WILMINGTON "“ Carvertise, a 7-year-old advertising company that utilizes vehicle "wraps," announced Thursday, Dec. 19, that it has launched its first international campaign.

Now in its fourth campaign with Carvertise, Visit Tampa Bay (VTB), a not-for-profit corporation that promotes tourism to the Florida city, is launching a campaign in Toronto, Canada, officials announced.

[caption id="attachment_171577" align="alignright" width="300"] Carvertise, based in Wilmington, has launched its first international campaign in Toronto, Canada. | PHOTO BY CARVERTISE[/caption]

"We're very excited to announce our global capabilities to the Carvertise suite of products, as well as our continued partnership with Visit Tampa Bay," said Mac Macleod, CEO of Carvertise, in a statement. "Our team is fanatical about serving the needs of both our driver network and our advertising partners, and these global product extensions are great examples of the work our team is doing to bring new excitement to out-of-home advertising."

In their first three campaigns, Carvertise has placed 118 rideshare cars on the road for VTB that have driven over 400,000 miles, creating over 60 million impressions and picking up over 42,900, officials said. Those campaigns were run in the New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Miami, and Orlando markets. 

"Carvertise has been a terrific partner with innovative solutions to help us capture the attention of our target audience," said Patrick Harrison, chief marketing officer of Visit Tampa Bay, in a statement. "We were thrilled to utilize their international offerings, with out-of-home inventory that helps remind those in colder climates of the warmth and benefits of visiting Tampa Bay."

Carvertise, headquartered in Wilmington, was founded by Macleod and Greg Star, both graduates of Horn Entrepreneurship at the University Delaware.

It is a marketing firm that covers vehicles of participating drivers with vinyl ads. The agency creates the campaign, wraps the cars and maps strategic routes to build brand visibility for its clients. Carvertise then uses GPS to determine when and where their cars are on the road, providing comprehensive impression reports to clients. 

Earlier this month, the national company announced that it would be hiring 50 new employees in Delaware after receiving a $290,000 performance-based grant from the Delaware Strategic Fund. It currently has 15 employees working at offices off 6th Avenue in Browntown.

By Jacob Owens

jowens@delawarebusinesstimes.com