Ideas

OOooooh, I like it. There are some major cost blocks on this one, the biggest being the cost of printing signage to wrap a car. Pretty hard to crowd source that side of things, but the corporate site and tools to join the community could be done through CH. Neat idea.

Thanks daraddishman. Based on my research into what advertisers pay for other types of "out door advertising" (billboards etc...), I believe having the advertiser cover the cost of wrapping the car, the gas, and our admin costs would still achieve a lower "cost per views" then other traditional advertising methods. One of my road block issues is how I audit the usage of the vehicle being use? John Q. Driver says he drives 900 miles a month. Other then confirming his home address and his place of employment that he commutes to... how do I know he actually uses this car to make that commute? Low cost GPS? (invasion of privacy!) Anyone have ideas?

FREE GAS !

The current world trend is to become enviromentally friendly, particularly by reducing C02 emissions.

Where do you expect to find a Board of Directors who will sponsor an advertising campaign which promotes increased Carbon Emissions and thereby brings upon itself the WRATH of the Enviromentally concious majority ?

I would consider choosing a different "benefit" for example,

Food Vouchers
Medicine Vouchers
Clothing vouchers
or even the product which the Advertiser produces ?

Good Luck

CharonV - I guess you don't live in LA. I do appreciate the comment though.

Yes, there should be some sort of "green" spin to this acknowledging our awareness of enviromental issues. However, in LA the typical alternative of mass transit vs. driving your car to work doesn't work here. Unlike cities like NY, our mass transit system sucks and is largely un-used.

The website should have "enviro friendly" commuting options, tricks/tips, and alternatives (info about car pooling, van groups etc...) available via the online community, - perhaps "bonus" money awarded to ad wrapped "hybrid" cars and cars that have "better" MPG ratings?

The money the "drivers" get each month is based on how far they drive and what they drive (car make/model/MPG). The money is put on a Visa debit car and can be used for anything really. Maybe "Free Gas" shouldn't be the marketing foothold?

Would the same Board of Directors not spend their ad money on billboards, bus stop shelter ads, wrapped mass transit buses - because it's supported by people being enviromentally unfriendly? What will result in more bottom-line sales of an "energy drink" - more brand aweness/product mindshare and the appearance of helping "Joe Consumer" make his bills every month... or nudging the consumer to be more enviromentally friendly?

At least in LA, the freeways and streets get more crowded everyday. That's an ugly reality. I know it sounds like I'm straddling the fence with this idea - but maybe there's a way to do that?

Ohh..and for those of you who are tired of seeing ads in your face at every direction? Welcome to the world of free enterprise!

Oh and another thought...

"I would consider choosing a different "benefit" for example,

Food Vouchers
Medicine Vouchers
Clothing vouchers
or even the product which the Advertiser produces ?"

Only food that is farmed in our great nation's farms?
Medicine? Don't even get me started on our pharmaceutical industry!
Umm... most of my/your clothing is produced in nations like China. Don't get me started on China either!
Hmm... let's examine the ingridients and packaging in that "energy drink", shall we?

Where does consumer consciousness begin and end?

Great idea!

My car is parked on the street. Could I get a reduction in the minimum miles driven, accordingly? It does seem a shame to have strong incentive to increase my current low volume driving to get it paid for.

You have an indirect record of miles driven in the credit record (IF you limit it to gas purchase, and maybe tracking gas purchase for unregistered vehicles).

Thanks for the comment Summertime.

I was thinking we could bonus cars that were parked on the street. Perhaps if you don't meet the mileage requirements, you would qualify for a lower allowence. If you drive low miles (let's say we calculate that you spend $100 a month on gas), we would pay you the $100 plus a $75 bonus for parking outside on the street. Or something like that.

So the question is... would $175 a month be enough monetary incentive to get you to drive a wrapped car for a 6 month period?

There a several sited in the Netherlands who do just that. They just pay you money so you can decide yourself what to do with it.

The amount you get depends on:
Size of advertisement
Time (how many days)
How much you drive
Where you drive
Where you park

So the idea works!
Tommy

I like Vanhees's idea, i.e to pay with Money.

In our Green conscious World, Money may be less incendiary than Gas?

Would it make sense to market (Spin)this as a Green Project, and give the larger incentives to those who "Car Pool", Park the Car and take the Bus etc ?

