inspection of their vehicle and with the satisfactory driver report, the car transporter was placed into fleet service at Harrogate depot for an arduous 4 weeks of fleet (soak) testing. This testing also proved successful on reports from the driver and fleet manager.

My ‘HighRoad Car Transporter Advertising Media System’ worked and met all the key criteria of service duty including - Change of advertisement with change of load (eg: Vauxhall advertising only with Vauxhall cars onboard) > Effect of transporter travelling with advertising under all conditions (including cross winds) > Road conditions > Weather conditions > Flexing of transporter under load and travelling empty > Hump-back bridges and severe ramps > Health and safety > Cleaning > Security > Visibility of advertisement from road and driving audiences > Effect on transporter > Impeding of loading > Protection of onboard vehicles > Viability as a media (and especially the benefits over roadside, billboard, poster and ambient media) > Return on investment > Other

Conclusion

Car transport companies had long since recognised the advantages of transporters carrying advertising and strived to get advertising on to car transporters ever since car transporters emerged in the 1920’s.

Despite many attempts (and there had been many), each attempt was met with failure (for various technical, logistical and financial reasons). They said it couldn’t be done – even when my prototype was running successfully in service they still argued it couldn’t be done.

Completing assessment trials with the Richard Lawson fleet, the transporter company, driver and fleet manager confirmed the system was a success.

They said it couldn’t be done and I did it – the world’s first and still to this day, the only viable car transporter advertising system.