Look out!
Michael Dudich is about to add yet another wrinkle to New York’s ever-changing and crowded streetscape: bicycle-drawn billboard advertising.
The 48-year-old businessman feels the city, which has seen outdoor advertising evolve from billboards painted on the sides of buildings to ads on the panels of roaming trucks, is ready for something different.
“It’s a lot more positive. It makes people smile,” said Dudich, who started his company, Mini Mobile Media, which is hoping Manhattanites don’t mind the extra traffic.
He is convinced his ad-bikes, which started in Atlanta two years ago, will succeed. And he stays positive even though New York’s streets, where defending pedestrians go toe-to-toe with fast-pedaling and often errant delivery bicycles, may seem crowded enough.
“We don’t ride on the sidewalks so people don’t feel as if their space is being invaded,” Dudich said.
The bike will certainly draw attention.
First off, the cyclists will pedal recumbent bikes, that is, bikes that are pedaled from the lying-back-and-watching-TV position.
The bike will pull 3-foot-wide ad-bike trailers, which carry 6-foot-high ads.
Dudich got his idea in London where the pedal-power advertising gimmick has proved lucrative. He says the ad-bike’s weird look is also a hook in getting people’s attention.
“We make you look and because we move slowly at a walker’s pace there is time to absorb the whole experience,” he said.