Moving messages to help cut the EMIs

This scheme is not a dream. Dreamers Media and Advertising, a seven-month-old Pune-based advertising agency, has launched a scheme wherein it will pay a car owner's equated monthly instalment (EMI) for the first three-year period in exchange for using the car’s exterior real estate as a billboard for its clients.

In effect, Dreamers Media will take over 40-60 percent of the car’s exterior and emblazon it with ads for goods ranging from fast moving consumer goods to even rival car brands! The company has targeted Rs 50 crore in revenues in the first year of its operation.

There are some conditions for a car buyer to be eligible for this scheme. He/she has to first pay 25 percent of the car’s down-payment with an EMI tenure of five years. Dreamers Media will then pay the EMIs for the first three years after which the consumer will pay the balance EMIs.

Importantly, to keep its own costs down, the company has stipulated that the final price of the car should not exceed Rs 600,000. In effect, it is targeting buyers of hatchbacks which are the largest selling cars in India.Dreamers Media will then sign up both long-term and short-term contracts with interested advertisers.

ShivaniLorai, director for sales and marketing, says that the copyrighted method for advertising will both spur a person to buy a car and provide a unique platform for advertisers.

“We’ve received a very positive response from both advertisers and car owners,” she claims. “The owner must clock at least 1,500km each month. We will install a vehicle tracking system to monitor this,” she adds. The scheme is not specific to new car buyers alone; existing car owners, who have paid out their EMIs, can also avail of this scheme for which the company will pay three years’ EMIs based on current market conditions.

“Obviously, the advertisers get a say in what kind of cars they wish to advertise in,” says Lorai. She also mentions that the target advertisers will be from the telecom, FMCG and IT sectors. “The stickering will take place at dealerships,” she says, projecting a revenue of Rs 150 crore in the second year. “In the second year, we will go international. The Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Middle-East are our targets,” she adds.

Winning over costs and influencing people

“With this, we play on the minds of people. If a neighbour sees an ad on your car every day, he or she is bound to be enamoured by it,” says Lorai.

Asked how she expects car owners to let out something as personal as a car for advertising, she says, “Car buyers in this segment have too many expenses and are feeling the pinch currently. So if someone takes care of their EMIs for three years, I don’t think they’d mind it.”

However, once a car owner enters into an agreement with Dreamers Media, he/she will have no say on the brand advertised on their four-wheeler. Advertisers, meanwhile, have to sign up for a minimum of three months and 50 cars in each city to get their ads going. “Initially, we are looking at all the metropolitan cities and Tier 1 cities. Eventually, we will go to the Tier 3 cities, even though we are already getting requests from them,” says Lorai.

In cities like Chennai, where outdoor hoardings are banned, this scheme from Dreamers Media may well prove to be a boon for advertisers. However, given the extent to which advertisements are already encroaching people's lives everyday, whether or not this is another bullet in the privacy of a consumer is a separate debate altogether.