While guys like Batman are OK with being anonymous in their good deeds, others want some credit.
And while stopping crime in Gotham City is certainly a noble pursuit, there’s something especially heroic about fixing potholes. In Johannesburg, South Africa, residents have been especially annoyed by the abundance of potholes. So, two insurance companies, DialDirect Insurance and Discovery Insure, have launched a pothole repair branding initiative, where potholes are paved over and spray painted with the two companies’ logos.
The “Pothole Patrol” partnership got approval from the City of Johannesburg in 2021, according to News24. So far, Discovery estimates that they fix approximately 250 potholes daily. That’s a lot of advertising space on the roadways of a major city.
It’s also not the first instance of branded pothole repair. The other comes from something a little less related to vehicular damage than an insurance company, but still no stranger to navigating roadways: Domino’s.
In 2018, Domino’s rolled out branded construction vehicles to pave over potholes in an effort to “save pizza” from being jostled around too much during delivery trips. It’s gimmicky, but at the end of the day it does real good that lasts longer than a lot of other promotional products.
Domino’s executed the program in California, Georgia, and Delaware, where potholes were paved over and spray painted with the chain’s logo and “Oh yes we did.”
Domino's Pizza unveils U.S. infrastructure project filling potholes https://t.co/PHOXUIvRsP by @aarthiswami pic.twitter.com/ToZvOG1FNi
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) June 11, 2018
All good promotional campaigns solve a need. Sometimes that need is as simple as brand visibility. But, in this case, this solves the needs of the general public and still provides logo visibility in a high-traffic area — literally.
Not all promotional campaigns can be this altruistic, but it shows the ability to think beyond a consumer product and still find ways to promote a brand.
