What happens on the morning a family sees your board on its own gate, and then your hood at the signal on the way to school? Nothing dramatic, and that is the point. The second sighting does not need to persuade; it only needs to be recognised, and recognition is what a single format struggles to buy on its own. A gate board is fixed and patient. An auto hood is mobile and repetitive. Our comparison of the two formats ended by calling them complementary rather than rivals. This playbook takes that conclusion seriously and prices it: one catchment, both formats, one message, using only the rates published on our own service pages and the minimum orders that come with them.
Which part of the catchment does each format actually cover?
Draw any residential catchment in an Indian city and it has two layers. The first is the gates: house gates, apartment society entrances, compound walls, the places a household passes on foot twice a day. A no-parking board is a 1 by 1.5 foot Sunpack board fixed to exactly that layer, with the owner's or society's consent, at ₹45 per board under 5,000 boards and ₹35 at 5,000 or more, board, print, transport and installation included, no rental afterwards. The second layer is the roads: the market road, the school road, the signal on the way to the office, the route to the station. An auto hood is a 4 by 2.5 foot print on the hood of an auto rickshaw that works that layer all day, at ₹650 per auto one time for 300 to 499 autos and ₹630 from 500, print and installation included, with a 300-auto minimum. The table puts the two side by side, because the whole plan rests on the fact that they do not overlap in where they sit, only in whom they reach.
Gate layer and road layer: the published rate card for the two formats
| No-parking gate board | Auto hood | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | A private gate or society wall, fixed | The hood of a running auto, moving along the zone's roads |
| Whom it reaches | The household behind the gate and its neighbours, morning and evening | The same households in traffic, plus everyone else on the road |
| Published rate | ₹45 per board under 5,000; ₹35 at 5,000 or more, all-inclusive | ₹650 per auto for 300 to 499; ₹630 from 500, one time, print and fitting included |
| Minimum order | 1,000 boards, the floor our budget guides work to (₹53,100 landed) | 300 autos (₹2,30,100 landed) |
| Canvas | 1 by 1.5 foot Sunpack sheet, no-parking notice kept visible | 4 by 2.5 foot hood print |
| Time to live | About 14 days, permission-led, phased | Within 48 hours of approval |
| Proof you receive | Geo-tagged photo of every board, placement report | GPS tracking and daily reports |
| Extras not on the rate | 18 percent GST | 18 percent GST; auto-union fee in some areas, billed extra |
What does gate-to-street saturation cost at published rates?
Three plans, each priced line by line from the rate card with GST added at 18 percent, and each sitting at or above every published minimum, because a plan that assumes 600 boards or 150 autos is not a plan, it is an unbookable spreadsheet. Plan A is the floor. Plan B stretches the boards to the bulk tier and keeps the fleet at the minimum. Plan C stretches both and is really a two-catchment plan.
Three gate-to-street plans, priced from the published rate card
Plan A: one catchment at the floor
The smallest bookable combination. The nearest 1,000 gates and a 300-auto fleet on the roads those gates open onto.
- 1,000 no-parking boards at ₹45: ₹45,000
- 300 auto hoods at ₹650: ₹1,95,000
- Subtotal ₹2,40,000 before tax; GST ₹43,200
- About 3 gates per auto; hoods are 81 percent of the spend
Plan B: bulk gates, minimum fleet
Crosses the 5,000-board break-even so every gate in a large catchment is covered, while the fleet stays at the 300-auto minimum.
- 5,000 no-parking boards at ₹35: ₹1,75,000
- 300 auto hoods at ₹650: ₹1,95,000
- Subtotal ₹3,70,000 before tax; GST ₹66,600
- About 17 gates per auto; boards are 47 percent of the spend
Plan C: two adjoining catchments
Both bulk tiers unlocked. Enough gates and autos to split across two neighbouring zones that share a market road.
- 5,000 no-parking boards at ₹35: ₹1,75,000
- 500 auto hoods at ₹630: ₹3,15,000
- Subtotal ₹4,90,000 before tax; GST ₹88,200
- 10 gates per auto; 2,500 boards and 250 autos per catchment
Read the landed unit costs before choosing. A board lands at ₹53.10 under 5,000 and ₹41.30 at 5,000 or more; a hood lands at ₹767 for 300 to 499 autos and ₹743.40 from 500. The jump from Plan A to Plan B adds 4,000 boards for ₹1,53,400 landed, which only makes sense if the catchment genuinely has 5,000 gates you want, a question the ₹45 vs ₹35 break-even guide answers in detail. The jump from Plan B to Plan C adds 200 autos for ₹1,41,600 landed and drops the per-auto rate by ₹20, but its real purpose is the second zone, not the discount. If the catchment is one zone, stop at Plan B.
