License Plates

Personalized License Plates as Promotional Items

Race ahead of your competition with personalized license plates. These custom license plates are highly visible and provide a great platform for brand promotion. Give employees and clients promotional novelty plates and they will be advertising your company as they drive around town, or even when their vehicle is parked in busy parking lots. Personalized license plates can draw people's attention to your marketing message at traffic signals and major intersections or anytime that a recipient's car traverses the roadways.

History of Personalized License Plates

License plates were created almost as early as the first automobile, but personalized license plates have only been in vogue during more recent decades. The first license plates appeared on roads when society was first transitioning from horses as the primary mode of transportation to motorized vehicles circa the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. France is credited as the first country to feature license plates in 1893 and today, most countries require automobile owners to register their personal vehicles with the governing body. In the United States, Massachusetts and West Virginia were the first states to issue license plates to their residents in 1903. Personalized license plates do not hold the same legal value as government issued plates, and are merely intended to display the imprinted message or logo to passersby as vanity items and promotional means of expression.

Uses for Personalized License Plates

Unlike vanity plates that can be customized for legal identification purposes according to the specifications of the driver, personalized license plates are not sufficient as the sole plate attached to a vehicle. These novelty plates can be custom printed with a brand name, logo, marketing message, or any other design or content desired by the purchasing entity. Many cars can be seen on the roads with promotional license plates affixed to the front bumper of the vehicle, or occasionally even displayed in the car's back window. Sports fans and antique collectors will frequently display their loyalties or accreditations on personalized license plates to make passersby aware of their hobbies and interests.

Personalized License Plates as Collectible Items

Personalized license plates are often designated as commemorative memorabilia by trade associations and clubs because of their inimitable appearances. These promotional products are available in assorted shapes and sizes, as they do not need to abide by strict rules and regulations governing legal automotive license tags. The group's logo or mascot can be imprinted on a custom license plate, along with other pertinent information about the underlying cause or mission of the group. Many people spend more time in their cars than at their homes, as shuffling children to after school activities, commuting to work, and/or going about their day to day commitments typically mandates a high level of mobility. Due to the frequency with which ordinary civilians use their cars, personalized license plates can obtain optimal return on investment because of the lofty number of impressions they are able to garner in a short period of time.