Improved outdoor advertising to promote SMEs

By Fredrick Obura

A new technology in marketing is promising better promotion strategies for small and medium enterprises in the country.

Motion Pictures, a local firm has developed a billboard to help businesses reach their target audiences depending on where the consumer concentration is.

The innovative outdoor advertising known as AdTruck, is perhaps the first in sub-Saharan Africa and transforms static billboards into mobile advertising mediums to further consumer interaction.

The company’s Managing Director Francis Gachagua said the innovation is informed by the current and frequent movement of consumers from one place to another.

"Consumers are spending more time out of home than before. The trend calls for a strategic tracking medium," he said.

"Unlike traditional billboards, which sit on a strategic place, AdTruck is designed to flow and follow consumers wherever they go," said Gachagua.

Impact of messages

He said advertisers will also have the opportunity to track down the impact through a GPRS system which relays information in real time.

AdTruck will be implemented first in Nairobi and would later be rolled out in other parts of town. "Clients will choose routes, residential estates among other areas of interest where they would like their products to be promoted," Mr Gachagua said.

Truck advertising is one of the latest forms of technology driven marketing campaign. Others include the digital and outdoor advertising campaigns riding on mobile phones.

A classic example of truck advertising can be seen on the sides of trucks owned by firms, which use their trucks for making deliveries.