SmartAds.tv [1], a two-year-old company operating 10 digital screen-equipped ‘smart cars’ in the UK, is seemingly, gaining a lot of attention at sporting and entertainment event venues.
[2]The company owners tell us that it is because of its ability to collect raw data – not only about who walks by but who actually views the ads it carries, complete with dwell time.
All of this information is immediately put in their AdvertEyes dashboard, giving the campaign manager valuable data which can be used to quantify campaign spend or effectiveness.
“The cars have a camera just above the screens,” Jon Morgan, commercial director, said in an interview last week from London, just after he had attended The DailyDOOH Media Summit. “We’re finding that agencies are not only using us for basic advertising, but are also using us to test various creative concepts to see which ads are more likely to engage customers. About 10% of our business is done that way.”
Rishin Patel, managing director, Phil Crosbie, creative director, and Morgan jointly own the company. Morgan worked in publishing in digital sales, Crosbie had his own creative design company for 10 years and Patel came straight out of university to form the company that now offers 10 Mercedes smart cars. The cars travel not only in London, their base, but all over the United Kingdom.
“We tested lots of cars before deciding Mercedes smart cars fill our needs,” said Morgan “They are mostly used for special events. Putting them by the entrance to sports matches, such as a football game or tennis event has really proved popular.”
[3]The car is often used in experiential marketing. Eg. Color blind cards [4], a card company selling through Staples [5] in the US, used SmartAds.TV to build awareness in the UK about the business.
While advertising on SmartAds.tv, it also distributed 10,000 postcards and discount vouchers for any online purchases. The result: a 36% increase in online sales!
The creative always comes from the client (usually through an ad agency). The screens can become a Twitter wall with ads in between. Further, if viewers log in to Wi-Fi, they can answer questions with the answers going to the client. (Virgin Media used this.)
Yes, the screens are weatherproof. And although they haven’t done day parting yet for any clients, Morgan said that they could.