- Road Runner plans to advertise through digital screens on the back of the screen.
- The service is already functional in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Boulder.
- The company plans to launch the services in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. in the month of March.
If Road Runner Media takes up the winning trophy, you will be able to see more advertisements while you are driving your vehicle. Road Runner Media is a startup that places digital screens on the back of the technician’s vans, delivery vehicles, buses, and other commercial forms of transit. These screens can display ads and also serve as a brake light, according to the Founder and Chairman, Randall Lanham. You will require the brake light functionality if you decide to put a sign on the back of the vehicle.
Lanham says, “The way we look at it, we are a digital brake light.” The brake light displays the advertisement, but when the brakes are pulled, the advertisement is interrupted. The advertisement sign can also display the turns, reverse and emergency flashers. Lanham (describes himself as a “recovering attorney”) employed Chris Riley as CEO, who has served as CEO for PepsiCo Australia and New Zealand for several years. Road Runner Media announced that it has secured $62.5 million in debt financing from Baseline Growth Capital.
The concept of advertising through moving vehicles is not new. The advertisements can be seen on the top of moving taxis. Also, startups like Firefly also put digital signage on the top of Uber and Lyfts. But Riley insists that their LCD screens are different because of their size, resolution quality and their placement. “Taxi-top advertisements don’t have color, the brilliance and the clarity”, Riley says. “We can run a tru video ad on the screen.”
Riley also says that you can target ads based on the GPS and the time of the day. The company plans to add sensors that collect data on who actually sees the advertisements. There is a concern that the big bright screens may distract the driver. But Lanham argues that these signages attract and keep the eyes of the driver where they should be. It creates a brake light that is hard to ignore.
“Your eyes are affixed on the horizon, which is what the [Department of Transportation] wants — as opposed to on the floor or the radio or directly off to the left or right,” he said. “That’s where your safest driving occurs, when your eyes are up above the dashboard.” Lanham reinforces that he’s “very passionate” regarding the company’s mission which, according to him, will make the roads safe and this platform can be used to spread public service messages. “We have the ability to retrofit any vehicle and make it safer on the highways,” he adds. “I really, truly believe that we will save lives, if we already haven’t.”
The company claims that it has already 150 screens live in Atlanta, Boulder, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles. In addition to this, the company plans to launch the screens in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. in March.
