HISD gets ready to roll out bus ads

Last year, I noted that the HISD Board of Trustees had approved a plan to allow advertising on its school buses. They are now finally ready to get this going.

HISD has partnered with Steep Creek Media to offer advertising space on the district’s school bus fleet, which boasts more than 1,000 vehicles that travel an average of 70,000 miles a day in the greater Houston area.

Prices begin at $175 per month, but high volume discounts are available. Buses can be targeted based upon the area of the city in which they travel (e.g. around Loop 610, near Hobby Airport, etc.) so that your business can get wider or more localized exposure, depending on your preference. The typical turnaround time for ads to go public is three to four weeks.

To place an ad or request more information, including details on pricing, content restrictions (i.e. must be family friendly and age-appropriate), and other FAQ, please contact Steep Creek Media directly at 281-962-4390 or click the links above.

Approximately 70 percent of all revenues collected will be returned to the district to support student achievement.

I received an email from Steep Creek Media about this, which says there will be a press conference about this tomorrow at 11 AM at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th, 77092. Other info of interest from the email:

Since Steep Creek Media began the program in 2008 with Humble ISD, many other districts have followed suit including: Anahuac, Cy-Fair, Friendswood, Houston, Huffman, Pasadena and Spring ISDs.

School bus ad sizes, placement and content are carefully monitored. The state mandates where and what size the ads can be, while each sign must be approved by district officials before being placed on a bus.

So there you have it. As you know, I favor this tactic, as long as HISD’s cut of the revenue is acceptable, which it appears to be. What do you think?

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5 Responses to HISD gets ready to roll out bus ads

  1. becky says:

    hey, whatever brings in the money is a good thing at this point…

  2. Hannah says:

    According to this NPR story, http://www.npr.org/2011/03/04/134253858/School-Budget-ABCs-Ads-Plus-Bus-Equal-Cash, kids don’t pay any attention to the ads. As long as kids are not adversely affected, it is only a positive thing to find a successful way to give schools funds that they desperately need.

  3. mary t. says:

    Early this morning I noticed an HISD school bus with some sort of signage on the side–some lettering and a large field of blue–but I was too far to make it out, but it couldn’t have been advertising already, could it? It was in Oak Forest, which is very close to the Hattie Mae White building on 18th, so maybe it was a bus they were using in the presentation today.

  4. mary t. says:

    I saw the same bus in the afternoon, and it was advertising. I still couldn’t make out what it was for, even though I was actually trying to, so I’m not sure how effective the advertising will be unless buses are “parked” in traffic during rush hour. The ads are placed on the lower half of the rear third of the bus.

  5. Pingback: School bus ads come to Comal County – Off the Kuff

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