Tacky Advertisements

[BusExpert32]

I'm starting this topic about those tacky advertisements in black and white above the windows for a lot of 6400 Novas and 1000 New Flyers. What is up with this new form of advertising on CTA buses? I think that I liked it better when the advertisement was made into an ad wrap so the whole bus could be wrapped. That is kind of cool. The billboard advertisements on the side and back of the bus were normal and fine as well. What do you guys think about this new form of advertising websites for the CTA?

[jesi2282]

I also don't like those Jimmy Johns advertisements, but this isn't the first time CTA has done something like this, a few years ago they put advertisements like this on the 4000 series M.A.N. Americanas and the 5800 series New Flyers.

[rmadisonwi]

Personally, I think most advertising on buses looks tacky in some form or another. There are very few ad-wrapped buses I've ever seen (for any transit system) that I thought actually looked good. Rarely do I feel that an ad wrap looks better than a system's standard paint scheme. But it brings in money, so...

Now, if we could only get rid of those horrible radio station ads on the Orange Line cars.

[BusExpert32]

I also personally like the www.visitmexico.com ad wraps on a few CTA buses. I've seen one Nabi out of North Park Garage and one Nova out of Chicago Garage with this wrap. Does anyone know of any different buses with this ad wrap out of different garages?

[Guest]

I also personally like the www.visitmexico.com ad wraps on a few CTA buses. I've seen one Nabi out of North Park Garage and one Nova out of Chicago Garage with this wrap. Does anyone know of any different buses with this ad wrap out of different garages?

Pace has ad wraps on a few Orion VI as well as Rockford with ad wraps vertically down the center of the sides, the front and rear sides of the bus are clear.

I dont like that ad wraps are now on "L" cars. They didnt have this years ago, just imagine a 6000 series L car in an ad wrap!

[Busjack]

• I have no objection to ad wraps of any kind if they are bringing in sufficient revenue to offset other doomsday type problems.
  
• Most of the half wraps I have seen have been on Pace buses. They seem to work on the 6162-6261 type buses because those buses have a white background and very little striping. I can't imagine them on a blue bus. However, it does appear that the 2600s around here (North Shore and Highland Park) have more outside card advertisements than appeared on their predecessors.
  
• I liked the M&M ads, with the windows covered and the half wrap below them.
  
• The blue Allstate ads at first gave me the wrong impression from a distance that Pace was painting Orion VIs blue. I also thought that I saw a Pace blue Nova, but it was a CTA bus with the same Allstate ad.
  
• I might question the CTA back only wraps (were on 7300s, and used on 5800s, because they don't have rear air conditioner louvers), but again, don't care so long as they bring in some revenue.
  
• For those of you that go back that far, do you remember when they painted ads for some sort of liquor (including the bottle) on the side of the 9600s soon after they were delivered?
  

[Busjack]

I dont like that ad wraps are now on "L" cars. They didnt have this years ago, just imagine a 6000 series L car in an ad wrap!

Other than reaching the people on the platform, I am not sure about their effectiveness to the advertiser. The only other view is of the train speeding past on the L structure or on the expressway median, where drivers looking at the ad is certainly dangerous. A fairly bold one, like the Target target logos, might work, but I doubt the effectiveness of any other L car wrap.

I can imagine a 6000 in about anything, since they had at least 4 paint schemes (green, cream, and orange/dark green and white/bicentennial/replica of 2600s). Obviously, though, you couldn't wrap the openable windows.

[Guest]

Other than reaching the people on the platform, I am not sure about their effectiveness to the advertiser. The only other view is of the train speeding past on the L structure or on the expressway median, where drivers looking at the ad is certainly dangerous. A fairly bold one, like the Target target logos, might work, but I doubt the effectiveness of any other L car wrap.

I can imagine a 6000 in about anything, since they had at least 4 paint schemes (green, cream, and orange/dark green and white/bicentennial/replica of 2600s). Obviously, though, you couldn't wrap the openable windows.

I remember many years ago when my dad was a bus operator at the old North Ave. garage they had a 3700 series Flx new look with a "Keep Chicago Clean" ad campaign. Also, who could forget the famous Bicentennial paint schemes that adorned Chicago's buses and L cars back in the 70s and lasted through the 80s!!

[Guest]

I remember many years ago when my dad was a bus operator at the old North Ave. garage they had a 3700 series Flx new look with a "Keep Chicago Clean" ad campaign. Also, who could forget the famous Bicentennial paint schemes that adorned Chicago's buses and L cars back in the 70s and lasted through the 80s!!

I also wonder what CTAs GMC new look bus fleet wouldve looked like had they used the Bus O Rama concept.

I think they would have looked pretty cool on the old 100s/300s GMC buses. I dont think they wouldve worked on the later GMC/ Flxible deliveries.

[Busjack]

I also wonder what CTAs GMC new look bus fleet wouldve looked like had they used the Bus O Rama concept.

I think they would have looked pretty cool on the old 100s/300s GMC buses. I dont think they wouldve worked on the later GMC/ Flxible deliveries.

For your information, here is a link to a picture of a NYC one, and to another type. I thought they worked real well on the NYC buses, since, among other things, the NYC buses didn't have the green (later brown) strip of windows above the sliding ones, and the front wing was pointed in the streamlined direction. Rochester, NY had ones similar to the second type on its 1970 Flxibles, which I didn't think worked, as the blocked windows (still visible from the inside) were broken, very few of the ads were sold, and nobody bothered to change the route sign on the side. The New York ones were pretty impressive when lit.

