Does anyone here sponsor a roundabout?

[sam.r]

Is it something that is quite new or just hasn't taken off?

I've been thinking about the possibilities of acting as an agent / middleman for the councils selling roundabout sponsorship to local businesses...

Not only would it generate a bit of income for the council (maybe my bins could be picked up weekly!) but it would also make the area look much better.
I have seen that Bedford do this and have a list of sites to sponsor but not every council do this..... Why?

Do councils outsource things or would they do it all in house?

I would love to get into the advertising game, and always trying to think of the new avenues you could tap advertising into. After just coming back from France some of the roundabouts are amazing - it really makes the area look very nice.

Sorry for the random questions but if anyone can shed some light on this subject I would be grateful!

[Simpo Two]

My word, you actually WANT to sell advertising?!

I saw a van from my local garden centre and some of its staff hard at work on a nearby roundabout last week, but they don't seem to sponsor it... odd.

(how many businesses are you running at once Sam?!)

[hughjayteens]

Been around for ages - http://www.sprinters.zen.co.uk/UKR/ look after my local ones.

I spoke to them and they always seem to have people interested in advertising on there, particularly local estate agents etc, or any local big companies who want to impress people en the way to visit etc.

[sam.r]

Simpo Two said:

My word, you actually WANT to sell advertising?!

I saw a van from my local garden centre and some of its staff hard at work on a nearby roundabout last week, but they don't seem to sponsor it... odd.

(how many businesses are you running at once Sam?!)

HaHa whats wrong with advertising! Ok trying to sell ad space in a magazine or online can be quite hard and tedious but, find a new medium and for a short space of time it could be very popular - also the fact that the client never knows if it is actually working although throwing thousands at it!!

Just want to earn a bit of $$$ now so I dont have to worry about it later John! (trying to anyway)

[sam.r]

hughjayteens said:

Been around for ages - http://www.sprinters.zen.co.uk/UKR/ look after my local ones.

I spoke to them and they always seem to have people interested in advertising on there, particularly local estate agents etc, or any local big companies who want to impress people en the way to visit etc.

So there is a market, why hasn't it spread? I'm in the SE and there are loads of roundabouts that look sh!te!

[Plotloss]

sam.r said:

hughjayteens said:

Been around for ages - http://www.sprinters.zen.co.uk/UKR/ look after my local ones.

I spoke to them and they always seem to have people interested in advertising on there, particularly local estate agents etc, or any local big companies who want to impress people en the way to visit etc.

So there is a market, why hasn't it spread? I'm in the SE and there are loads of roundabouts that look sh!te!

Because its entirely untargeted?

Advertising needs to show a return, its not a charitable pursuit.

[Brown and Boris]

I looked at doing this some years ago when we wanted to raise awareness of an initiative across a local population. We just wanted everyone to know a particular campaign name which was then backed up with radio and newspaper pieces to put meat on thebones for people to know what it was about.

It was quite expensive and they limited the number of words you could use (too many words are thought to distract drivers). As I recall the council had a PR/Media agency which handled it all. 'Boundary' signs were cheaper so that you got your logo and a few words at the entrance signs to the town/city and could choose which routes (commuter routes and A class roads were more expensive).

In the end I think we went with bus signs as they did the same job but moved around the town in the areas we particularly wanted to raise the profile (ie around large council housing estates).

[jamesuk28]

Been in and around Northants for roughly 15 years, it seems to be pretty expensive but popular. I know Mark (beemsa) from Dovehouse cars advertises on the Local Waitrose roundabout near us, might be worth messaging him.

[sam.r]

Thanks for the replies.

What is it like dealing with the local council?

Would they want to outsource such a service?

I'll try and call them but inside knowledge is always good!

[HRG]

I looked into it. It was half the cost of an absolutely top dollar Yellow Pages advert which seems to be our main source of lead generation after referrals. I would say it's more about awareness than actually generating enquiries.

[Anatol]

One of our near neighbours in the franchise network did this, his experience was very akin to HRG's comments - expensive and nowhere near as cost-effective in lead generation bang for buck as primary advertising like YP. He ended up so underwhelmed that he paid the release fee to end the contract early...

Tol

[jamesuk28]

sam.r said:

What is it like dealing with the local council?

Do you really need to ask that question?

[sam.r]

[Simpo Two]

sam.r said:

What is it like dealing with the local council?

Something like:

'I have £5 in this hand and £500 in this hand. Which is greater?'

'Er, we'll need to have a meeting on that - the next one's in October. Call back then.'

[Brown and Boris]

Simpo Two said:

sam.r said:

What is it like dealing with the local council?

Something like:

'I have £5 in this hand and £500 in this hand. Which is greater?'

'Er, we'll need to have a meeting on that - the next one's in October. Call back then.'

Oh Yes! In fact a large part of the public sector I deal with is like that. Never time to make a decision, do some background resaerch on a proble, read something properly or comment of a draft, but always time for a few meetings, a training course and to trek about the country 'looking' at stuff.

[Davel]

Halton Borough Council offer this and there are a few companies who advertise up here.

I didn't because it was quite expensive to sponsor and maintain plus, unless most of your client base actually drive around the bloody thing, it's a needless expense.

How many 'sponsored' roundabouts do you drive past - and can you remember the name of the sponsors? I can't!