Just A Car Guy: Beetleboards of America pioneered using automobiles as advertising vehicles in California during the 1970s

Saturday, October 03, 2020

Beetleboards of America pioneered using automobiles as advertising vehicles in California during the 1970s

The decals themselves are a psychedelic mix of yellow zippers (for Levi jeans), airborne Red Barons (for a Seagram's drink) and Disneyesque stags on skis (for White Stag ski wear). The Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation is also a client, and so is Time Inc.

The mix is one of the advertising world's most colorful variants—a mix that has turned into a highly profitable business for both Mr. Charley Bird and the 5,200 Volkswagen owners who drive his mobile messages through more than 200 of the nation's major metropolitan markets.

A specialist in new marketing trends, Mr. Bird wanted to break out of traditional methods of advertising. That was back in 1972. After a year and a half of experimentation with various vehicles, he put 100 Volkswagens on the road advertising United Airlines, Pepsi and Time magazine.

Beetleboards of America guarantees its clients minimum of 156 impressions for ‘each ‐mile driven by the 5,200 four‐wheeled “billboards” now rolling in Canada and Puerto Rico as well as the United States. The cost ranges from $100 to $175 a month per car, depending on how many cars the advertiser wants and how long the campaign runs—three, six or nine months.

Their offices were in a large 2-story early 20th century house on Sunset Boulevard just east of Crescent Heights.

There was something in it for the Volkswagen owners, too. They are paid $20 a month, and a new coat of paint and a $70 to $100 decal removal job when a campaign ends, plus the Volkswagen owners get a lot of fun out of being mobile conversation pieces.

“It's a great way to meet people,” said one of Mr. Bird's drivers. One sign of the eagerness with which the drivers have responded to the colorful ad operation shows in the 75,000 applications from Volkswagen owners that the company has on file.

In addition, some advertisers have ideas as to whom the drivers should be:

•Clairol hair products. A light green Volkswagen decked with flowers is driven mostly by carefully coifed women.

•Kool cigarettes. A VW picturing majestic waterfall, with a pack of Kools superimposed over It, is tooled around by motorists at least 21 years old who promise not to park near hospitals.