Federal highways are paid for with a gas tax imposed on the fuel you use. Lately there has been talk of raising the gas tax again, as if we aren’t paying enough at the pump. As a result of possibly paying more at the pump, I devised a way for the tax burden to be reduced.

Each mile of highway has a cost attributed to it in order to build, repair and maintain. My goal is to reduce that cost and save us some bills at the pump. What I propose is to allow advertisers to post their ads on the highway itself. I want to be the first person to sponsor a highway, not like the Boy Scouts but for the direct purpose of selling a product.

When I took drivers ed in high school, we were told to look at the road. I also learned that the further you looked down the road while driving, the straighter you drove. Why not give those dedicated drivers something to look at while driving down the road?

I say, letting companies advertise on the highway is a great idea if it translates into savings at the pump. For this same reason, I watch rugby and soccer on television. They don’t show commercials. In order to play the game straight through without interruption, the ads are on boards that scroll every few minutes. Everyone watching the game is going to see the ads, and yet the broadcasting companies earn enough revenue from these that they don’t have to stop the game for more advertisements.

I am willing to bet that if the “big dig” project would have been funded partly by advertisers, it wouldn’t have cost nearly as much. Some of the busiest and most costly roads in the country would practically be paid for by private advertisers. If you knew 1,000,000 people pass by one spot in a month, wouldn’t you pony up some cash to get your message across? For me, this is a no brainer, and I am not sure why it hasn’t been done before. Here’s to you, Unconventional Marketer. America’s vast roads await.

No related posts.