The country?s biggest transporter, Indian Railways, is now looking at becoming one of the biggest advertising platforms as well. Taking forward its idea to provide advertising space on tickets, platforms and trains, the railways ministry now plans to allow on-board branding of trains.
This means companies would be allowed to place advertisements or ?wrap? up the exterior with of the train with vinyl sheets carrying ads. They will also be permitted to advertise inside compartments and put up plasma TV screens for the purpose. Uniform of the railway staff and bed linen provided in trains could also be used for displaying corporate ads and logos. ?The idea is to provide a 360-degree avenue to companies to advertise their products. But this will not be done at the cost of passenger comfort,? a railway official said.
JC Decaux, an outdoor advertising agency providing street furniture and illumination for billboards etc, has been roped in to provide logistics for this venture, a Rail Bhawan official said.
While at present tenders for about 12 trains have been put out, the plan is aimed at targeting nearly 300 major trains, including Shatabdis and Rajdhanis. Sources added this might be gradually extended to cover all trains. The advertising rights come at about Rs 20 lakh per train. The sale of these rights has now been centralised with the Railway board putting up the tenders. The move follows the success of the Kurkure Express and Pepsi?s Blue Billion Express, where trains were wrapped with vinyl sheets carrying advertisements.
The railways had earlier decided to open doors to private companies by permitting advertisements on rail tickets, ticket charts, platforms and stations. Zonal railways were in charge of the project. The ministry expects to earn over Rs 200 crore this fiscal from selling advertising space.
For companies, all this may mean big business given the fact that everyday about 1.3 crore passengers travel by the railways. ?Apart from radio, which still commands a sizeable audience, this may turn out to be one of the biggest opportunities for them to display their products,? the official said.