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1. Exterior back-of-bus ad with dog and trash can. Dimensions = 21x 72" (dimensions could be modified, though width and height ratios will need to stay roughly the same).
2. Interior bus ad with landfill. Dimensions = 11x 28"	3. Interior bus ad with clear-cut. Dimensions = 11x 28"
4. Interior bus ad with unmetered trash. Dimensions = 11x 28"	5. Interior bus ad with designed for the dump. Not currently laid out as a bud ad; suitable for use on a poster, flyer, or invitation.

1. A transit company (bus, subway, train)
2. A printing company
3. A layout artist who works with Quark on a Mac who can modify artwork provided by Eco-Cycle to include your organization's event info.
4. A layout artist who can modify artwork provided by Eco-Cycle to include your organization's event info

Objective

This kind of advertising campaign in general has two objectives: (1) To advertise your Zero Waste event; and (2) To begin to introduce the concept of Zero Waste and bring the term into the community's vocabulary. Bus ads were used by EcoCycle as one of three mediums for promoting their event (invitations and newspaper ads were the other two). The advantage of a bus ad is that it is a moving billboard with the potential to reach hundreds or perhaps thousands of people as it moves around the city every day. While it is less likely that individuals seeing the bus ads are going to remember the place and date of your event, it is important that they see the concept of Zero Waste advertised in a variety of venues, just to get it into the public mind. Also, the more times that people see a concept or an ad, and the more different places they see it, the more likely it will begin to register in their brains. So, while they may not remember the time and date from a bus ad, they are more likely to notice and pay attention to the newspaper ad or invitation when they see it, because it reminds them of their first encounter.

How To Do It

NOTE: Timeline for each step is roughly the same since all steps should coincide with each other. Though the steps look arduous in terms of text length, several of these steps are simply phone calls.

Step 1 (6-12 weeks prior to the event. Allow as much time as possible to give plenty of room for transfer of art, printing, etc.): Contact EcoCycle to negotiate a use agreement for the artwork. Call Marti Matsch at 303-444-6634 or email her at marti@ecocycle.org. Please include:

1. Some brief information about your organization
2. The nature of your event
3. Your timeline for your event
4. Which ads you would like to use

Step 2 (6-12 weeks prior to the event. Allow as much time as possible to avoid mistakes): Contact the local transit company, and ask them how they handle their advertising on the inside and outside (if applicable) of their vehicles. In your community, you may be considering ads in a subway or train, rather than a bus. It is likely that the company contracts with a particular printing company to print ads.
Ask them:

1. If they have a particular printer who prints their ads (don't be surprised if this company is out of state. Much of this specialized printing is done by just a few printers in the nation. Turn around time is still fairly quick, despite the distance). If they do not have a particular company that they use, they will have names of various companies that do this kind of work. Ask them which company they work with the most.
   
2. What the price is to post an ad, and if a non-profit discount is available (if applicable).
   
3. What the dimensions are for various sign postings (for example, inside ads in a bus are printed as a standard size, while outside ads are significantly larger and vary in size depending on whether the ads are printed on the side of the bus or on the rear.)
   
4. What their deadline is for receiving the finished ads
   
5. How long they usually keep an ad posted. (It is important to learn whether these ads can be posted at any date throughout the month, or if, for example, they are posted only at the beginning of the month. In Eco-Cycle's experience, we had to run our ads for the month of April, because the buses changed out their ads at the beginning of every month. That meant the ads were really only effective in getting people to our event for three weeks, since our event was April 21st. )

Step 3 (Do at approximately the same time you do all other steps.):
Call the printer to:

1. Get an estimate. If the transit company gives you several printers with whom you could work, call more than one to get the most competitive bid. However, you may want to consider using the printer the transit company uses the most, since they will be the most familiar with the transit company's size and time guidelines, as well as the process. Ask them to send you their estimate in writing, as well as guidelines, turn around time, etc. Their estimate should include the date they are to receive your artwork, as well as the date it is to arrive with the transit company, just to avoid confusion.
   
2. Get on their schedule for printing ads.
   
3. Make sure that you are now on both the transit company's schedule and the printer's schedule.
   
4. Ask the printer if you will be able to see a proof of the ad before it is printed so that you can be sure the correct information has been printed, etc.
   
5. Ask them when they will need the artwork and in what format. Can it be emailed to them? (Turn around time is likely to be a week or so.)
   
6. Are they capable of taking a file and modifying artwork? You will need to have someone add your organization's information into the artwork provided. If not, contact a layout artist.

Step 4 (Do at approximately the same time you do all other steps): Write the text for your ad. You can follow the example of the EcoCycle ad, and simply add your information.

Step 5 (Do at approximately the same time you do all other steps.): Find a local artist who can work with a Mac Quark file supplied by EcoCycle and put in the event/promotion information particular to your organization's activities. They are likely to need some of the information you've gathered above, such as the required format, whether they can put the artwork on disk for the printer, the timeline, etc.

Step 6 (Do at approximately the same time you do all other steps.): Contact Eco-Cycle a second time to negotiate a use agreement for the artwork. Call Marti Matsch at 303-444-6634 or email to marti@ecocycle.org. We will be sending you the Quark for Mac file on a CD. Please be ready to provide the address, email and phone number for the layout artist who will be receiving the artwork.

Step 7 (Do at approximately the same time you do all other steps.) Work with your layout artist to modify the artwork to suit your needs. If you select different fonts from those used with EcoCycle's artwork, be sure to use bold fonts, especially for the back-of-the-bus ad. EcoCycle was advised on fonts and colors to use for this application, and it is recommended that you follow the same design to be sure that it is legible.

From this point, steps and timeline will be determined by the transit company, layout artist, and printer. Be sure to ask the layout artist for a proof of their work before it's sent to the printer! (Make sure to double check event information.) Also check a proof with the printer before it all goes to print.

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