Whose bus is that? Bloomington Transit mulls ads

Bloomington residents could see less advertising on the outside of Bloomington Transit (BT) buses starting in 2025.

BT’s contract with Mesmerize Media, the company that sells the ads, runs through the end of this year.

At Tuesday’s meeting of BT’s five-member board, Doug Horn raised his concern that the advertising on the outside of BT’s buses has eroded the public bus agency’s visual identity.

There was not a voting item about bus advertising on the board’s Tuesday agenda—but consideration of a contract renewal with Mesmerize could come before year’s end.

Horn brought up the issue at the end of the meeting during the time that is reserved for comments from board members.

Horn has long disliked advertising on the outside of buses. But a written message he’d received in connection with a bus crash on Indiana Avenue prompted him to bring up the topic at Tuesday’s board meeting.

According to media accounts, the crash stemmed from a failure by a pickup truck driver to yield to a BT bus, which caused the two vehicles to smash into a house at the corner of Indiana Avenue and Cottage Grove Avenue.

Horn is co-owner of the rental property. The property management company received an inquiry from an Indiana University student who is enrolled in a journalism class, an excerpt of which Horn read aloud:

I also wanted to ask about doing a short interview for one of my journalism classes. We are doing a story on the Ken Nunn bus that crashed into one of your properties, and I would love to have a quick three to four minute interview about the crash. The interview is just for a class here in Indiana, and will be very quick and easy.

Ken Nunn is a local attorney whose full-wrap ads on BT buses are abundant. On a B Square Thursday morning visit to the downtown transit center, all four buses waiting in the bays had a full wrap of advertising for Nunn’s law firm.

After reading the snippet aloud, Horn said first that he hopes that BT’s driver is OK.

But Horn continued, “The thing that was upsetting to me about this—even beyond a building being hit—was that this person knows Bloomington Transit as the ‘Ken Nunn bus,’ and I am almost livid about that.”

Horn added, “And I’m just worried that we have lost an identity when someone requesting an interview about a Bloomington transit event refers to it as a ‘Ken Nunn bus’.”

BT general manager John Connell concurred with Horn’s basic point, saying, “You’re exactly right. I agree with you 100 percent.”

Connell continued, pointing out that when BT filmed its recent driver recruitment video, it was noticeable that all the buses had advertising everywhere, when the point of the video was to generate buzz about employment at Bloomington Transit.

As a first step, Connell said, he had notified Mesmerize that BT’s four new all-electric buses will be wrapped with BT branding, and would not be available for advertising.

Connell said that he thinks a better approach to bus advertising is to allow it on just part of the fleet, say 25-percent of vehicles.

Board chair James McLary looked ahead to the expiration of Mesmerize’s contract at the end of this year. If advertising on BT’s buses is going to be reduced or eliminated, then BT needs to put Mesmerize on notice, before talking about a contract renewal, McLary said.

The current contract with Mesmerize calls for a 55-percent commission on the bus advertising it sells. For 2024, BT budgeted $155,000 in revenue from advertising sales.  For 2025, BT’s spending plan calls for $175,000 in advertising revenue, which is a conservative number.

BT controller Krista Browning said at Tuesday’s meeting she thinks the actual number will be closer to $200,000 a year.

A counterpoint to the idea of eliminating bus advertising was offered by board member Kent McDaniel. About the idea of eliminating advertising on BT buses, McDaniel said: “I’ll confess, I’m skeptical,” adding, “ I like $200,000 in revenue—free money, you know?”

Horn put the $200,000 figure in the context of a basic operations budget for BT of around $13 million, and called it a “rather minor amount.”

Horn summed up his position by saying, “If those that are potential riders, see us as something other than Bloomington Transit, I’m just really saddened by that, and I don’t think it’s good business.”

About advertising on the outside of buses, Horn said, “I didn’t like it when it started. I still don’t like it.”