A 26-year-old former Air Force musician has launched his own company in Richmond, an advertising startup called Valupump.
“We’re still pounding the pavement, trying to figure out who the ideal candidates are,” said Michael Mason, the sole employee of the firm.
The idea is to pay gas station owners to let Valupump install coupon dispensers above their pumps, for which Valupump receives money from companies to place their coupons. The coupons or ads are printed on sticky note type pages, which use an adhesive that loses its stickiness when it is removed. The pads are placed inside of a clear plastic dispenser above the pump.
“Our dispensers don’t go up until January 1,” said Mason. “Right now we’ve got three gas stations signed with leases with several more in Richmond that are interested.”
Mason wouldn’t say how much he is leasing the pumps for or exactly what rates he plans to charge advertisers. He said he has two auto-related advertisers confirmed so far, including Tony DiServio Insurance.
The idea came to him a few years ago when he was promoting a work-from-home type business (“Tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Call this number!”) by sticking cards in a plastic bag and taping them to gas pumps around Washington.
While sneaking around at 3 a.m. taping bags to gas pumps, Mason had a thought: “I could do this legitimately and lease the space from the gas station owners and sell ads to local businesses.”
Mason is in the process of figuring out exactly which advertisers to target, but so far he thinks his service is good for direct response advertising and promoting sale events.
“Our competitors are putting TV screens on gas pumps in major metropolitan markets because they know the value of reaching a captive audience,” Mason said. “They’re having tremendous success selling commercials to national advertisers, but they completely ignore small businesses – the backbone of our economy.”
As a member of the U.S. Air Force, Mason did tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti and several other countries.
Mason didn’t fly planes — he belted out country music hits as the lead singer of the official Air Force country band, the Silver Wings. But after fours years in what he calls the best job he could ask for, Mason left the Air Force to fulfill his entrepreneurial urges.
Al Harris is a BizSense reporter. Please send news tips to Al@richmondbizsense.com.
It’s an ok idea as long as he doesn’t use any audio device. Those drive-in movie speakers that start blaring away as soon as you engage the pump are despicable.
Mr. Ficor has a good point for gas stations to consider. User experience should always be thought through. I was thinking yesterday about the market gains that could be won by a national gas station franchise by making a bold move—offering pumping service at no premium. It’s a throwback to when we called them service stations.
Mr. Ficor,
I agree with you completely. I can’t stand when that machine starts talking to me while I’m filling up! It doesn’t help that they usually have them turned up to the loudest volume… Our dispenser sits right on top of the gas pump and displays “take-one” offers from local Richmond businesses. If a customer is interested in the offer, they can take the coupon for more information. We think that local business owners are going to be impressed with the results of our new form of gas station advertising. Most people don’t realize that 10,000 people fill up at an average station in a month. You can see a photo of our dispenser and an illustration of how the coupons work at: http://www.ValuPump.com
Michael Mason
CEO, ValuPump
http://www.ValuPump.com
1.877.ValuPump