Member Article

Uni Car Ads? plans to canvas the country

Newcastle University Business graduates Charlie Warburg and Will Clowes will challenge other students and recent alumni from the five North East Universities at the Regional Grand Final of Blueprint: The North East Universities’ Business Planning Competition later this month. Their Company offers a targeted and cost-effective approach to outdoor advertising in close-knit student areas by creating new advertising space on which businesses can promote their products and services.

Uni Car Ads were inspired to start their business in their final year of studying after they were targeted by marketing touts around the city of Newcastle. It was observed that the methods in which students and the general public were being approached were most unoriginal, highlighted by the many flyers which were discarded on pavements.

Charlie and Will, as students, regularly walked along the same route to and from University. Many other students shared similar routines in that they too would walk into the city along popular routes, conversing in groups as they made their way. It was quickly spotted that many of the cars parked along the established student walking routes were parked there permanently.

Further research was undertaken by the pair into densely populated student areas and the main walkways to and from the City. Parked cars were also surveyed to see how often they moved. The notion to carry this out stemmed from the fact that Will and Charlie both had cars that were parked-up the majority of time, as it proved too difficult and expensive to drive and park in and around the bustling city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne.

It was at this point that the idea for Uni Car Ads started to piece together. Charlie and Will came up with concept to create a business which would directly benefit both students and the business community. Students with parked cars would be offered the opportunity to make some easy money by having advertisements placed on their car for a thirty-day period. These cars would be seen on a daily basis by groups of students, rather than individuals alone.

Charlie commented “The advantage of the advertisement being seen by groups is that they are more likely to discuss the offer as they walk by and so the message not only reaches a wider audience it also has the potential for far greater influence”.

An additional benefit to students comes in the form of work experience and employment. Will stated “We have kept close links with the Universities and student community by employing a variety of students with skills ranging from website design to graphic design and photography, granting businesses access to these fantastic skills at below market rates, whilst students work gets commercial exposure. This ultimately makes provision for us to provide a high impact service that proves more cost-effective than traditional advertising mediums”.

After launching in February 2012 of this year, Uni Car Ads has already secured contracts with several local companies in Newcastle upon Tyne, as well nationally and internationally recognised stores such as Domino’s Pizza, IKEA and Wilkinson. The company has already expanded into the cities of Durham and Leeds, and has recently set plans in motion to canvas streets all the way up to Edinburgh.

When questioned about their motivation for entering the competition it was clear that the pair evidently desire to win, but also gain as much exposure and recognition possible for their business. Will commented “If we won the prize money we could start developing a bespoke CRM [Customer Relationship Management] system which would coordinate the work for us using online software, as opposed to it being done manually over the phone and via email”.

2012 sponsors of the Blueprint Awards: Procter and Gamble, Dickinson Dees, IP Group, NETPark, NorthStar Ventures, Particular Pro, Entrust, Calm Digital, Consult Musa and SmartSpeed will accompany finalists, universities and the local business community in celebrations at the Regional Grand Final Awards Ceremony. The event takes place on Thursday 25th October 2012 at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead. Tickets for this prestigious black-tie dinner are available to purchase now. For more information visit www.blueprintcompetition.co.uk or contact Jill Flowers (j.a.flowers@durham.ac.uk) on 0191 334 3210.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jill Flowers .