Ticket kataao, brand banao
In 2015, entrepreneurs Talha Zaheer and Ahmed Farooq established Ticket Kataao, a start-up that specialises in wrap – or motion – advertising, which entails ‘wrapping’ rickshaws and privately-owned cars with advertising messages.
The idea came to Zaheer when he saw rickshaws sputtering across Karachi with a few promotional leaflets and posters pasted on them. This led to the conception of the start-up’s first advertising solution – RAD (rickshaw fleet advertising) – and entailed producing customised hoods, displaying advertising messages and placing them on rickshaws (providing more effective visibility compared to the leaflets and posters previously used). The start-up’s first major client was Uber, which used this option to advertise their Uber Rikshaw service in November 2016.
Rickshaw owners were paid by Ticket Kataao; drivers were initially paid Rs 2,000 a month (Rs 200 a month was what they were paid to display the leaflets), but are now paid at least Rs 4,000.
Following the success of this initiative, Ticket Kataao introduced RozCar later that year, expanding the scope of their outdoor solutions to private cars and taxis. The first brand to come on board was Zong, which placed their advertising on at least 400 cars.
The start-up’s first major client was Uber, which used this option to advertise their Uber Rikshaw service in 2016. Rickshaw owners were paid by Ticket Kataao; drivers were initially paid Rs 2,000 a month (Rs 200 a month was what they were paid to display the leaflets), but are now paid at least Rs 4,000.
Owners of small cars are paid up to Rs 15,000 per month. Sedan owners are paid Rs 20,000 per month and are required to drive up to 30 to 50 kilometres every day. Zaheer and Farooq confess that they had reservations about convincing people to ‘wrap’ their cars with messages, but to their surprise, within the first two days of their launch, 2,000 drivers signed up and this number has now grown to 7,000.