Polygon, Africa's largest aggregated publisher network, has announced its partnership with Swift Media to digitise Smart Boxes on Uber Eats' delivery bikes in Gauteng. The partners will be introducing the first programmatically available digital delivery bike network in South Africa.
According to the duo, the fleet of bikes racks up a total of 70 000km and around 5 000 deliveries every month.
"We plan on expanding our pool of delivery partners over the coming months," says Remi du Preez, managing director at Polygon.
du Preez says that delivery bikes have been used as a vehicle for Out-of-Home (OOH) campaigns for several years, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The pandemic saw a significant spike in the number of goods ordered online for delivery, and so these bikes became highly popular as an advertising medium, given their high visibility and reach," adds du Preez.
While bikes historically featured static OOH ads on delivery boxes, Du Preez says that this is the first that boxes have been digitised and programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (pDOOH)-enabled, allowing a more dynamic, responsive and engaging format.
"These digital screens can be activated by any compatible Demand Server Platform (DSP) connected to Polygon's network, including Google-based platforms," says du Preez.
du Preez adds that a compelling feature of the digitised Smart Boxes is that advertisers can accurately track how many people are exposed to their ads through the installation of a camera on each bike combined with vehicle tracking software.
"This enables us to understand how many commuters and pedestrians are exposed to advertising," says du Preez, adding that a pilot project is currently underway to access the mobile phone location data of those in the vicinity of the bikes, which would provide an even more granular picture of campaign reach.
The Smart Boxes are also GPS-enabled, which allows Polygon to ascertain the location of the bikes during each ad play, according to Polygon.
"This allows us to give advertisers a clearer picture of their campaign coverage," du Preez says.
Lucky Maduna, managing director at Swift Media, says, "We are excited to partner with Remi and the team, with Polygon leading the charge in the programmatic DOOH arena. We believe our network will complement theirs, incorporating another touchpoint in the consumer journey via a delivery vehicle that is a consumer attention drawcard."
du Preez says, "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."
"This network is ideal for brands looking for effective and novel ways to create awareness of their products or services, through a high-reach, ultra-measurable medium," concludes du Preez.
For more information, visit www.pdooh.co.za. You can also follow Polygon on LinkedIn.
*Image courtesy of contributor