Taxi Obscenities

Prepare to be confused by rainbow-coloured taxis or cabs directing you to the nearest strip club, as Scotland embarks on a re-vamp of advertising rules. Claiming that current procedures are too extensive to handle correctly, and in the knowledge that a tightening of regulations would mean additional costs, council officials have diverted the issue by deciding to scrap monitoring completely.

If plans advance as proposed, the current migraine of advertising approval would no longer be required, resulting in the elimination of censorship. As it stands, taxi advertising undergoes extensive analysis before it gets displayed on the vehicle - taking weeks or even months to complete.  

UK taxi marketing company Ubiquitous are in favour of the new law - understandably so, taking into account the laborious practise and costs associated with organising advertising on black cabs. For worried residents, reassurance comes in the fact that any advert which receives a complaint will be removed, minimising the chance of genuinely offensive material parading the streets of Scotland.

Up And Running: Managanese Bronze Turn To Geely

Imagine if the iconic London taxi suddenly vanished from our streets? Well, luckily for us, privately-owned Chinese firm Geely have just lifted the British black cab manufacturer Manganese Bronze out of a dark administration hole.

Valued at £11million, the deal sees 20% shareholder Geely saving the company's Coventry headquarters and 107 staff from joining the likes of HMV, Woolworths and JJB Sports as the UK's most loved brands fall victim to the economy.

Since taxi drivers were given permission to drive the Mercedes Vito, Managanese Bronze have lost their overpowering grasp on the market, leading to a gradual descent. While the 2012 Olympic ceremony provided a quick gasp of breath due to a performance involving the Spice Girls dancing on London cabs, Manganese Bronze quickly tripped once more when hundreds of vehicles were forced to be withdrawn due to a fault. The company was forced into administration in October 2012.

 

After 65 years of providing taxis, Manganese Bronze have been rescued by an agreement with Geely, who also own Volvo. The enterprise will continue to manufacture taxis for the UK, with an additional factory in Shanghai catering for those operating from the left hand side. The faulty fleet have already been repaired and restored to our roads, and chairman Daniel Li reveals plans to develop more environmentally-friendly vehicles.

The City Portal

Taxi advertising once again extends its scope to involve digital platforms, with the latest innovation: The City Portal. This interior screen provides an additional advertising outlet for businesses, further enlarging the promotional surfaces within taxis. The concept has been introduced initially in Newcastle by Adhesive Media, and is expected to reach over 100,000 members of the public.

In our current climate of interactivity, The City Portal also encompasses a free mobile phone app and website in order to allow perpetually connected consumers to engage with brands across formats from a single location. These will offer services like a venue finder, discount vouchers and ticket booking facility.

The 8-inch screens have the capacity to target travelers at designated times, working with their timed advert list in order to plan a specific output at key periods- such as rush hour, lunch breaks and evening socialisers.

London Taxi Advertising has the capacity to organise and implement a broad range of advertising platforms, catering for campaigns of any size. Contact us on 0207 953 0306 or visit www.londontaxiadvertising.com.

Taxi Wi-Fi For Free!

In a city brimming with internet-enabled mobile phones, iPads, iPods, business sector workers desperately refreshing laptop pages on the move as they traverse wi-fi zones - it only makes sense that Transport for London have approved a new, free wi-fi service: CabWifi™.

So not only can clients brand entire taxi exteriors and internal components such as flip seats and advertising screens; there is now the opportunity to feature digitally across this new internet facility. For every 15 minutes surfed, a 15-second advert is broadcast over the service. Employing the latest developments in 3G and 4G technology, the system is constructed to triumph over the general glitches associated with the combination of movement and wireless internet.

With London Taxi Advertising offering a variety of taxi advertising formats, it only makes sense to capitalise on your campaign with innovative digital advancements such as CabWifi. Aiming to target 10% of London's 24,000 taxis within half a year, the hardware takes minutes to install and is potentially capable of geographically targeting passengers.

After two years of propositioning, Eyetease Limited has now had their product accepted by TFL - Londoners, stay connected @CabWifi. 

All Hail Taxi Apps

Launching successfully in 9 cities, black cab booker Hailo has recently celebrated its first birthday and revealed aims to expand into 100 areas by 2015. Now boasting a driver base covering almost half of London’s 23,000 black cabs, and registered passenger numbers of 150,000, Hailo has sent out five taxis offering free journeys for the day in central London as an anniversary treat. 

Alongside the global success of Hailo, the London-focused Addison Lee taxi  app also has an impressive total of 350,000 downloads. Working to a similar concept of using your smart phone to hail a cab, Addison Lee divulges a remarkable £50million of sales through simply using this piece of technology.

Manganese Bronze calls in administrators

The maker of London’s black cabs Manganese Bronzer has called in administrators.

The Coventry based company has made losses for the past four years, and earlier this month the company suspended its shares after a fault with the TX4 vehicle’s steering box led to 400 cabs being recalled.

The company has been making black cabs since 1948, and has since stopped sales of its new TX4 model.

 The move will put almost 300 British jobs at risk.

Such a shame to see a former British success story fall.

Egypt Tourism Authority and EGYPTAIR promote tourism with London Taxi Advertising

Egypt TourismAuthority has joined with EGYPTAIR to launch a London taxi advertising campaign to encourage tourism to the country. 

Full livery taxis will run in Central London for one year. The campaign launch is timely with the World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry held at London’s ExCel Centre from 5^th – 8^th November 2012.  

See the great images below!