How do you sequence the two formats so they go live in the same week?
The two formats run on different clocks, and the mistake we see most is booking both on day one. Boards are permission-led: our 14-day gate board playbook puts design and printing in the first few days and phased, consent-by-consent installation across the second week, each board geo-tagged as it goes up. Hoods are fast: our auto branding page states campaigns go live within 48 hours of approval. Book both on day one and the hoods run for ten days over a catchment whose gates are still bare. Start the boards, and approve the hood fitting when installation crosses roughly half, so the fleet is on the road in the same week the boards finish. The household then meets the message in the order that works: on its own gate first, on the road second.
Same-week go-live: the two clocks laid side by side
| Gate boards | Auto hoods | |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 3 | Catchment map, gate count, one creative with the no-parking notice, print approval | Zone and fleet size confirmed, hood artwork adapted from the board creative, quote signed |
| Days 4 to 7 | Printing; field team begins owner and society consent on the mapped gates | On hold on purpose; hood print not yet released |
| Days 8 to 10 | Phased installation; geo-tagged photos arrive daily; roughly half the gates up | Approval given; hoods fitted and live within 48 hours |
| Days 11 to 14 | Remaining gates installed; placement report delivered | Fleet running the zone roads; GPS and daily reports begin |
| Day 15 onward | Boards stay up for their outdoor life, no rental | Hoods run for the vinyl's life; count calls and scans on the dedicated number for 90 days |
How do you run it, step by step?
Seven steps. The map comes first and the creative comes fourth on purpose, because the number of gates and the size of the zone decide the budget, and the budget decides how much message you can afford to repeat.
Draw one catchment map with both layers on it
Mark the residential pockets whose gates you want, then trace the roads those pockets empty onto: the market road, the school road, the signals and the auto stands. Why it matters: the gates set the board count and the roads set the auto zone, and a fleet briefed on a zone that does not touch the boarded pockets wastes the second sighting. Common mistake: choosing the auto zone by city reputation instead of by where the boarded households actually drive.
Count the gates and pick the board tier
Walk or map-count the gates in the pockets. Under 5,000 the rate is ₹45 a board and the floor is 1,000 boards, ₹53,100 landed. At 5,000 the rate drops to ₹35 and the order lands at ₹2,06,500. Why it matters: the bulk tier only pays if the gates exist; 5,000 boards spread thin across pockets you do not care about is the classic way to overpay for a discount. Common mistake: rounding a 3,200-gate catchment up to 5,000 to chase the ₹10 saving.
Size the fleet from the minimum, not from the map
Book 300 autos at ₹650, ₹2,30,100 landed, unless you are covering two zones, in which case 500 at ₹630 unlocks the lower rate and splits into 250 per zone. Why it matters: 300 autos is the smallest hood order and already covers a full zone, so the fleet does not need to scale with the gate count the way the boards do. Common mistake: modelling 100 or 150 autos for a small pocket; that quantity cannot be booked.
Write one message and cut it for two canvases
Draft the board first: brand name, one offer line, a phone number or QR, and the no-parking notice kept prominent so the household wants the board. Then cut it for the 4 by 2.5 foot hood, which is read from 20 feet in moving traffic: name, the same offer line, the same number, nothing else. Why it matters: recognition on the road depends on the offer line and the number matching the gate board exactly. Common mistake: giving the hood a different headline because there is more space.
Clear the permissions on both sides before any print is released
Every board needs the written consent of the house owner or the residents' association, which our field team secures gate by gate. Every fleet runs through the local auto unions, and some areas charge a union fee that is billed extra. Why it matters: consent is what makes a gate board a placement rather than a nuisance, and the union fee is the one line that can move the hood total after the quote. Common mistake: releasing the hood print before the union terms for that zone are confirmed.
