BY TOM JACKSON
Nigerian startup Wrapyt has launched its car advertising solution that helps brands reach and engage with millions of geographically-targeted audiences within cities.
Launched in February, Wrapyt has partnered with around 1,000 high-mileage private car owners and e-hailing drivers who are willing to have their cars wrapped in adverts for a fee.
Its online platform connects brands with these drivers, while its in-house GPS technology helps it track each driver in a live campaign, create a “geo-fence” around a particular campaign location, and generate data such as total miles covered by each driver.
“With Wrapyt, brands and marketers now have the opportunity to bridge the gap between out-of-home and digital advertising, by retargeting consumers who have been exposed to our wrapped cars for better attribution in understanding what happens next when the audience interacts with a car advertisement and in campaign analysis,” Adeyemi Taiye, the startup’s co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) told Disrupt Africa.
Wrapyt, Taiye said, is the future of out-of-home advertising.
“We are getting brand messages to geo-targeted places where billboards can never reach, providing opportunities for direct customer contact through product sampling and other promotional tactics, while also providing a platform for drivers to earn an extra source of income while going about their daily commute,” he said.
Based in Lagos, a city plagued by traffic jams, Wrapyt is looking to take the time wasted by drivers commuting and turn it into something positive.
“What better way than knowing that the time wasted in Lagos traffic as a driver can be used to earn an extra income,” Taiye said.
The startup is currently bootstrapping, but running test campaigns with various clients.
“We understand that relatively new concepts may take a short while to be accepted, but we believe once our first set of campaigns kick off, other brands will jump on this,” said Taiye.
“Our plan is to establish trust and a good presence in Lagos, and become the number one company for car advertising services, after which we launch in Abuja, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, and Kano. These five cities have been chosen because they are the five biggest consumer markets in Nigeria, and these cities will be attractive to car advertising campaigns.”
