We recently applied to Cardiff City Council to place Full Livery Advertisements on Licensed Hackney Carriage vehicles in the City. We regularly place successful campaigns in Cardiff in this format, Superside Taxi Advertising in Cardiff is another strong medium we have good experience to promote various clients and their products.
Our knowledge of areas outside of London and Taxi fitting experience has has led to the company becoming somewhat of a specialist in taxi advertising outside of London for our own campaigns and a number of industry leading contractors. We do advertise in London, though we have supreme knowledge of key locations and availability in outlying areas. We have completed some huge campaigns in Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool over the past 12 months and have worked hard to advertise in the cities of Leeds, Leicester and Derby providing strong results for our clients.
Due to the recent demise of TX type vehicles in the Cardiff area, we were unsuccessful in recruiting the numbers needed to complete the campaign. We changed our approach and contacted several owner/drivers of Fiat Doblo type taxis who are registered to our extensive driver database and proceeded to arrange new artwork designs to adapt to these vehicles.
Taxi advertising stock in Cardiff is changing, the monopoly of LTI TX style vehicles is gone, increased Wheelchair accessible built vehicles are dominating the streets in Cardiff. This is a change that we have adapted to quickly. We advertise on all hackney carriage type vehicles, whether you own a Fiat Doblo, Peugeot E7 or Peugeot Partner, we will advertise on your vehicle. If a council allows advertising on purpose built vehicles it spans all types of taxi advertising, Cardiff City Council do not see it this way. As with all licensing, you require approval, with approval in all major cities we knew the artwork was in line with general advertising policy.
Huge Media recently submitted Full Livery artwork for TX type vehicles in Cardiff and this was approved by Cardiff City Council Licensing Department. Initially, when tasked with the job of advertising in Cardiff we expected a routine and professional job, which we would be able to plan and execute efficiently. Cardiff currently allow Superside Taxi Advertising on all vehicles, naturally we believed this policy would incorporate Full Livery advertising. Cardiff City Council Licensing Department approved our artwork, but they did dispute the types of vehicle in terms of Full Livery Advertising could be applied. This was after our agreed arrangement with drivers and our initial fitting of a TX style vehicle. We were then denied the opportunity to fit Full Livery Taxi Advertising on ten Fiat Doblos in Cardiff. The cost implications affected us directly with dead stock, whilst refusing 10 local constituent drivers the opportunity of earning extra income over a 24 month period.
We followed a process of applying for clear guidelines and approval on what vehicles were deemed suitable for Full Livery Advertising.
The final recommendation from Dave Holland the Head of Regulatory and Supporting Services was as follows :-
8. Recommendation
8.1 It is recommended that the Committee determine the application made by Huge
Media Advertising ltd to allow full livery advertisements on all wheelchair
accessible hackney carriage vehicles.
8.2 If the Committee resolve to approve the application, it is recommended that
Condition 5.2 (f) of the Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence Conditions is
amended as follows:
‘Full external advertising livery for one product is permitted on the whole of the
vehicle subject to the advertisement being approved by the authority, in writing,
prior to its use. This condition applies only to wheelchair accessible hackney
carriage vehicles.’
Although optimistic, the committee turned down our application for a clear clarification to determine all Hackney carriages equal in terms of Full Livery advertising. Currently you can only advertise on “non-TX” vehicles using superside taxi advertising only, we believe this conflicts with the report and committee decision..
This is just the initial process for application, we will challenge this decision in the future. As the Hackney Carriage stock continues to diversify in all cities, we believe it unfairly places owners of “black cab TX type ” vehicles at a distinct advantage, to their taxi family counterparts.
Huge Media have shown what can be done campaigning local councils for clear guidelines on taxi advertising, with our recent successes. We want a clear and transparent industry from Suppliers all the way through the system to owner/drivers and every stakeholder in the process.
