Transit media is commonly seen on large, city buses, trams, and in stations, but Adverttu is the out of home (OOH) ad tech solution that connects brands to private drivers who wrap their personal vehicles or mopeds with brand-safe advertisements. Brand advertisers publish their needs that specify location, vehicle type, and desired audience impressions on the platform. If a driver matches the criteria, they can drive to a local supplier for wrapping. Once the wrapping is complete, the driver goes about their normal driving routine – whether that’s driving 20 minutes a day or driving 100 miles on a road trip. Adverttu’s mobile app anonymously collects data so that brands can measure KPIs and tailor, monitor, and optimize campaigns accordingly and also retarget to devices. This type of measurement hasn’t been available in OOH until now. The company launched in 2015 now has close to 20,000 drivers on the platform earning.
London TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Artjom Jekimtsev to learn more about Adverttu, the effectiveness of this new form of OOH advertising, and the company’s future plans.
Tell us about the product or service that Adverttu offers.
Adverttu gets brands on the road with the UK’s fastest-growing transit media platform.
On one side you have an advertiser – brands and their agencies, media planners and buyers, SMEs, and startups. Using our unique blend of technology, creative talent, and data, advertisers can plan, buy, deploy, and manage exciting out of home advertising campaigns at any scale.
Drivers wrap their car in a brand’s advertising, after they match with a campaign through our mobile app. Drivers can earn up to £150 per month and receive cool perks, rewards, and discounts.
How is Adverttu different?
For one, our fleet isn’t only personal cars – commercial fleets, vans, trucks, mopeds, and e-cargo bikes are all available for advertisers to take advantage of.
This versatility produces a gigantic, agile, continuous roving blank canvas that has the reach and memorability of out of home advertising, yet with the optimisation, flexibility, and cost of digital.
Speaking of digital, there’s nothing quite like Adverttu. We offer offline-to-online attribution and physical retargeting, enabling advertisers to drive online engagement and conversion via web and mobile ads. Retail advertisers can also measure the in-store increase in footfall produced by their Adverttu advertising.
The data is compelling. Mobile advertising is amplified 37% when supported by OOH messaging and campaign CTR is also boosted, on average, 64% through shadow fencing and device ID retargeting.
What market is Adverttu attacking and how big is it?
OOH advertising was outperforming UK broadcast and print advertising prior to the pandemic. Globally, this sector made up 6.5% of the world’s $600B advertising spend.
Within the UK, the market is a multi-billion-pound industry and transit media is ~11% of that spend. Naturally, these figures have softened due to COVID-19, like all advertising sectors. However, OOH in particular has started to bounce back as people emerge from lockdown and venture outdoors once again.
What is the business model?
Private drivers include everyone from essential workers and healthcare staff to gig economy employees and commuters. Commercial partners span commercial fleets, delivery companies, logistics providers, and other businesses optimising their fleet’s promotional impact.
Advertisers kick things off by selecting a location, vehicle type, and desired audience impressions.
Our drivers are notified of advertiser listings and can apply for the campaign. If they match, drivers then head to a local supplier for wrapping.
Once wrapped, they simply drive around as normal, whether that’s 10 minutes a day to work or 2,000 miles a month delivering goods. The Adverttu mobile app feeds all this anonymised data back to advertisers for live campaign reporting, measurement, and optimisation, letting them adjust their campaign in real-time.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
As a business that thrives on people being outside, we have been affected, however, plenty of positives have come from this intense period.
For starters, we launched our NHS Driver Volunteer Support Programme as a direct response, giving brands and businesses the opportunity to financially support key workers or NHS volunteers.
We also knuckled down on our technology, accelerating our technical development, and bringing new capabilities to market.
Amidst everything, we’ve tracked audiences using our own platform and the 28 data sets that feed our system. We produced an Adverttu white paper detailing the effects of COVID-19 on out of home audiences and the market as a result.
Tell us a little about your background and what inspired the business?
Cars and technology are my two passions in life so perhaps Adverttu has always been my destiny. I’d love to claim that I was hit by a lightning bolt of inspiration, however, the business had more humble beginnings.
My cofounder and I were working on another business at the time – a peer-to-peer car lending platform. We were at university, so we had limited marketing funds.
Digital marketing was appealing but very competitive. Out of home advertising was next on our list, though whenever we asked media companies for attribution metrics or how they measure campaign effectiveness, answers were lacking.
We felt outdoor was definitely right for us, so we got our hands dirty, renting a car, and wrapping it ourselves. This proved really successful.
We did some more research and quickly realised no one was offering this service at scale, so we pivoted and started work on Adverttu.
Tell us what building your company in London has been like?
There’s no other city in the world that I’d want to build a company in. The people, diversity, business culture, and geographical benefits are something special. London’s tech scene easily holds its own against any other global hub.
For our business, the city’s road infrastructure is unique and the ideal testbed for when you’re creating an impression-measuring algorithm that adapts to various environments.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
I can’t say too much because where’s the fun in that, but we have some impressive technology launching soon – we’re talking ‘world’s first’ innovation.
We are on the cusp of 20,000 private drivers too – our community is really engaged and it’s fantastic that so many people use Adverttu to boost their income passively. I feel the support we offer people has taken on a whole new meaning recently, especially as the economic fallout of COVID-19 starts to bite.
We are on the cusp of 20,000 private drivers too – our community is really engaged and it’s fantastic that so many people use Adverttu to boost their income passively. I feel the support we offer people has taken on a whole new meaning recently, especially as the economic fallout of COVID-19 starts to bite.
If you could be put in touch with one person in the London Tech community who would it be and why?
Daniel Hegarty – founder and CEO of Habito – and Abba Newbery, CMO of the same company, are top of my list. I absolutely love the brand, company culture, and vision.
What does being “Made in London” mean to you and your company?
For us, it’s about encapsulating everything London has come to represent – diversity, a global outlook and openness, innovation, and tenacity.
London is an exceptionally competitive marketplace, so that title definitely prompts a feeling of pride – it’s tough building a successful company in this city!
What else can be done to promote early-stage entrepreneurship in London?
Great strides have been made in recent years, but more can be done.
Founders are extremely supportive of each other and we’re fortunate to have great investors; however, there’s still a reluctance for many to deviate from what the market considers a proven blueprint for success.
Formal education has improved too, however, there’s a real opportunity for our nation to put more value on entrepreneurship as a life skill.
What is your favorite restaurant in London?
Flat Iron Steak. I love how simple and casual it is, and how few choices you have to make (I make enough of those during the day!). Also, the food is beyond delicious. Not the place for special occasions, but a must visit on a weekend with friends or your other half.
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