Drivers make their cars pay them

A handful of companies are seeking Tampa Bay drivers willing to use their cars as moving billboards in exchange for cash or gas cards.

They're seeking soccer moms to carry the message to other parents or pizza deliverers because they spend lots of time on the road. They want retirees, college students, drivers in the military.

Sometimes, it's just about the car — with the boxy Scions and Hummers and retro PT Cruisers more in demand.

The trend is new here, but not nationally.

"It's a growing phenomenon, believe it or not, thousands of people are involved and it's not only happening on cars but body parts," said Leon James, a professor at the University of Hawaii who teaches a course about driver psychology. "Every little inch where peoples' eyes go is actually for rent."

Renting out ad space on cars is an idea that's been around for a while. But James said it hasn't taken off in the past because people typically view their private cars as an extension of themselves. They name them, pick a brand that represents them, get attached.

But rising gas prices and a struggling economy appear to have forced many to reevaluate. A handful of small businesses are tapping the strategy. And middlemen companies are gathering driver profiles and scouring for advertisers willing to explore the advertising avenue.

A national company, Freegashelp.com, recently moved into Florida, opening up branches in Orlando and Tampa.

"One of the things we're seeing right now is a spike in interest in the Tampa Bay area by national advertisers because the Super Bowl is coming up in February," said Robert Schwartz, a vice president with the company.

The company pays in the form of a gas card, from $17 for a Web address decal on the tailgate of a pickup to $200 for a full wrap of the car.

But each company has a different pay structure. Gregory Wishart, a cable installer from Lutz, gets a $250 gas card each month for advertising on his car. Innovative Advertising, a company started by a pair of University of South Florida students, matched him up with Tealux, a company that sells teas.

"I've never been there," Wishart said, referring to Tealux. "I was just interested in the free gas."

Necole Clark, 37, of Windermere, drives 100 to 200 miles a day in her job as an auditor. She earns $60 a month from freegashelp.com for two magnetic ads — each about 12 inches by 24 inches — on either door of her Toyota Prius. One is for a Hawaiian company that sells gas additives. "It was really appealing to me," she said.

Many of these companies said they had an easier time finding drivers than advertisers. Brian Urbanowski, president of an Illinois company, Goingmobile.us, says he has 15,000 drivers wanting to put ads on their cars, including 350 in Florida. But only 2,000 are actually on the road, none in Florida.

To be sure, advertisers are not sure if it works and they are cautious about who they select, since the person becomes a representative of the product.

But some advertisers are willing to try anything that isn't saturated, said Michael Maynard, associate professor of advertising at Temple University, and advertising on cars is one place that hasn't been tapped out. So, for now, it likely works, he said.

Delayne Hiott, 43, owner of Top Cat Appliance in Largo, decided to tap into the mobile advertising market after officials told him to remove the ads he'd plastered on the back of stop signs and public garbage cans. Now he's willing to pay 10 people a $50 gas card if they're willing to put 25 decals advertising his business on their cars. So far, a couple takers, although one guy who wanted to do it pulled out after his girlfriend, who apparently owned the car, objected.

And Ann Pirrone, 45, of Florence Marble & Granite in Tampa, said the company is paying one driver, a traveling salesman, $500 a month for a full wrap. So far, she said she's gotten two granite jobs off the man's car.

Times reporter Leonora LaPeter Anton can be reached at lapeter@sptimes.com or 727-893-8640.