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Image: Supplied Growth in online food delivery platforms such as Uber Eats and Mr D Food has led to a boom in the number of delivery scooters on South Africa’s roads, especially in urban centres. Digital outdoor advertising specialist Polygon has taken advantage of this by putting programmable smart boxes on delivery bikes that show ads based on location and time of day. Polygon MD Remi du Preez said the company developed a solution that “sits on the plastic box on the back of a bike”. “You can think of it as a mini billboard,” he said. “It needs power, so you have a battery, a router and a small computer so you can tell the screen what you want it to do,” Du Preez told TechCentral in an interview. You can think of it as a mini billboard. It needs power, so you have a battery, a router and a small computer The digitised cargo boxes weigh about 20kg and have three digital displays on each side, except the one facing the driver’s back. The displays are synced to play the same advertising content. Polygon’s clients are given access to the company’s content management system, through which they can load ads remotely. Once approved, the ads can be pushed onto the bike screens based on a number of parameters such as the bike’s location and the time of day. Polygon has partnered with Swift Media to bring the smart box solution to market. Swift Media develops direct relationships with delivery drivers, who usually own the bike they use for deliveries. The digital signage provides drivers with additional income by paying them a monthly fee for agreeing to show ads on their bikes. Any damage to the screens is covered by Swift Media. “These are digital screens, so the luminosity is obviously better at nighttime, but you can still see them during the day like digital billboards you see on the side of the highway,” said Du Preez. Massive potential Polygon offers advertising on delivery bikes as part of a consolidated digital screen package consisting of some 3 000 screens found on roadside billboards, in malls and even in shopping aisles in some stores. It does this in six countries: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Nigeria and Kenya. The delivery bike solution has only been rolled out in Johannesburg so far. Some smart boxes are also fitted with cameras with facial recognition technology to count the number of cars and people the bike comes in contact with on a daily basis. This to give advertisers an idea of their reach. Another feature Polygon is working on involves using Wi-Fi to count the number of devices around the bike at any point in time. Read: Mr D Food is profitable for the first time “The data is anonymised; we never know who the individual is. I have never seen a name, surname or ID number coming through in the data we collect. We just look at the herd and try serve ads based on what people are doing,” said Du Preez. However, the smart box solution has faced regulatory hurdles in some municipalities. Although the solution is already being flighted on three dozen delivery bikes in Johannesburg, a new by-law in the City of Cape Town bans digital advertising on vehicles, Du Preez said. Remi du Preez He downplayed a question about the safety of the smart boxes from criminals. The boxes can be tracked and, according to Du Preez, in the only instance of a bike theft in the past year, the tracking device helped recover the bike quickly and it was returned to its owner. Polygon sees massive growth potential in advertising on delivery bikes, with the aim being to recover at least 1% of the advertising spend currently being directed to offshore companies like Google and have that circulate in the local economy instead. “Research shows that receiving a delivery inspires feelings of anticipation among consumers, meaning that these audiences are often in a receptive and positive frame of mind, making them amenable to brand messages,” Du Preez said. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media Don’t miss: New Checkers Sixty60 app to launch as sales soar
