Mobile billboards garner attention in Wilson, N.C.

Stoplights and traffic jams are an inevitable part of driving, but a new company owned by the publisher of The Wilson Daily Times is giving small businesses the opportunity to monopolize the attention of bored drivers in eastern North Carolina.

The vibrant digital advertisements not only are more attention-grabbing than bumper stickers or lawn signs, the truck has the ability to add video and audio to its ads.

"If you are watching TV or listening to the radio and an advertisement comes on, you can change the station," said General Manager Lynn Webb. "But in your car, you're a captive audience."

Mobile Billboards has been operating for less than a month, but the appeal of utilizing the truck's 500,000 LED lights to reach locals practically is selling itself.

"After one week, we've sold half of our slots for the next 12 months," Webb said. "Once Wilson is sold out, we'll branch into Rocky Mount, Greenville and Raleigh, and look into getting a second truck."

Webb drives the company's truck about 75 miles around Wilson two days a week with the goal of adding one day each in other cities in the region.

The 6mm display graphics rotate between the 6.5 feet by 11 feet side screens and the 6.5 feet by 6.5 feet back screen in 10-second intervals.

"On a normal day, an ad will get 100 to 150 plays a day," he said. "We run the truck two days a week in Wilson from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. to reach the most drivers in the biggest traffic patterns."

An Arbitron survey reportedly found viewers of mobile advertisements had a 97 percent recall of the ads they saw, which makes the digital billboards ideal for small businesses when combined with rates between $35 and $70 a day, depending on the length of the contract, Webb said.

"Most digital billboard trucks are in big markets, but we're trying to target small business people here and make digital advertising affordable," Webb said. "The response has been incredible with people texting us pictures of the truck or videos they took when they saw it go by."

RELATED STORY: The Wilson Times returning to downtown roots