A State of California Department of Motor Vehicles report on Specialized (Specialty) License plates for 2019 reveals startling effects of how marketing may impact sales of specialty license plates.

​A State of California Department of Motor Vehicles report on Specialized (Specialty) License plates for 2019 reveals startling effects of how marketing may impact sales of specialty license plates.
According to the report there may be a direct impact of the amount of marketing expenditures on the actual annual revenue generated from certain specialty license plates, although the report does not comment or reveal the types of marketing that were implemented.

The Kids specialty license plate utilized 21.15% in marketing fees and generated $3,513,857.00. The Coastal (Whale Tail) tag expended 14.66% in marketing fees and generated $1,304,004.00. In comparison, the Breast Cancer Awareness license plate used 0% for marketing and collected $244,606.68 in revenue and the California Cultural/Historical Endowment (Snoopy) plate utilized 5.78% in marketing fees and collected $391,212.90 in total revenue.
Since the introduction of the Legacy plate, the retro black plate with yellow writing, there has been a significant decline in revenue for most of the other specialty license plates in California. The Legacy plate is generating in excess of $30 million total revenue annually for the Environmental License Plate Fund.