Bus wraps boost Lennar " and RTC

Lennar Reno, naturally enough, hoped to generate a little buzz with a marketing campaign centered on an ad wrapped around two Regional Transportation Commission buses.

But it turns out that the RTC generated some buzz, too.

The homebuilder became the first advertiser to wrap two buses with a year-long campaign that delivers a simple message visit www.lennar.com for information on projects in Sparks, Reno and Dayton.

"They're like traveling three-dimensional billboards," says Pam Banaszak, vice president of sales and marketing for Lennar in Reno.

And she says the decision to use buses for advertising carries a subtle secondary message: In a time of high gasoline prices and concert about air quality, Lennar supports public transit.

The benefits for RTC extend beyond the revenue it generates from the advertising, says Erin FitzSimons Krug, marketing specialist for the transportation agency.

"We've already received a significant number of calls from other business asking how they can achieve the same kind of advertising impact," Krug says.

RTC estimates that Lennar's bus wrap advertising will generate 2.04 million impressions a month.