Bike Share Advertising: Imagine that you’re in the Bay Area of California, or somewhere similar. There’s the smell of beach salt in the air, you’re ready to bike over to your favorite coffee shop to get a little work done and maybe even treat yourself to one of their delicious breakfast sandwiches.
As you’re heading over to the bike dispenser to rent a bike, you realize that there’s a new image on the sides of the kiosk. You haven’t seen the name written anywhere before, but you think about how interesting it is to see an ad here where you haven’t seen one previously. You didn’t know that this company was interested in bike share advertising.
On your way to the cafe, you see the name again on a storefront. It’s a new mom-and-pop restaurant that’s opened up really recently, but you hadn’t noticed it before now. Maybe instead of coffee, you’ll get a meal here.
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What is Bike Share Advertising?
Bike share advertising is essentially what I just described, at least on the surface level. However, it comes with a few more details.
Generally, bike share advertising means that someone (an individual, a large company, a small business, or something similar) is partnering with a bike-share company. Some bike-share companies are privately owned, while others are publicly owned by the city.
Most often, ads used in bike share advertising are images with messaging that is placed on either docking stations or kiosks. But sometimes, there are even pictures that are placed on a piece that is attached to the bike itself, normally on the wheel.
Technically, bike share advertising counts as another kind of street furniture advertising, as the ad is placed on the surface of something that the general public has access to when they’re out in the city.
Bike share companies offer bikes to a city or town, often a metropolitan area that is more eco-conscious. These can be rented out for nominal fees, and sometimes for even less if the company offers a subscription service, either per mile or per hour.
How Much Does a Bike Share Ad Cost?
Bike share advertising costs vary, especially depending on the location that you wish to target. However, this can also depend on the size of the bike-share company and the company’s reputation, as well as the kind of spread that you want to have your advertisement seen across.
It can also depend on how you want your advertisement to be implemented, whether on a kiosk, bike dispenser stands, or somewhere on the bikes themselves.
On an important note, this kind of advertising is also extremely scalable depending on your budget and your advertising goals, so you can target a variety of cities, implementations, and advertisement designs.
What are the Advantages to Bike Share Advertising?
As with all kinds of street furniture advertising, bike share ads can be wonderfully unique and target specific audiences with ease. Because of this, it’s important to review the pros and cons of each kind of street furniture advertising that you have access to, as this is the best way to make sure that you’re a good fit and to make sure that all of your key goals are met.
Good Reputation, Eco-Conscious Messaging
Bike share companies, and biking in general, are strongly associated with environmentally friendly goals and messages. So if you have products or messaging that can be directly tied to sustainability and environmental health, bike share ads might be perfect for you.
This also means that, depending on the kind of audience that you’re trying to reach, your ads could automatically be associated with other things that have a positive reputation. This positive reputation could be from associations related to eco-friendly goals, or just a bike-share partner that has a generally good reputation by the larger public and its regular user base.
Access to the Partner’s Regular Customers
As mentioned previously, bike-share companies have a tendency to have repeat customers, especially in the case that they offer a subscription service. That means that the same people in the target area are likely to see any ads with the partner company over and over again.
Psychologically, having access to the same eyes repeatedly, can prime potential customers to feel more familiar with your brand or at least recognize the name. This can be great for exposure, even for small businesses that only want to target one particular area.
A Wide Viewership
You’re also more likely to have access to even more eyes than just those who are renting from the bike-share company. This is because bike-share advertisements placed on the bicycles themselves are going to travel, potentially even over a wide area.
That means that your ads are going to be more likely to get in front of those who are travelling on foot, and even some of those who are driving in their cars during traffic.