Ride & buy

South Florida CEO, March, 2005 by Barbara Perkins

One real estate developer is turning to taxis and sex to sell condominiums. It's not as odd a combination as it sounds. Deerfield Beach-based Boca Developers imported 10 oversized taxicabs from London, painted the cabs with images of its condos and scantily clad models, and deployed them in South Florida as mobile bill-boards. The marketing ploy is the brainchild of Rick Barrow, president of Miami-based advertising agency Barrow Beber Silverstein. "You need to get people's attention" in a market that is saturated with real estate advertising, he says. The two-month marketing blitz targets high-traffic areas in Miami, and the taxis will also be used to chauffeur company executives and prospective buyers. In April, the cabs, which have been retrofitted to meet US standards, will convert to taxis for hire.

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