Raghu Khanna with a wrapped car

Innovative ideas provoke faster than expected. CASHurDRIVE is just one-year-old company but profoundly recognised as a promising player churning out the most innovative way of signage hitting the roads of major cities/towns in the short span. The company introduces the ‘on-vehicle’ advertising in India in which vehicle owners are paid for carrying (getting wrapped) graphic ads on their vehicles. “Our strategy is a direct-to-customer approach (DCA) providing a win-win situation to everyone in the business,” reveals Raghu.

An IIT graduate, Raghu’s entry into advertising was quite contrary to his professional background. But his breakthrough marked a new milestone in the Indian signage industry. Inception of the company (CASHurDRIVE) and the introduction of a new (on-vehicle) medium were two challenges he committed in the same time. Communication motive, ROI, selection of right material, effective applications…Raghu has coped with all nitty-gritty through gradual progress.

Firm approach

CASHurDRIVE’s overall concept of ‘on-vehicle’ signage was born to catch the eyeballs of people in the fast lane. The fact is that people nowadays spend most of their times on roads, online and on mobile. Roping in the opportunity of crowded city roads and eying how ads can be a glimpse to the people on wheels at red lights or amid traffic jams, Raghu admits, “On-vehicle ads are innovative, interactive and it’s one of the best ways to catch consumers with this newer approach.” He adds that this kind of mobile signage is not merely seen but remembered.

‘On-vehicle’ signage is now in a very nascent stage in India so that people hardly know (aware) about the effectiveness of this medium. “We have to make the industry fully understand the value of this new way of signage by informing people every ‘in’ and ‘out’ of the medium—applications of self adhesive vinyl materials, its longevity, how quickly it can be done and how effective it is,” states Raghu mentioning that the life span of vehicle wraps lasts from three months to four years depending upon the requirements.

Novelty trend

Though it is already popular in some countries like the US, Canada and Australia, the trend of ‘on-vehicle’ signage is now digging up prospects in the Indian market. CASHurDRIVE is a driving force to accelerate it in a bigger scale as the company captures a number of potential clients comprising both international and national corporate heavyweights, such as Adidas, Pizza Hut, Lay’s, Reliance Communication, Tata Indicom, Tata DoCoMo, SuKam and Jaypee Group. “What we are looking forward is to enter the untapped areas in the Indian market with the introduction of newer concepts,” informs Raghu affirming that other conglomerates like Pepsi have accepted their proposal to join the league.

The company’s core competency is the one-touch transit media solution they provide to their clients. “It’s not only the wrap job and vehicles, we also help clients conduct media planning for the campaigns to be carried out,” says Raghu. CASHurDRIVE’s campaigns run expansively in Shimla, Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi-NCR, Chennai and Hyderabad. In their next move, the company plans to make pan India presence in near future.

Quality concern

Billboards and hoardings, which are designed for distant viewing, might able to hide wrinkles or colour defects unnoticed. But it is not possible in case of car wrap where every pixel of minute textures of graphics will be observed from the closest proximity. “Quality of a graphic is revealed in a close view; that’s why we give significant importance in selection of media and printing technology,” explicates Raghu adding that the restoration of original surface texture of vehicles after removing the adhesive films is also equally important.

MACtac and Avery Dennison are some of the companies CASHurDRIVE have been associated with for a range of high-quality self-adhesive polycast, cast and monocast films. “Depending on the kinds of campaigns and contours of vehicles, we suggest different types of materials to our clients,” says Raghu. So far, the company focuses more on cars that include some commercial fleets and Cyclobrands is the company’s latest innovation.

No shuttling for clients to other places once they arrive at CASHurDrive, which is a complete end-to-end solution provider of design, print, wrap and monitoring…done under one roof. Mutoh and Roland printers along with the latest HP Latex technology are what it prints the company’s fine graphics. Raghu affirms that Latex printing is excellent for this purpose as they have done ten full-wrap cars with graphics printed on HP Latex printer, so far so good.

Hoping high that CASHurDRIVE is going to make a swift revolution to flag off ‘signage on wheel’ vehicles nationwide soon. It’s time for everyone to go for a test drive, at least!