[trainman8119]

I am not a big fan of any of the ad wrap concept from an appearance standpoint. I believe one of the first true adwrapped buses was a Pace 8700 out of Northwest that was adwrapped for Stewarts Coffee. My old boss at Pace was the marketing manager, so, obviously, she was big in favor of the concept and she received many accolades for the revenue they brought in. In Pace's case, they had a knack of wrapping something and then forgetting to take it off (many rear end advertisements..ie Just Tires). I do agree with Busjack that if it brings in the money, why not? But that said, in today's lack of money climate, how far are we from hearing the little man's voice bellowing out the speaker..."Route 4 Cottage Grove, sponsored by Moo and Oink, to 94th", or "Welcome to the United Airlines Blue Line, for your own safety, please do not lean against the doors". Now that would be the ultimate in tacky, and yet I don't think we are too far away from that happening...in fact, is that not the idea behind the silly tv screens on Pace buses (unwelcomed noise beating you with ads).

[Guest]

I am not a big fan of any of the ad wrap concept from an appearance standpoint. I believe one of the first true adwrapped buses was a Pace 8700 out of Northwest that was adwrapped for Stewarts Coffee. My old boss at Pace was the marketing manager, so, obviously, she was big in favor of the concept and she received many accolades for the revenue they brought in. In Pace's case, they had a knack of wrapping something and then forgetting to take it off (many rear end advertisements..ie Just Tires). I do agree with Busjack that if it brings in the money, why not? But that said, in today's lack of money climate, how far are we from hearing the little man's voice bellowing out the speaker..."Route 4 Cottage Grove, sponsored by Moo and Oink, to 94th", or "Welcome to the United Airlines Blue Line, for your own safety, please do not lean against the doors". Now that would be the ultimate in tacky, and yet I don't think we are too far away from that happening...in fact, is that not the idea behind the silly tv screens on Pace buses (unwelcomed noise beating you with ads).

I have seen the ads on buses and trains of the Chicago radio station "La Ley 107.9" What was funny about that particular ad is that they show a male dj and a blonde female dj, or is it? The blonde female dj on the "La Ley" ads is actually a guy from what I was told. I had my suspicions everytime I saw that ad, they are also on many Pace buses too.

[BusExpert32]

I've noticed in the past few years that the CTA has been having less and less ad wraps for its buses and trains. I remember the Allstate ad wraps (which are gone), the Home Depot ad wrap on a CTA Nova from Forest Glen and on a Pace Orion VI from Northwest (also gone), and a series of more advertisements that were taken away but not replaced with a different ad. Could this be a possibility of CTA's doomsday problem?

Secondly, I just don't like the ad wraps for Pace that don't cover the entire bus (only the middle portion), but of course if it brings in money it is acceptable even if it makes the bus look tacky.

Thirdly, the only current ad wraps I've seen are the www.visitmexico.com wraps and another wrap in black on a couple of North Park's 5800 New Flyers. I've only seen that ad once and I couldn't tell what is being shown, it looked like an Ipod or something like that. Does anyone know of any other wraps currently?

Finally, at this point there are zero high floor buses with an ad wrap on the CTA fleet. Not even the 6000 Flxibles that are not getting retired at the moment. I can't stand this because the ad wraps look really nice on high floor buses.

[ArcherRider]

The CTA current wrap is the new Chex Chocolate Cereal ads that I saw!

[BusExpert32]

The CTA current wrap is the new Chex Chocolate Cereal ads that I saw!

Do you know on which buses and from which garage this ad wrap is on?

[ArcherRider]

Do you know on which buses and from which garage this ad wrap is on?

[ArcherRider]

I Saw on the North Park Garage Bus #5837

[BusExpert32]

I Saw on the North Park Garage Bus #5837

What a coincidence. It so happens that Buslover88 has a photo of that bus on his website www.ctabuses.bravehost.com, and to be accurate it's #5836, not #5837.

[Busjack]

What a coincidence. It so happens that Buslover88 has a photo of that bus on his website www.ctabuses.bravehost.com, and to be accurate it's #5836, not #5837.

He has a picture of a bus that appears to have that wrap, but there is no proof it is the same bus. The wrap could be on two buses. Also, the number can't be determined from the picture, just the caption.

[BusExpert32]

He has a picture of a bus that appears to have that wrap, but there is no proof it is the same bus. The wrap could be on two buses. Also, the number can't be determined from the picture, just the caption.

But why would a good person like Buslover88 lie about a bus number. He's also really into discussing about bus topics just like you and I are so I trust that he will tell the truth about something like that.

[sw4400]

I also personally like the www.visitmexico.com ad wraps on a few CTA buses. I've seen one Nabi out of North Park Garage and one Nova out of Chicago Garage with this wrap. Does anyone know of any different buses with this ad wrap out of different garages?

There is one at Forest Glen that I know of. A low number 6000-Series Flxible Metro(6025-6029). I saw it on #152 a couple days ago.

[Busjack]

But why would a good person like Buslover88 lie about a bus number. He's also really into discussing about bus topics just like you and I are so I trust that he will tell the truth about something like that.

Nobody said that he did. I did say that you made the incorrect assumption that that wrap was only on one bus.

[BusExpert32]

There is one at Forest Glen that I know of. A low number 6000-Series Flxible Metro(6025-6029). I saw it on #152 a couple days ago.

Wow! A 6000 at Forest Glen with the www.visitmexico.com ad wrap. I've got to check this out. Ad wraps (especially colorful ones like this) look cool on Flxibles or any other high floor bus.

[geneking7320]

I'm not that crazy about the Novabuses but I do like that blue and white Allstate wrap I've seen in the last few months.

[Buslover88]

He has a picture of a bus that appears to have that wrap, but there is no proof it is the same bus. The wrap could be on two buses. Also, the number can't be determined from the picture, just the caption.

I know for a fact that bus is #5836