Advertising with Public Benches

You have no doubt seen benches at bus stops, in front of retail stores, along sidewalks, and in other public places with advertising on them.  The concept is fairly simple and the product is not as difficult to produce and maintain as you might imagine.

The elements required for this kind of business include a bench, an approved location near a bus stop, retailer, shopping center, public park, arena or any other location with a fair amount of traffic, both automotive and pedestrian.  And, of course, the sign.

The sign itself requires a buyer or advertiser, and a maker.  The buyer would be another business that wants to use the benches for advertising income.  If you are only in the building business, then your job will be done when the bench is completed.  Unless you also contract with the buyer to supply the signs for advertising.  But unless you are in a major metro area, there will likely not be that much money in little pieces of this business.

Who Pays for the Service?

The advertiser is any business, individual in sales (such as in real estate), or government agency that wants to get the word out about their products, services or ideas.  You want to make deals good enough with advertisers so that they are happy and stay with you for a long time.  And even if the deal is not that great, you need to make the "rental" terms for a minimum of 3 or 4 months, at least, so that you are not going around replacing signs every other week on the same bench. 

An important key, in selling this kind of advertising, is to make the monthly rates better for a 12-month term than for a 3-month or 6-month term.  The difference does not need to be some huge discount on the longer terms.  But it needs to be enticing.  Work up all your numbers on the long term rates, to make sure you can live and actually earn a profit from them.  Then work backwards, adding 10 or 15% (or more) to the lesser term.  Say you figured an ad sign for a particular location, for one year, should run $600 (I just picked a round number, your number must come from your own calculations of materials, time, any space rent, etc.).  You would not then offer a 6-month ad rental for $300.  For one thing, you must make twice as many signs a year.  So you would recalculate your own real costs, and then add a higher percentage on top.  So the 6-month ad/sign might sell for $400.  A 3-month might then sell for $325 or so.

Location and traffic patterns are other important factors.  Busy spots may be worth a lot more, and may also cost you rent or leasing.  If the spot is owned by a city or other government, you may be able to "trade" them the convenience of well maintained seating for whatever you are able to earn in advertising.  If the location is owned by a shopping mall or other commercial enterprise, your argument may not prove convincing.  Still, yo0u may be able to provide the "service" on a money-making bench, and let them sell the ads for you.  Never simply give up without trying to get something coming in.  At the same time, don't try to get forge a complicated arrangement when a simple one will work.

Making the Signs

You may be able to produce the sign yourself if you are handy paint and brushes or with a computer.  Personally, I'm a computer type of artist and sign-maker.  For the computer generated sign, you will need an a service that can output the large size you need.  In many towns with a college or university, you will find such copy and printing shops that can print out your images on paper or vinyl material.  The paper can then be laminated or varnished by hand.  The vinyl is ready to go.  Either way, you will need to glue the image onto a wood, fiberboard (MDF) or plastic backing.  Wood or MDF is my own preference, since it can be made sturdy without a huge expense.  The image must be truly sealed to the backing, so as not to work loose in high wind, heavy use, rain or hot summer sun.

Building the Bench

The bench is almost a normal bench.  I say almost because you will want to make it secure unless you want to replace it frequently.  A nice, lightweight wooden bench will be stolen by anyone with half a motive.  College kids and other young people setting up a living space will be happy to make use of it.  And so will anyone else in need of a place to sit or an interesting trophy for the den or basement.

My suggestion is to start out cheap and sturdy.  I like concrete and wood. There are many great materials on the market these days that can be used to produce outdoor benches.  Some of those materials are heavy enough to discourage easy theft.  Nothing is ever truly theft-proof, no matter how cumbersome, how well secured, how heavy.  But fortunately most thieves are lazy (otherwise they would simply make their own bench and be done with it).  So all you need to do is make it inconvenient. 

The entire bench can be made of concrete, if that's what you want to do.  But solid concrete is no fun to haul around.  And It tends to be cold seating in winter and hot in the summer.  Wood is better and is perceived as more comfortable for the bones.  So I would make the end slabs of concrete, for durability and weight, and the seat and back of wood products.  Rather than thick, wide boards for the seat itself, use multiple slats.  The cost is usually lower for lumber of smaller dimension, and the more gaps you have between the boards, the faster the seat will drain and dry after a rain.  Make the gaps just wide enough for air and water, maybe a 1/4 of an inch (6 millimeters) or so.

Concrete for the end slabs is not just cement.  It is a mixture of a cement (such as Portland cement), and sand or earth, and maybe some larger gravel or crushed stones.  The cement holds everything together.  The other stuff can cut production costs and maybe even add a little decoration.  Make sure everything is smooth and well rounded, so as not to cause injury or unnecessary discomfort.  The discomfort will make your benches unpopular.  Any actual injury caused by negligence in design or manufacturing can cost you your business.

One good design idea, to save in production time and materials, is to incorporate as much into your molded end slabs as possible.  Notice that I show for an example as design that includes holes for the seat and back parts.  You must create a mold for your end slabs anyway.  They should be mixed, poured and cast in molds that will make all your benches easy to recognize by the public (and advertisers) and easy to maintain by you.  Simply include in your forms the holes you see in the above illustrated examples.  Or something like them.  You may wish to have insets instead of holes that go all the way through.  Either way, you will still need to use brackets to secure the seat and sign-back.

You can build your molds or forms out of wood or plastic or fiberglass.  The smoother the inside surface of the mold, the easier it will be to remove your slabs when cast.  Take your height and other measurements from common examples all around.  Most benches in malls, parks and other public places are a little lower than the usual height of, say, a kitchen chair.  Making the seat at about 16 inches (roughly, 40 centimeters) high is about right.  The back needs to be high enough to serve well for both a sign and a decent back rest.  You can choose to include arms on the ends or not.  And the thickness of the concrete slab doesn't need to exceed 4 inches (10 centimeters).

Make Room for Production

This is not a business that you want to start in your living room.  It requires a lot of room for production.  A garage will work, to start out with.  A larger shed or barn is even better.  You need room for molds or forms to lie flat while ends are being cast.  You need room for the ends to cure after they are set well enough to remove from the forms.  You will need space and conditions suitable for painting, sealing/finishing and at least some assembly, although final assembly can be done on location.  You need room for the sign and for cutting and storing seating.    You will want to use power drills, and some wrenches large enough for good-sized bolts and nuts. 

Research

Do your homework.  Scout your area to see what, if any, competition is already out there.  Urban areas will likely have one or more similar businesses in operation.  If so, take the time to study how they build their products and how they sell their services.  Learn what you can.  Find out how you may be able to work in places they are not servicing, or how you may be able to improve on the level of service they provide.

You need to know what kinds of laws and codes may be in place to regulate various facets of your business.  The main thing to look for will be the laws and codes governing signs.  In recent years, a lot of laws have been passed in many counties and municipal districts that restrict billboards and other signage.  You will want to know what laws have been written for your own area that might influence your business.  Make sure you stay well within the boundaries of all local codes and statutes, even if it means that you can only service communities down the road a ways from where you actually live.

Use the Internet.  The great thing about the world-wide web is that you can "visit" with many businesses all over the nation, and in other parts of the world to see what they are doing.  Learn as much as you can about how others are advertising and pricing their ads, their benches, and any other related services.  You may find that another aspect of this general business idea proves much more interesting and profitable for you.  For instance,  you may decide to go into manufacturing and shipping public benches around the world. Or you may be drawn more to other forms of advertising sales or marketing.

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