For drivers · 5 min read · Updated July 2026

Why does a neighbour's recommendation beat any ad?

88% of people trust a recommendation from someone they know over any ad (Nielsen, 2021) — which is what a Lunar driver's decal really is.

When you put a local business's decal on your car, you're not just carrying an ad — you're vouching for it. Nielsen's 2021 Trust in Advertising study, surveying more than 40,000 people, found that 88% trust a recommendation from someone they know over any paid advertisement, making word-of-mouth the single most-trusted form of marketing there is. A decal on a real car, driven by a real neighbour, through a real neighbourhood, sits much closer to that kind of trust than a billboard ever could. On Lunar (lunarcar.me), a car advertising marketplace available in Vancouver, BC and Tulsa, OK, drivers choose which local businesses they're willing to represent — so the endorsement is genuine, not assigned.

Why do people trust a neighbour more than an ad?

Advertising works best when it doesn't feel like advertising. A 2021 Stackla/Nosto study found that content from real people reads as 2.4 to 5.9 times more authentic than content made by a brand or an influencer — and only around 19% of people say they trust brand-made content at all. A car decal splits the difference in an interesting way: it's technically an ad, but it's attached to a person's actual daily life, not a studio or a media buy. That's closer to the 88% category than the 19% one.

Where does money spent at a local business actually go?

The case for supporting a local business isn't just emotional — it's measurable. A widely cited Civic Economics study (Andersonville, 2004) found that $68 of every $100 spent at a local independent business stays in the community, compared with roughly $43 at a chain. Independents were found to recirculate about 3.6 times more of each dollar locally (52.9% vs. 13.6%). The study is older and was commissioned by a local-business advocacy group, so treat the exact numbers as directional — but the direction itself, that local spending stays local, holds up across later research too.

How much do people actually miss the local businesses they lose?

People say they feel this loss when it happens. A 2024 survey reported by Forbes found that roughly three in four people feel sad, worried, guilty, or angry when a local shop closes, and that people would spend roughly $150 a month more to keep their favourite local spots open. Separate research from IPX1031/LendingTree puts the numbers at 57% who say they'll pay more to support a local business, and 65% who wish they shopped local more often than they do. Pew Research (2018) found that 57–60% of people feel attached to their local community. Put together: the goodwill toward local businesses is real and widespread — it just doesn't always turn into action on its own.

How does this actually work if you drive for Lunar?

This is the gap Lunar's decal model is built to close. Drivers name up to 2 of their car's 4 available door spots themselves — brands they'd genuinely back — and Lunar fills the rest from paying local businesses in the area. Lunar never places two stickers from the same business on one car, and every driver gets one veto a month if an assigned brand doesn't feel like a fit; Lunar swaps it out. That structure matters for the trust math above: an ad only carries neighbour-level trust if the neighbour actually chose it.

• 88% of people trust a recommendation from someone they know over any ad — Nielsen, 2021
• Real-people content reads 2.4–5.9x more authentic than brand content; only ~19% trust brand-made content — Stackla/Nosto, 2021
• $68 of every $100 spent at a local independent stays local, vs. ~$43 at a chain — Civic Economics
• Roughly three in four people feel sad, worried, guilty, or angry when a local shop closes — 2024 survey via Forbes
• People would spend ~$150/month more to keep favourite local businesses open — 2024 survey via Forbes
• 57% will pay more to support a local business; 65% wish they shopped local more — IPX1031/LendingTree
• 57–60% of people feel attached to their local community — Pew Research, 2018

What does this mean for you as a driver?

None of this requires extra effort. The car you already drive to work, to pick up groceries, to drop off your kids, becomes the thing doing the vouching — with no shifts, no detours, and no change to how you actually drive. The decal is removable vinyl on the door, not a wrap, and it comes off cleanly when a campaign phase ends. What changes is that the driving you were already doing now does something for a business you'd choose to support anyway, and pays you monthly for it. (See how Lunar payouts actually work for the specifics on timing and amounts.)