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Man Gives New Meaning To Street Pedaling

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By KLINT LOWRY

The Suncoast News

Published: January 11, 2009

PORT RICHEY - For commuters, billboards get to be part of the day-to-day landscape, landmarks even.

But for most of the past year, drivers along U.S. 19, Ridge Road and other major thoroughfares in west Pasco have been seeing something different - moving mini billboards being towed along behind bicycles.

When Carlos Cullari moved to Port Richey from New York four years ago, his career was on a whole different path. He had studied to work in the fashion industry, and spent a year working as a buyer for Macy's.

"It just wasn't for me," Cullari said. "I didn't come to Florida to be locked in an office."

He figured his best bet was to start a business of his own, but doing what?

"I was thinking, 'everybody's going green,'" he said. "What could I do? What kind of business could I start?"

A little over nine months ago, he got an idea.

"I'm always riding my bicycle," Cullari said. "I had a bike with a trailer and I would ride with my daughter all the way to Clearwater, crazy distances."

From there, Amor Bike Ads was born. Taking standard bike trailers and fitting them with frames made from PVC pipe, screws and duct tape, Cullari began an advertising company with almost no start-up costs. He now has three bikes operating in Pasco County, and one each in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

While it isn't a completely original idea - mobile billboards on trucks and bicycles have been around for years, particularly in northern cities like New York, Washington, D.C. and Chicago - it was an unfilled niche locally. With today's economy, Cullari figured, local businesses and even major companies might be interested in trying an inexpensive yet effective means of getting their businesses noticed.

The hardest part, Cullari said, was convincing local business owners that it was worth part of their advertising budget, especially when they could just as easily pay people less to stand on street corners holding signs. Cullari had to persuade them that for a few dollars more than what they might pay roadside sign holders, his bike signs grab much more attention.

"When you tell someone the idea, it doesn't always register, but then when they see it, it's like, 'oh wow, that is pretty cool.'"

His first client was a liquidator who hired Cullari when Stevens Furniture was going out of business.

That client has hired him a couple of times since then, and all his other business has come from word of mouth by people who've seen the ads.

His clients have included local independent businesses and national franchises. He charges between $75 and $100 per five-hour run.

For an initial 12-run agreement, Cullari includes the cost of a custom-made sign, for which he has an exclusive agreement with Mike and Sandy Rupp, owners of Signs Unlimited, 6436 Ridge Road, Port Richey.

The signs are printed on vinyl 4-by-12-foot sheets that can be draped over the frame in a single piece and display on both sides.

"It's working out pretty good," Mike Rupp said. Cullari brings them jobs on a steady basis, a nice little addition to the shop's business. They don't charge him a lot, but the shop profits because people see the signs and ask him where he gets them made.

Cullari has been pleasantly surprised with the reaction he's garnered from the public.

"I would say 99.9 percent of people are so cool with it," Cullari said.

They smile, they honk their horns and wave. People always want to stop and talk to him, he said.

They often want to shake his hand, which he usually has to politely turn down because his hands get dirty gripping the handlebars all day.

Cullari tells his clients if they have fliers or coupons, to keep him supplied. Often he'll stop during a run and use a megaphone to do some old-school hawking.

"People love it, it makes them feel good," he said. "It's old-fashioned, kind of personal, not like big advertising on a billboard."

A few people have suggested he get a scooter, but he doesn't think it would be such a great idea.

"I think they like to see the pedals," he said. "It's kind of an old-fashioned look to it."

Cullari doesn't expect he'll ever get rich pedaling around town, but he has found the business has other rewards.

"The most unusual thing about it is it's a job you're cool with," he said.

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