A brand + a drone + the sky = drone-vertising. The sky’s the limit with this form of advertising!
Unlike a blimp, drones are small, nimble (roughly 6 feet wide) and they can fly low to the ground, unlike traditional advertising platforms. Advertisers can use banners, speakers, promotional message or even give out prizes from a drone! And you can pretty much drone-vertise anywhere: beaches and boardwalks, skyscrapers, street fairs, a college campus and music festivals. If you see the opportunity, you can make it happen quickly for a low cost.
Brands can also venture down the drone video and picture route, using areal views with different camera angles to capture visuals that could be used in any part of a brand’s advertising campaign. Virtually, any shot will be possible and brands should use this to their advantage when it comes to advertising. And best of all, anyone can use it for their business!
Why drone-vertising?
Advertising should be fun and that’s exactly what drones can do for consumers. This technology allows people to engage with the brand and specific ad.
Video marketing has proven very effective in the past year and is continue to grow. An estimated 93% of companies use video marketing of some kind, according to Hubspot, so it is crucial to differentiate your brand from the competition in a creative way.
Is it successful?
Wokker, a noodle company in Russia wanted to catch the attention of potential customers, so they deployed one of the first drone-vertising campaigns. They used ten drones with banners and flew them around the financial district, hoping to promote their lunch for office workers. With a 40% increase in sales in the campaign area, they found that drone-vertising was extremely successful.
DroneCast, founded by Raj Singh, is the only U.S. company that does drone-vertising at this time. The company filed for a provisional patent for this sort of advertising in January. They are looking to change the way we advertise to consumers by offering many drone-based advertising options: a large outdoor platforms with drone banners at a location of the brand’s choice, indoor drones, product drops via drone or you can create your own campaign. The possibilities really are endless.
What’s next for drone-vertising?
This concept is still in the early stages, but Radiant Insights predicts that the global commercial drone market will exceed $2 billion by 2022. More and more companies are starting to adopt this innovative technology, however, drone-vertising is a niche market and it’s very high risk. There are major safety concerns because drone flight failure can lead to injury or many other complications. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibits the commercial use of drones without permission and has guidelines in place for this technology.
