The Globe and Mail

Advertising usually costs money; here's one way it actually saves money. For the past two weeks, Christy Cook, a Toronto-based entrepreneur who runs a business distributing educational toys for babies and toddlers, has been tooling around the city in a Smart car adorned with her company's bright orange and yellow colours. Her lease on the pint-sized two-seater is only $240 a month, discounted about 20 per cent through Smart Canada's national fleet program, which provides cars to about 100 small businesses. That's a whole lot friendlier to Ms. Cook's budget than traditional advertising. “In Toronto, it's $16,000 a month just to put a billboard at King and Spadina,” she says, adding that traffic to her website has doubled since she got the car. Mark Dimech, the national manager of Smart Canada, says they offer “a perfect platform for these types of businesses because it's a moving billboard to promote the company.” The fact that they promote Smart cars, of course, doesn't hurt.