Start the boards, then release the hoods at the halfway mark
Let the 14-day board clock start first. When the daily geo-tagged photos show roughly half the mapped gates installed, approve the hood fitting; the auto branding page states the fleet goes live within 48 hours. Why it matters: both formats end up live in the same week, and the household's first hood sighting lands after its own board is already on the gate. Common mistake: booking both on day one and paying for ten days of hoods over bare gates.
Lay both reports over the one map and count for 90 days
You receive two proofs: the board placement report with a geo-tagged photo per gate, and the auto GPS tracking with daily reports. Put both on the map from step 1 and check that the fleet's routes actually pass the boarded pockets. Then count calls and QR scans on a dedicated number for 90 days. Why it matters: that count is the only response measure we endorse, because we publish no response benchmark. Common mistake: judging the combination by the first week of calls.
What should the same message look like on a gate board and on a hood?
The board is read standing still from a metre or two, so a 1 by 1.5 foot Sunpack sheet carries five things comfortably: the brand name, one offer line, a phone number or QR code, a short address cue, and the no-parking notice, which must stay clearly visible because it is the reason the household accepts the board. The hood is read from 20 feet by someone who has about two seconds, so our creative rules for what reads from 20 feet apply: the name, the same offer line, the same phone number, and no QR, because nobody scans a moving auto. The two elements that must match character for character are the offer line and the number; the household recognises the hood by the words it already read on its gate, not by the logo.
What does the rate card not tell you?
Five things. First, we publish no reach, frequency or overlap figure for either format, so nobody can tell you what share of the boarded households will also see a hood; the 3-gates-per-auto and 10-gates-per-auto ratios in this post are the arithmetic of the minimum orders, not measured optima. Second, the 1,000-board minimum is the floor our own budget guides work to; the service page itself prints no minimum and says a focused locality may need a few hundred to a few thousand boards, so ask for the floor in writing on your quote. Third, the auto-union fee is billed extra in some areas and is not on the rate card, so the hood total can move after the quote by an amount that depends on the zone. Fourth, GST is 18 percent on both lines, which is why every landed total here is 1.18 times the subtotal; whether you can claim it back depends on your own registration, and we do not advise on that. Fifth, the two proofs arrive in two formats, a placement report and a GPS report, and nobody merges them for you; step 7 is your job. The consent mechanics behind the boards are set out in our guide to RWA and society permission.
The go or no-go table before you book
Go or no-go: six checks before a combined gate board and auto hood booking
| Go | No-go, fix first | |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | ₹2,83,200 landed or more is available for one catchment | Under ₹2,83,200: book 1,000 boards alone at ₹53,100 and add hoods later |
| Map | Gates and roads drawn on one map; the auto zone touches every boarded pocket | Auto zone chosen by reputation, boards chosen by convenience |
| Quantities | 1,000 or 5,000 boards; 300 or 500 autos | Any quantity below a minimum, or 5,000 boards for a 3,000-gate catchment |
| Creative | Offer line and phone number identical on board and hood; no-parking notice prominent | Different headlines per format; QR code on the hood |
| Sequence | Boards first; hood approval at the halfway mark | Both released on day one |
| Measurement | Dedicated number or QR on every creative; 90-day window agreed; both reports laid over the map | Judging by week one, or by a benchmark nobody published |
Questions about combining boards and hoods
Can I run the boards and the hoods in different localities to save money?
You can, but then it is two campaigns, not one, and the second sighting that justifies the combination disappears. The saving is also smaller than it looks: the rate card prices boards per board and hoods per auto regardless of where they go, so splitting the localities changes nothing on the invoice. The only real lever is the bulk tier, and Plan C exists for exactly the case of two adjoining zones that share a market road, where 2,500 boards and 250 autos per zone keep both layers in the same catchment.
Is 5,000 boards worth it when I only have 300 autos?
Only if the catchment has 5,000 gates you actually want. Plan B is 17 gates per auto, and that ratio is fine, because the fleet covers roads rather than gates and 300 autos already work a full zone. What is not fine is buying 5,000 boards for a catchment of 3,000 gates to reach the ₹35 rate: the extra 2,000 boards land somewhere you did not choose. Count the gates in step 2 first, then decide the tier, and stay at 1,000 boards and ₹45 if the count says so.
Do gate boards and auto hoods need separate permissions?
