Businesses will have drivers’ undivided attention with Waze in-drive advertising. Source: Shutterstock
How in-drive advertising on Waze increases retail sales
ADVERTISING is a feat on digital platforms as businesses have to really stand out amid the saturated market.
Retail marketers are always be looking for new touchpoints to connect with their users to create truly omnipresent marketing.
One of the less popular touchpoints for advertising is in-drive. It can also be a risky business as it may take drivers’ attention away from road safety.
Though, Waze’s Head of Global Product Marketing Felipe Almedia says that the people-powered navigation app has in-drive advertising figured out.
At the Waze Malaysia Ads Summit, Almedia explained how businesses can impactfully reach out to drivers via Waze’s native ads without compromising the safety of users.
He reiterated that the real value of the new-age out-of-home advertising is understanding the context of a drive.
The app has more than 115 million active users across 185 countries.
With each user clocking in more than 10.5 hours monthly on the app, the human movement company has lots of data to back that up.
“That is to make sure that we’re connecting brands with the users when it’s the most relevant to do so.”
Simply put, it’s all about personalizing the advertisements according to one’s profile.
On the navigation app platform, retailers can customize the brand experience to one’s journey to make the marketing feel non-invasive.
So, only ads that are geographically relevant will be visible to users as they are on-the-go.
This increases the possibility of walk-in conversions for businesses as users are already in close proximity.
With 13 million APAC users on the Waze platform, retailers in the region can now turn their locations to destinations.
This is to say, brick and mortar stores can now drive more offline sales via destination-based digital marketing.
After all, the outlets are already in the right places. They just need to know when is the right time to reach out to prospective customers.
Why in-drive advertising?
Drivers turn on Waze app when they are on the road because they can get alerts on real-time traffic information. Here’s where businesses can come in real-time too.
CMOs will have three ad format options which are branded pin, zero-speed takeover, and promoted search.
What will really be worth marketing dollars is the zero-speed takeover format.
A dropdown ad along with a call-to-action button will reveal itself when the user is stopped.
With this in place, businesses will have drivers’ undivided attention during a red light or when the vehicle is parked.
This is so that the ads can truly engage with prospective customers for that brief moment while they are on-the-move.
In a market research study done in France on the effectiveness of the in-drive advertising, it lauded extremely positive results.
It showed a direct correlation to the increase in sales volume as well as penetration.
In fewer words, the Google-owned company seems to have cracked the code on mobile advertising for offline sales.
With a wealth of data and expansive analytical tools, all business types and sizes will find it useful regardless of advertising know-how.
However, here’s what all key decision makers must know before starting the engine on the next ad campaign — There’s a fine line between seamless advertising and forgettable ones.
Be on the right side of the road where business can be supported by technology.
Michelle Chan is a technology journalist covering the intersections of business and technology, and how they impact the future of enterprises.