Information Madness

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An Auto rickshaw (auto or rickshaw or tempo or tuk-tuk in popular parlance) is a vehicle for hire that is one of the chief modes of transport in India.

Auto Rickshaw driver (called an auto-wallah in some areas) flaunt their affection for film stars, cricket stars and political leaders by putting posters of them both on auto interiors and exteriors. The latest movie title of the auto-wallah's favorite movie star generally appears on the back of the auto.

The auto rickshaws advertise many websites on their backs and on their hoods, spelling booming business for the sites that one would not have known about.

A billboard in Mumbai's posh Marine Drive area would cost somewhere around Rs.1-1.5 million while the mode of payment to the auto rickhaw owners is one-time which can range anything from Rs.30-100 and the quality of the paint used in writing the name of the website on the hood of the auto cannot be easily removed. Each company targets around 100-150 autos.

MouthShut.com which started this mode of advertisement, now has it’s name on close to 12,000 rickshaws in India, across almost 7 cities. They had spent almost Rs 60,000 on the whole exercise.

This is an unconventional form of advertising which reaches the contact points. This kind of advertising is most welcome and it is going to be the future of advertising in India.

I saw a picture taken by an author of WebYantra.net on his blog.

The companies are growing.  Mouthshut.com, mapmyindia.com, gogurgaon.com, stickiewicket.com, oktatabyebye.com and many more have already started using this mode of advertisements.

These companies have their own research team who do a complete socio-economic research to understand where their potential customer base is and target the autos of those areas. However, the painters are in some cases outsourced.

India has always been extremely creative when it comes to advertising and marketing…I guess this is just another example.

Did you spot one ?  List it here.