It’s only fitting for one of our first blog posts to introduce the Porch car. As a start-up, we’re always open to testing new methods for driving people to the website. A while back someone mentioned vehicle wrapping. You typically see this from large organizations with company vans or public transportation, but there’s a market for automobiles as well.

The trick is the cost of the car, which as a start-up, is outside the scope of what we’re willing to spend money on. Enter my wife’s VW Passat! I told her the idea and she thought it was fantastic. Of course, she had no idea I intended to use her car, she just liked the wrap concept. A few negotiations later and the Porch car was born!

 

I hired Studio3Signs (http://www.studio3signs.com) and they did an excellent job. The wrap itself was ~$2,000. We’ll need some time to measure the ROI.

So how will we use it?

  • Driving it around – like any kind of marketing, it only works if people see it. The employee with the longest commute gets it for the first week — it comes with free gas, so not a bad deal. And anyone heading out to lunch or a business meeting has to can take it.
  • Strategic parking – you can bet when I go to Costco or Whole Foods, I’ll think twice about my parking spot. There’s also some good street parking in Sodo that will work great during Seahawks or Mariner home games.
  • PR events – any local PR events that are set outside will now have one big, portable prop coming along.

If you live in Seattle, look out for it. It’s orange and bright, and kind of hard to miss. Use #porchride when you see it.

What’s your idea? Leave a comment for other ways we can use it or if you have any creative marketing ideas.