Missouri to include advertisements in vehicle registration notices

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- New license plate renewal notices began going out to Missouri motorists Thursday with bright colors and a little something extra: advertisements for such things as satellite radio, insurance and credit cards.

The state has contracted with a suburban Boston-based company to handle the printing of its vehicle registration notices. Imagitas Inc. is providing the printing for free in exchange for the right to sell and insert commercial advertisements in the packets.

The concept is new to Missouri, but the company already has similar arrangements with the U.S. Postal Service for change-of-address forms and with motor vehicle offices in Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio and New York.

Missouri signed up because of the savings and because it had received some privacy concerns after it began mailing renewal notices on postcards in January in another budget-cutting move, said Revenue Department spokeswoman Maura Browning.

The state historically spent more than $1.1 million a year to print and mail vehicle renewal notices. The postcards were expected to save $485,000, but the new advertising arrangement is expected to save nearly $530,000, the department said. The state still will have to spend $611,000 for postage.

"We wanted to find a way to move back into an envelope but not go back to over $1 million in costs," Browning said, "and this really provides a situation where we have the best of both worlds. We're able to provide more privacy and in addition save even more money than the postcards would have allowed us to save."

Part of the arrangement also calls for Imagitas to share a portion of its ad revenue with the state, if the ads turn out to be profitable. In other states, that has ranged from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, said company vice president Alfie Charles.

The initial advertisements are for satellite radio, Charles said, but soon ads also will feature an insurance company, automobile transmission maker and credit card company.

The state contract excludes some advertising. For example, it bans sexually oriented ads or ones concerning abortion, birth control, gambling, alcohol, tobacco and weapons. Also off limits are political, religious, personal or classified ads.