What does $500 a month buy in local advertising?
$500/month barely covers a fraction of a billboard or truck ad, but it's a full local car-advertising plan — 2 cars on Lunar's Half Moon plan.
Five hundred dollars a month sits below the entry price of nearly every traditional out-of-home (OOH) format — a small static billboard alone often starts around $1,500/month — but it's the exact entry point for a full local car-advertising plan. On Lunar (lunarcar.me), $500/month is the Half Moon plan: 2 local drivers' cars carrying a business's decal through the neighbourhoods it serves, billed monthly over a 3- or 6-month term. In most other local advertising formats, $500 buys a partial placement or a fraction of a month — car advertising is one of the few categories where that budget puts a real, running campaign on the street.
What does $500 buy in traditional out-of-home advertising?
OOH pricing runs on location and format, and $500 rarely covers a full month of any fixed placement. A static billboard typically runs $1,500–$30,000+/month depending on the market and location, with a cost-per-thousand (CPM) around $3–$10. Digital billboards cost more, with CPM closer to $20–$25. A full bus wrap runs $6,000–$12,000/month. Bus shelters and street furniture sit below billboards but still exceed $500 on their own. A mobile-billboard truck costs $800–$5,000 per single day — meaning a $500 monthly budget wouldn't even cover one day on the road. Taxi or rideshare-top ads are the closest comparison, at roughly $300–$800 per vehicle for a four-week run — but that's one vehicle, not a small fleet moving through a defined zone.
What does $500 buy specifically on Lunar?
On Lunar, $500/month is the Half Moon plan: 2 cars in a business's chosen target zone, each carrying a removable vinyl decal on the door. There is no sticker fee, setup fee or deposit. The campaign runs in a committed 3- or 6-month phase, billed monthly rather than charged upfront for the full term, and a slot is only charged once its sticker is on a driver's car and the install photo is approved. The dashboard then reports active cars, verified mileage, and estimated impressions for the zone — the same estimate-based reporting the rest of the OOH industry uses, presented as a modelled range rather than a fixed count.
How does that reach compare to a fixed sign?
A single advertised vehicle is estimated to generate roughly 30,000–70,000 impressions a day, according to industry figures cited by the OAAA — well above the reach of a stationary ad in the same spot. Outdoor advertising overall carries a CPM around $3–$8, and vehicle-based formats sit at the cheaper end of that range, well below primetime TV's roughly $45 CPM. The difference with a car fleet, compared to a single billboard or truck, is that the ad moves through the streets a business actually serves, day after day, instead of sitting fixed in one location a driver has to pass to see it.
Is $500 a month enough for a real local campaign?
For a business with a defined service area — a few neighbourhoods, not an entire metro — $500/month is enough to put a small, consistent presence on the street rather than a one-off ad buy. It won't out-scale a citywide billboard campaign or a major transit buy, but it's built for hyper-local reach: a handful of real residents' cars, matched inside the zone a business actually draws customers from, running continuously rather than for a few weeks.
Who should consider a bigger plan instead?
Businesses that want reach across more of a city typically move up to Full Moon ($1,500/month, 7 cars, about 14% less per car). Both plans run on the same 3- or 6-month structure. Starting on Half Moon and moving up as a campaign proves out is a common path — the target zone, sticker design, and estimated-impression reporting work the same way on both plans.
- Static billboard: ~$1,500–$30,000+/month, CPM ~$3–$10
- Digital billboard/DOOH: higher cost, CPM ~$20–$25
- Full bus wrap: ~$6,000–$12,000/month
- Mobile-billboard truck: ~$800–$5,000/day
- Taxi/rideshare-top ad: ~$300–$800/vehicle for 4 weeks
- Lunar Half Moon plan: $500/month, 2 cars, 3- or 6-month term
- Lunar Full Moon plan: $1,500/month, 7 cars
Frequently asked questions
What exactly do I get for $500 a month on Lunar?
The Half Moon plan: 2 local drivers' cars carrying your business's removable decal through a target zone you set. It runs on a 3- or 6-month term billed monthly, and reports active cars, verified mileage, and estimated impressions on a dashboard.
Is $500 a typical budget in other forms of local advertising?
No — $500/month rarely covers a full month of traditional OOH. A static billboard alone often starts around $1,500/month, and a mobile-billboard truck can cost that much in a single day. Car advertising is one of the few local formats where $500 funds a running, multi-vehicle campaign rather than a fraction of one placement.
How are impressions estimated on a car-advertising plan?
Lunar models estimated impressions from verified mileage, the same way the broader out-of-home industry sells estimated reach for billboards and transit ads. Impressions are always presented as an estimated range, not as a fixed or promised number.
Can a business start at $500 and scale up later?
Yes. A business can start on Half Moon and move to Full Moon later, which adds cars at a lower price per car.
Does the $500 cover the entire campaign term upfront?
No. Plans run in committed 3- or 6-month phases, but businesses are billed monthly rather than charged for the full term upfront.
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