Yes, and from different people. Every gate board goes up only with the written consent of the house owner or the residents' association, secured by our field team gate by gate and recorded with a geo-tagged photo. Auto hoods run through the local auto unions, and some areas charge a union fee that is billed on top of the ₹650 or ₹630 rate. Neither permission covers the other, which is why step 5 clears both before any print is released, and why the union terms for the zone should be confirmed in writing on the quote.
What if my budget is under ₹2,83,200?
Then the combination is not bookable yet, and the honest move is one format now and the other later, rather than a sub-minimum fleet. The board side is the cheaper entry: 1,000 boards at ₹45 is ₹53,100 landed and holds the gates for the life of the boards. Run that first, keep the dedicated number live, and add the 300-auto fleet at ₹2,30,100 landed when the budget reaches it. The boards will still be on the gates when the hoods arrive, so the second sighting still happens, just later.
How do I know both formats reached the same households?
You do not know it from any published figure, because we do not publish reach, frequency or overlap data for either format. What you can verify is coverage: the board placement report gives a geo-tagged photo per gate, and the auto GPS tracking with daily reports shows the routes the fleet actually ran. Lay both over the map from step 1 and you can see whether the fleet passed the boarded pockets. For response, count the calls and QR scans on a number used nowhere else, over 90 days.
Quick Answers
How much does it cost to combine no-parking boards with auto hood branding?
₹2,40,000 before tax and ₹2,83,200 landed with 18 percent GST for the smallest bookable combination: 1,000 no-parking boards at ₹45 each, all-inclusive of board, print, transport and installation, plus 300 auto hoods at ₹650 per auto one time, print and installation included. Both rates are published on our service pages. The hood line is 81 percent of the spend because its minimum order is the larger one. An auto-union fee applies in some areas and is billed extra, and there is no rental on either format after installation.
Why put gate boards and auto hoods in the same catchment instead of choosing one?
Because they cover the same household at two different moments of the day. A no-parking board sits on the gate the family walks past every morning and evening, fixed, 24x7, for the life of the board. An auto hood moves along the roads that gate opens onto: the market road, the school road, the signal on the way to work. One message on both means the person who saw it at home sees it again in traffic the same day. Our older comparison post argued the two are complementary, not rivals; this playbook prices the combination.
How many no-parking boards per auto should a combined campaign use?
The published minimums set the floor ratio: 1,000 boards to 300 autos, about 3 gates per auto. The bulk tiers change it: 5,000 boards at ₹35 with 500 autos at ₹630 is 10 gates per auto. Neither ratio is a measured optimum, because we publish no reach or frequency data for either format. The practical rule is to let the gate count follow the map, since every gate is a household, and to let the fleet follow the minimum, since 300 autos is the smallest hood order and already covers a full zone.
How long does a combined gate board and auto hood campaign take to go live?
About two weeks for the boards and about 48 hours for the hoods. Our 14-day gate board playbook runs design, printing, owner or society permission and phased installation with geo-tagged photos inside a fortnight. Our auto branding page states that campaigns go live within 48 hours of approval. Sequence the hoods for the second week, once at least half the boards are up, so both formats are live in the same week and the household's first hood sighting lands after its own board is already on the gate.
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The Mediaverse Team
India's Leading Outdoor Advertising Agency
The Mediaverse is a national-level outdoor advertising and integrated marketing organization that provides complete OOH, ATL, BTL, retail, and transit media solutions across India. With years of experience executing high-performance campaigns for brands in FMCG, Real Estate, E-commerce, EdTech, Automotive, Healthcare, and Retail, The Mediaverse combines creativity, data-driven media planning, and flawless on-ground execution. As a full-stack outdoor advertising provider, The Mediaverse offers Auto Branding, Mobile Van Branding, Newspaper Insertion Advertising, Shop Name Board Branding, In-Store Branding, Hoardings, Transit Media, Kiosks, Mall Media, Activations, and all forms of Below-The-Line marketing. Known for its pan-India network, strategic route planning, premium print quality, and Cheqmate™ GPS-based verification, The Mediaverse ensures 100% transparent and result-oriented campaign delivery. The Mediaverse’s editorial team produces deeply researched, SEO-optimized, and generative-engine-friendly content to help businesses understand the power of outdoor advertising and make informed decisions that maximize brand visibility and ROI across urban, suburban, and rural markets.
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