Ideas for My Car Ad Business: Creative & Inventive Solutions

[django777]

Hey all, my first post to this forum and I'm already asking for things. Well, I have an advertising business I'm trying to start that invovles my car as a giant billboard for a company, mostly independent shop owners, on the side of my car. It is at it's very early stages in development, so far I have a 150 watt mixer powering two 60 watt megaphones on top of the car, a 16 inch LED scroll light in the back window, and a string of blue led light surrounding the roof, hood, and the trunk. But, I'm stumped on anymore ideas besides a weatherproof-led scroll light to put on the top of the car behind the speakers.

Granted, this is some really low-tech stuff, but I'd be willing to invest time and money into something really cool for the car. I really don't even know why I'm posting this in a engineering forum, but I've met a lot of very creative and inventive engineers and hoping the trend was the same here. If I am in the wrong forum, please redirect me.

 

[MATLABdude]

Welcome to PhysicsForums!

First off, a bit of a downer: what jurisdiction is this in? Blue car lights may be restricted to police vehicle use only. You may also run into problems if you're blaring your megaphone continually (or during certain times of day / in certain zoned districts)--you should run your idea by your local authorities first, and consult with them while you're designing this thing.

For stationary use (as a roving display in a public non-residential space) that's probably fine (again, check with the police), but you may not be able to use the blue lights and megaphones / speakers while on the move.

Where I live, I see the occasional mobile bill board, but they usually just have a few truck-sized ads printed on something that winds between two rollers periodically. They're not overly obtrusive, so nobody minds. But price of gas being what it is (and given how spread out our city is) I can't remember the last time I saw one driving about.

EDIT: A web scroller (i.e. ads scrolling between two rolls) is probably cheaper, but a roving tri-colour LED display would be cool. I've started seeing billboards which have converted to giant LED displays, and often have video and such. Dunno if other drivers would start finding that overly distracting however. And make sure to stay away from strobing effects! Bad publicity to be responsible for causing epileptic seizures on the road!

 

[django777]

Well, I try to be prudent with the megaphone and not blare music at all hours of the night. Usually my personal cut off is 9 on the weekdays, 11 on the weekends. When I said blue LED lights, I meant the blue LED rope light that you see in bars and such. The places I roll are like you said, non-residential areas, usually a place in my city called the Highlands where there are a bunch of shops, bars, restaurants, etc. lining from the freeway to downtown.

I haven't had any problem with any police anywhere in the city. So I guess I'm in the clear for now.

 

[MATLABdude]

Sorry, my bad. I thought you were just thinking about constructing this setup, not that you were describing what you already had. Maybe you could mount a plasma display / LCD array on the side, and have something even more distinctive than a scrolling text display? Both are pricey, though.

Alternately, depending on the size of your vehicle, could you turn it into a party-bus type setup? Maybe tow a hot-tub behind with friends of the female persuasion? That'd probably be a hit with the bar / sports crowd (cheerleaders?) Actually, if you were doing that, you'd probably be better off partnering with a bar / team, buying a used flatbed / limo and converting that. And the liability insurance would probably be hefty.