Ever thought of getting paid for driving your own car? Advertisement on state transport busses may be a common sight, but the idea of including private vehicles in the bandwagon crossed 23-year-old IIT-ian Raghu Khanna?s mind when he was stuck in a long traffic jam. After all, seeing is believing. Khanna?s dream turned into reality when he joined hands with global venture capital firm VC Hunt.
?The thing that attracted me the most was the funny slogans written behind trucks and the vinyl stickers on police jeeps. It was then that the idea of using the private cars for advertising by paying the car owners clicked my mind,? Khanna told FE.
To begin with, Khanna launched http://www.cashurdrive.com, where about 3,000 car owners have already registered from Chandigarh and the suburbs. ?But now with the funds of around Rs 10 million coming in as venture capital, we?ll be targeting private vehicles in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chandigarh. Rural folks will also remain a major focus but the challenge is to reach out to them,? said Khanna, who is the CEO of cashurdrive.com.
The on-vehicle advertising company plans to pay the car owners for putting advertisements on their cars through tie-ups with the petrol pumps. ?We are in talks with IndianOil to use their fleet cards as a medium of transferring money for petrol to the car owner?s account directly. Initially we are planning to pay around Rs 1,200-1,500 and later the amount will be increased depending upon the condition of the sticker on the car. Our motto is-Get Seen, Get Paid. We have entered into a collaboration with BlackBox for installing a vehicle-tracking system in the cars with the advertisements. The advertisers will be able to measure the accountability for their clients through this global positioning system.?
Capitalising on the growth potential of the Rs 2,000 crore outdoor advertising industry, VC Hunt, which operates in six countries worldwide, is funding their first project in India. Gautam Seengal, managing partner VC Hunt Global & MD of CashurDrive said, ?We are expecting revenue of about Rs 2-2.5 crore in the first year and second year onwards the revenue is expected to touch Rs 18-20 crore as we?ll launch our operations across India. Through this mode, the advertiser can run special offers or ads in specific region at any time through vehicles. With this small step we not only benefit the car owner and advertiser but also the environment by shrinking the big carbon footprint by not using energy or natural resources to promote the product or service.?
Cashurdrive plans to launch in the future?Online Viral campaigns, Social Networking Deployments and cellphone call back brand campaigns.
