Advertise on bus rears with One Day

Bus rear advertising (also referred to as back of bus advertising) is a high-impact method of promoting your brand or offers to a broad, ever-changing viewer demographic. This format of bus advertising puts your messaging into the mix, displayed in vibrant colours and strategic panel sizes – travelling throughout busy city centres, tourist regions, visitor attractions and business districts.

Even the smallest bus rear advertising panels are designed to fall perfectly into the sightlines of motorists, with full panel displays covering the entire back aspect of the bus a great option to maximise engagement and returns.

Get in touch with One Day and speak to our bus back advertising experts to discuss how your brand can advertise on the back of a bus.

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What are Bus Rear Adverts?

As the name ‘back of bus advertising’ suggests, bus rear advertising allows advertisers to display their choice of graphic or promotional panel on the back of a bus – the compact display panels beneath the passenger window and above the vehicle registration plate are also referred to as lower rears.

One of the core applications of bus rear advertising is for brands that want to appeal to drivers and road users, including those targeting adult audiences within their locality. During peak travel times and rush hour, extended dwell times and repeat exposure to buses travelling along their regular routes can cement brand recognition.

Bus rears can be formatted in several formats and options, putting brand messaging in front of drivers, pedestrians, public transport users, passengers and any member of the public who travels past a major bus route or transport lane during their daily routine.

Using memorable designs, bold colours, and vibrant images works exceptionally well, where drivers and commuters are drawn to these displays to add interest to everyday journeys and have plenty of time to digest the branding shown.

How One Day Can Help

One Day is a multi-skilled integrated marketing team offering clients opportunities to advertise their brands and offerings throughout some of the highest-traffic public transport networks in the UK.

We offer comprehensive assistance, from campaign design and planning, strategic media placements and ongoing campaign monitoring to ensure you know how your investment in bus rear advertising is performing.

Our creative teams provide professional support when translating your graphics or branding into a format suitable for bus rear promotions and can recommend the best options to help your ads reach your target demographics.

Our Work

Bus Rear Advertising Formats

UK Bus Rear Ad Sizes

The exact formats and panel sizes available within bus rear advertising may depend slightly on the area, city or region you'd like to target. That is because different public transport providers and private bus networks use variable vehicles, from double-deckers to eco-bendy, single-decker, and street-level accessible buses.

Mega rears: used on double-decker buses for full-height advertising across the whole rear side of the bus.
Portrait back panels: slimline vertical advertising displays that can be used on single or double-decker buses.
Tail light displays are the most familiar format, with a rectangular advertising panel across the back of the bus from left to right.

If you choose a large-profile display, you can often cover the entirety of the flat vertical surface with your branding – drivers and passengers do not need to see out of the rear window, so this doesn’t necessarily need to be covered with special window vinyl as with other types of bus advertising.

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Ricardo Seixas, Founder and CEO, One Day Agency

“Bus Advertising is an impactful media for three key reasons. Its visibility is unmatched as, in cases of double-deckers, adverts rise above pedestrians and cars making them unmissable. Secondly, it’s size. Even though in a bus, the advert is still considered a large format. Finally and last, it is extremely cost-effective allowing brands of any size to reach thousands.”

Latest Out-of-Home Campaigns.

See below our selected work in media planning and buying, click or tap to view.

Technology Services - International OOH Campaign

Non-Alcoholic Beer - Out-of-Home Campaign

FMCG - Out-of-Home Campaign in Ireland.

Frequently Asked Questions.

Part of the reason back of bus advertising is so successful is that it inserts promotions and adverts into an everyday occurrence in a way that isn't irritating, intrusive or obstructive. Instead, drivers, cyclists and passengers are familiar with the presence of buses and are used to seeing panels displaying a variety of products or services.
Research has shown that:
65% of bus rear advertising campaigns reach motorists using the same route.
Average dwell times are roughly 48 seconds – although significantly longer in congested conditions.
Bus networks traversing busy city centres cover the same route 16 times per day, and often seven days a week, ensuring repeat messaging to the same captive audience.
The immediacy of the panel shown in front of a following vehicle and other cars waiting at junctions, queuing in traffic or waiting for the lights to change means this advertising medium is impossible to ignore.
Incorporating quick, memorable calls to action or focusing on short, snappy messaging that is easy to recall is highly effective. You can, for instance, encourage viewers to visit your website, use a discount code, attend an event or download a brochure – making it easy to track engagements and responses.
If you’re new to transport advertising, we’d suggest getting in touch to arrange a good time to talk. The first step is normally to consider the cities or areas where you’d most like to advertise and assess key variables such as the duration of your campaign.
From there, our consultants can analyse different routes and regions to identify those bus networks that are most used by your target audience and begin the design process to ensure your finished display is impactful.
Yes – we often speak with clients who want to gain as much brand recognition and familiarity as possible but need to engage with specific audiences, age groups or demographics. Others provide a service that is limited to one region, borough or city and for whom a city-wide or nationwide campaign would not be as effective.
We can facilitate bus rear campaigns targeted to locations, postcodes or routes based on granular-level analysis of the primary user and how that correlates with your core customer base.