Garbage Trucks as Rolling Billboards

MOLINE, IL-- While the City of Moline went live with its five new automated garbage trucks this summer, city fleet manager J.D. Schulte said they'll be going live again, this time wrapped in advertising by local cable company MediaCom, according to the Web site Quad-Cities Online.

MediaCom is taking its message -- "Cleaning up Moline one dish at a time," with a picture of a discarded pile of satellite dishes -- onto the streets for seven and a half hours a day, five days a week on Moline garbage trucks. "It is a great fit for MediaCom," said Todd McGreevy, president of AdMospheres Media & Marketing, the company the city contracted to secure advertising. According to Schulte, who came up with the idea to advertise on the garbage trucks, all cities are looking for alternative revenue sources.

Moline will receive $15,000 a year for the advertising on the five trucks. AdMospheres also will receive $15,000 and handle everything except collecting the funds and paying to repair any damage to the advertising wrap, both of which are the city's responsibility.

Schulte said the goal is for the advertising to generate enough money to cover non-warranty work on the garbage trucks, and pay for things such as tires, brakes and oil changes. He believes they'll be able to cover the costs. Schulte said as far as they know, Moline is the first city in the U.S. to put advertising on its garbage trucks. Other cities have heard what Moline is doing, and are interested. Waterloo, Iowa, is watching closely, Schulte said, according to Quad-Cities Online.