Imagine being stuck in traffic on your bike, moving at a snail’s pace, while your favourite IPL team is playing a crucial match. Pulling your phone out every two minutes to check scores may not be possible, but what if the cab in front of you displays it? Hyderabad-based T-Hub startup Adonmo is doing just that.
This digital taxi-top startup, which has caught the attention of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as well, is partnering with brands to bring live ads on screens mounted on top of cabs. These ads are targeted based on the viewer’s income, age, time and location.
Adonmo has developed a patented technology, which uses sensors placed on the device, giving knowledge of what’s happening around. These sensors help the device understand the kind of people are around it, and combines with cloud insights to display relevant ads.
“For us, it is about what else can we show to make the service interesting for consumers since all displays are online. These ads are in fact a brand association with 36 DownTown. Previously, we associated with AbhiBus to display cricket scores as well. Usually when tournaments are happening, we tie up with a client to put their brand with the score. The whole idea is how can we make the display more interesting for viewers,” says Sandeep Bommireddi, co-founder of Adonmo.
And not just cricket, Adonmo has also done it in the past for FIFA. Sandeep says that in this case, it is done through application programming interface (API) consumption. It has partnered with Cric clubs, another T-Hub startup to take the API from them and display it on its screens.
It’s a win-win situation for Adonmo and the brand – the branding of the company goes with the score each time. Adonmo also displays other live information such as weather, traffic updates, among others.
And while its ads are targeted based on location, age and income, in the case of game scores, it’s quite universal. However, it also depends on the brand it is advertising – meaning the location, etc that is relevant to the brand. “Then we also take into account aspects like how frequently we want to display the score and in what locations,” Sandeep adds.
As a business model, Adonmo partners with cab driver groups to mount the display on cabs and gives them the technology for free. Currently, even all devices it mounts are being given for free.
Once mounted, based on where and for how long they go around, cab drivers are paid by Adonmo, giving them an additional revenue stream. On the client side, Adonmo charges clients based on every minute the ad is displayed for.
Catching the attention of ICC has also given Adonmo the hope that there is scope to partner with bodies such as ICC and even the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“We are talking to Sunrisers Hyderabad also for a potential deal. The World Cup is also coming up, so we are actually keen on exploring opportunities. We are currently working on connects with these bodies and organisations,” Sandeep adds.
Currently, Adonmo is working with 120 brands and has a presence in three cities: Hyderabad, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam and has several hundreds of cabs running with its mounted ads. While it wants to expand its presence across the country, it is also eyeing other countries such as Thailand.