Let’s be honest—as far as public spaces go, the average bus shelter isn’t the most exciting. For many of us in the UK, when we think of bus stops we think of uncomfortable seats, long delays, and that dreaded Monday morning journey to the office!
However, from a marketing perspective, the efficacy of bus stop and transit shelter displays as an OOH marketing option is well established; in fact, research sponsored by Right Angle Media found that bus stop adverts are significantly more effective than roadside billboards and larger public-space hoardings.
Bus shelter advertising in busy retail and city spaces offers high levels of consumer engagement and consumer interaction. However, businesses and advertisers are increasingly recognising the ways in which an optimised and focussed bus shelter advertising campaign can target pedestrians in outer towns, villages, and suburban areas. While not providing quite the same reach, a savvy campaign can prove significantly more profitable and cost-effective.
At The Bank, our marketing team have the professional expertise and industry relationships to put your bus stop ads in front of who you want to see them. We are the outdoor advertising agency of choice for small and large businesses alike, whether you’re looking for a new time to helm your national campaigns, or just want to target a few local shelters, our team can deliver the results you want.
Contact us today to discuss your bus shelter advertising requirements, and in the meantime take a look at our comprehensive guide to media buying for bus stop adverts.
Bus Shelters: Classic
At its core, bus stop advertising is a pretty simple concept. As an advertising medium, it is typically divided into two categories: classic and digital. Let’s take a look at some of the primary differences:
What Is Classic?
Classic bus shelter advertising is by far the most common in the UK; when you decided to look into creating a bus stop advertising campaign, this is probably what you had in mind.
Classic bus stop advertising campaigns focus on traditional printed posters, installed at carefully-selected poster sites. The industry standard for bus shelter advertising is the 6-sheet poster (1800 mm x 1200mm), though in larger bus shelters, bus depots, and train stations, the 16-sheet poster (3048mm x 2032mm) is often found.
Precise Geographic Targeting
Street furniture ads—such as those found at local bus stops—allow advertisers a unique opportunity to reach targeted local consumers. If you want to promote your brand locally, bus stop adverts can efficiently target a wide cross-section of society.
Compared to digital and other forms of street furniture advertising, classic bus stop ad panels offer unparalleled options for optimisation. A bus stop advertising agency working with classic shelters can deliver to their client a list of highly targeted poster sites, strategically selected to offer maximum local market penetration.
Cost
Classic bus stop advertising can be found in villages, towns and cities up and down the UK. Whilst precise geographic targeting allows for strategic marketing to bus users, for a small business it can also reduce media buying costs. An advert in a small town costs significantly less than the same advert installed in a city like London, and in many instances, it will offer much better value for money.
Bus Shelters: Digital
So, we’ve seen some of the advantages of classic bus stop advertising, but if you really want that “wow-factor”, a digital outdoor advertising billboard is hard to beat. Let’s look at some of the benefits:
What Is Digital?
Digital bus shelter advertising is a recent development in the world of outdoor advertising. Unlike traditional poster adverts, digital ads are displayed on LED screens inside the bus shelters.
Like the classic bus stop advertising sign, digital ad panels commonly use 6-sheet sizing, though larger billboard-size variants are becoming more common, particularly on busy city roads and high street locations.
Audience
Due to the installation and maintenance expenses associated with digital advertising panels, media owners tend to select locations with the highest footfall. An average day might see tens of thousands of people interact with a digital advertising board, so if you have a wide target audience, digital billboards offer the kind of penetration that most classic bus stop advertising simply can’t achieve.
Responsive
The content of a digital advert can be changed much more quickly and easily than traditional posters, allowing for more dynamic and responsive outdoor advertising campaigns. As an advertiser, you can make alterations to your bus shelter ads while your campaign is running—particularly useful for highlighting temporary offers, responding to poor audience reception, or fixing the typo that your designer missed!
Relevance
Digital bus stop adverts are highly effective in the delivery of contextually relevant messages. An advertiser might choose to time their adverts to appear only at certain times of the day or week, for example. Maybe you want to show a countdown to your product launch? Perhaps you need to deliver your message within a two-week window? All of this is possible with digital advertising work.
Interactivity
Unlike the one-way communication offered by traditional bus shelter advertising, digital bus shelter ads allow you to engage with your target audience on a more collaborative level. QR codes, motion sensors, touch-screen displays, and even facial recognition provide the modern business with incredible creative scope for data-driven marketing and brand engagement.
Bus Shelter Advertising: The Pros and… More Pros
Whether classic or digital, bus shelters are in heavily-trafficked areas and offer a high level of visibility. Whether you choose to create an optimised local sign campaign or take an all-out city space approach, bus shelter marketing offers significant advantages over other outdoor advertising methods.
Attention, Please!
So this is pretty obvious, but most bus stop users are in there because they’re waiting for a bus. (We told you it was obvious!) This means that bus stop advertising offers a captive audience. A bus user will easily notice a striking advertising campaign, which makes it a perfect opportunity to convey your brand’s message.
No-Car Lanes? No Problem!
The UK has seen a sharp increase in the number of no-car lanes in recent years. For local authorities, the no-car lane is a simple way to improve air quality and pedestrian safety, and increase the use of public transport. Whilst frustrating for drivers, it can be great news for advertisers. These areas are highly accessible for bus users, and the lack of traffic provides a distraction-free region for your adverts.
Environment
As a business, you want to advertise your brand in a manner which is ecologically responsible, and which shows your commitment to environmental sustainability. With energy-saving light bulbs and LED technology, both classic and digital bus stop advertising are an environmentally-friendly wayS to advertise your brand message, while showing your company’s commitment to public transport.
Bus Shelter Ads: Not Just for the Bus Shelter
While the benefits of bus shelter ads are evident, at The Bank, our advertising agency professionals always like to think of ways to maximise campaign efficacy.
When working on bus stop ads, we always put to our clients the following: there is no better advertising vehicle than the bus itself. Buses are the ultimate moving billboards; from supersides to full vinyl wrapping a striking bus ad can target people passing, whether they’re users of public transport or not.
Combined with an effective tailor-built bus stop advertising campaign, a bus vehicle advertising campaign can take your reach to the next level.
Building Your Bus Shelter Advertising Campaign with The Bank.
One of the founding principles of The Bank is that businesses of all sizes should be able to access media buying services.
Location
No matter your location, our experienced and dedicated team use “boots-to-the-ground” techniques to ensure your ads not only offer great visibility, but also location precision that many traditional media buyers ignore.
Service
At The Bank, we understand how important it is for your business to have that contact a phone call away. We pride ourselves on offering the best service possible to all the brands who trust us to manage their campaigns, and we will always address your concerns quickly and thoroughly.
Value
No matter the size or reach of our clients’ brands, cost is always a huge factor. The Bank continually invest in the most efficient and informative analysis software, and our team of data experts know how to interpret the output better than anyone.
The Agency for You
Contact us today to chat about the ways we can help you build a bus shelter advertising campaign.
