For the millions of underclassmen who are unable to have a vehicle parked on campus, the notion of hopping on their school's shuttle for a quick visit to the mall isn't exactly enticing. Students pining for their own mode of transport preferably one with four wheels and an engine have found a friend in Zipcar, the fast growing car sharing service that is creating a fast growing campus network. At last count, more than 120 schools nationwide have signed up for their service.
You can see pretty quickly why the service is growing in leaps and bounds--for those students attending one of the Zipcar partner campuses, they have access to cars 24/7/365. The costs for use are based on the hour not the day like a regular car rental outfit, and in most cases, the standard car rental companies require the driver to be at least 25 years olds, which clearly would be a hurdle for almost all undergrads, let alone the underclassmen who usually aren't allowed to keep a car on campus until their junior or senior year. The Zipcar service is also super easy to use--students can register and reserve a car directly from their mobile phone and the process is actually a lot simpler than you may think.
As they continue to add more partner schools, we have to think of the potential advertising and marketing opportunities from potential one to one sampling to full out branded skins like you see on some of the NYC buses. All in all, the ad opportunities are quite promising, and wonder how long it will be before we start to see some action.