Money, Size, Time = Ad Space (Groundload's previous idea)

Ad Space included cars and billboards on your lawn.

I am all for the green car pools, but the rich people driving HumVees in the posh parts of Dallas will make the real profit.

I also like the bonus for street parking. Once again, it will probably have to be tierred according to district. And, you will likely be revisiting that verification issue (miles, hours, location...).

I guess that gas is just hitting on the fad that is high gas prices. I'm not sure why I'd use this idea over the other companies that are offering $400 a month to do the same thing.

I think having paper ads attached to the car makes it look extremely tacky!! <--- yea you got it, i used double exclamation marks for that.

Alternatively, i would prefer the idea of parhaps if you would want to devote your car to this, then it would go into a temporary paint shop and make the paint job look clever and artistic while advertising the product. I like some of those energy drink ads painted on cars. This would be a boon for business for computerized paint shops. Maybe the paint could wear off after a week or something?

Vancouverbluz - I think paper ads and magnetic signs are tacky too. The "ad wraps" I am referring to are high quality printed 3M vinyl sheets that seamlessly adheared to the car - most likely just like the energy drink ads you've seen. The wraps can typically last 3 years and actually protect the paint on the car until removed. There is no damage to the car's original paint job. We are looking to offer 6 month minimum contracts to the drivers.

TechGuy - it IS all in the "spin" (hmm... think gas prices will never be an issue?) and the power of the social networking website that offers additional value-add to the drivers. GasWraps is the main revenue stream, but not the only value:

"commuterfriend.com
Your ass in the driver’s seat.

Welcome to the social networking website for people that have an intimate relationship with their car. Whether you are commuting to work, to school, or to play… there’s a good chance you spend at least 15-20% of your waking hours in your car.

Get information, real-time data, share ideas and experiences, and get opportunities to make your commuting life better… faster, greener, cheaper and fun-er."

The social networking angel with a goodly amount of real PR/media exposure will set us apart from the other "paid to drive your car" companies. Value + Timing IS everything, no?

Well, if you don't mind being a bill board:
http://adsmartoutdoor.com
http://www.autowrapped.com
http://www.ad-wraps.com/driversinfo.htm
http://automurals.com
http://www.autowraps.com

Go for it.
Great Logo.

All new to me! Im interested. I have cut $150 per day to one week.

Maxman -

What exactly are you interested in?

Once you have a feasible and environmentally friendly business model, you should build the site to work with cell/smart phones.

As you say, this is for those of us spending a lot of time in cars, probably on the phone too at the same time.

Summertime hints at a good point - if you're paying for people's gas, you're directly paying for the time they're on the road. You'd need to adjust by the average mpg of the car, but that shouldn't be too difficult. Of course, I'd like to see a better rate for more efficient and greener cars that use less fuel - this shouldn't be too difficult as that means you're paying for less fuel!

All of this doesn't solve the parking-on-the-road problem, but that can be worked out separately.

There are a few companys taht are doing similar things but trying to promote a free car....

There was some company that used to pay people to put advertisements on their car, and based on how many miles they drove, what city, etc. they made advertising dollars.

Whoever it was, I don't even remember, bombed. Maybe it's time for a resurgence in the advertising on cars world... good luck.

I prefer the idea of the wrap being used to subsidize to NOT drive the car- ie, most americans average 2000 miles per month...
you give $1 for every mile NOT driven under that cap... and maybe bonus for proof of use of mass transit...

How about having an LCD sign mounted on top of your car? Then you could scroll through a number of messages/ads per day. Something like you would see on some taxi cabs.

I saw some companies that are doing exactly the same thing in Czech republic and UK. It exists and it works. A GPS system is always involved however, and this may be a significant privacy invasion for many.
Good business model, and with a good website developed it will work great in big cities. You really have to investigate on competition outthere.
I like your Logo !

If you want sponsoring from companies, be aware that they want to know a lot about your driving behaviour... A company wants to know your driving patterns, such as: where do you go, at which time, for how long, when will you be getting off and where are you going to next, what kind of driver are you (they don't want a pirate advertising for their company), etc.
Don't think it would be easy. Furthermore, if you'll get sponsoring, it won't be that you could buy your nafta for that month. I don't know about America or Canada, but in Europe prices vary around 3$ - 3,5 $ a liter...