Life as a billboard

Los Angeles Times ; March 4, 2001

Carissa Green is now used to the honking, waving and cheering she normally gets when she drives around town in her Volkswagen. But the film choreographer says taking her silver New Beetle to a movie premiere can be quite embarrassing.

Web ad for using the New Beetle as a billboard

About a year ago, she hooked up with Freecar.com and had her brand new car wrapped in Jamba Juice advertisements. What once was a shiny metallic vehicle now has the company's mascot, "Super Wheat Grass Dude," and colorful logos completely enveloping the frame.

Freecar.com started up in October 1999 but really only picked up clients and customers in the last few months. There are now nearly 200 cars in Los Angeles wrapped in advertisements for such corporations as Sprint, Rawlings, Yahoo, Lycos, Sega and others.

Drivers pick what kind of advertisement they want their car wrapped in or they may opt to receive a new car, the most popular being New Beetles and SUVs, from Freecar.com, said Keith Powers, the company's co-founder. The cars are wrapped in sheets of adhesive vinyl film that are removed upon completion of the contract. Freecar.com pays for any damage because of the graphics.

A global positioning system is placed inside each vehicle so sponsors know the exact location of their rolling billboards. In turn, advertisers pay anywhere from $750 to $1,200 per month for the service.

Since Carissa Green started driving her juiced-out car, all of her friends have signed up for the program, although she admits they were a little leery at first about the ostentatious look of her New Beetle.

"Any embarrassing moments I may have had, like going to a premiere, are completely negated by all the positive things the car has brought to my life," says Carissa, who has worked on the film "The Shadow" and various television programs.

"My friends thought it might be cheesy. But now they see it's a real hip thing to do for some extra cash

Pete Frost