Image source: google
The discovery of vehicles as an advertising medium is nothing short of a coup. It’s more or less traditional advertising—but on wheels and can be seen by anyone wherever it drives. Whether from a dedicated vehicle or the company truck, mobile advertising is an excellent way of getting any brand to go places.
Despite other marketing channels having a greater reach, “ads on wheels” continues to generate its share of success. Think of the Coca-Cola Christmas truck, which has been synonymous with the beverage for 30 years. In the U.K., 44% of consumers consider its appearance every December as marking the start of the holidays. (1)
Such an advertising strategy is poised to improve as the industry adopts new technologies. Here are some ways it’s happening right now.
Real-Time Impression Tracking
Vehicle-mounted ads were simple years ago. Take a truck or trailer, slap an ad with contact info, and wait for the traffic to come flooding in. Tracking is done on the business’s end with online tools.
However, one major downside is that it can’t track impressions from such ads in real time. Unless the advertiser conducts a survey, filtering them out among the broader audience is a tall order. Without this kind of data, the campaign won’t be able to plot effective routes and reach the correct target audience.
From this necessity, the Moving Impression Analytics Tracking Device (MIATD) was born. A vehicle carrying this powerful tool actively scans the surrounding area for Wi-Fi signals from mobile devices. The technology relies on people’s tendency to leave their devices’ Wi-Fi on, which is necessary for accurate local search. (2)
As the equipped vehicle goes around town, the MIATD sends the data back to the business via its associated tracking platform. Upon studying metrics like impressions and duration on the road, the business can then optimize its advertising campaign for retargeting potential customers.
Already in use among digital marketing campaigns of big brands, this system has built an impressive track record. Some have reported millions of impressions within weeks. A truck is estimated to generate up to 2.5 million impressions.
Due to the importance of the data, a MIATD is typically paired with a robust and secure IT infrastructure. Here, managed IT services can be of essence for keeping data safe from threats. One prime option that offers reliable cybersecurity solutions and solid IT support is KMTech. You can visit our site to learn how we can help.
LED Billboards
Image source : google
Until recently, the majority of vehicle ads plying the roads consisted of inanimate banners. These still do the trick for brands, even shining more than others in some scenarios. However, customer preferences change over time.
Deloitte’s latest Digital Media Trends report revealed that younger consumers (Gen X and later) in the U.S. spend 1.4 of the average six hours for entertainment on streaming services. It isn’t a landslide lead, to say the least, especially for Gen Z consumers whose time over various forms of digital entertainment is more or less even. (3)
Nevertheless, businesses are quick to realize where the wind is blowing. Meta rolled out a suite of AI-powered tools in October 2024 to assist in video editing and generation. Its aim is to help brands capitalize on the rise in demand for video content, as it discovered that 60% of users’ time on Facebook and Instagram was devoted to watching videos. (4)
Running video ads on trucks isn’t anything new, but the technology in the past limited key factors such as picture quality and creativity. Any display ad short of utilizing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) would’ve struggled to be seen, let alone appreciated.
The debut of LED displays opened up new marketing opportunities due to the technology’s advantages. They’re a crucial component in so-called “naked eye” billboards, which create the illusion of the content popping into reality from the screen. Plus, LED’s energy efficiency allows the displays to be mounted on vehicles that can carry a portable power supply.
Programmatic DOOH Advertising
Imagine having to change the ad at the back of the truck once its details no longer apply or the campaign has run its course. That involves the backbreaking job of removing the vehicle wrap, which requires a slew of tools and hours of work. In some cases, the process leaves a few patches behind that also must be removed.
Installing the new ad also takes some time, especially if the vehicles are still on the road. Advertisers would have to coordinate with the advertising service to plan everything from the route to the campaign’s timeframe. Every second spent here is every second that their competitors are gaining the upper hand.
With the advent of LED display advertising also came another game-changing opportunity: programmatic digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising. Long story short, it’s an automated version of buying digital ad space.
With LED displays able to change the content they show quickly, programmatic DOOH lets brands purchase runtimes on these mediums in real time. An ad will automatically show up on the display if it meets specified criteria, such as the time of day and local foot traffic.
Programmatic DOOH is a key element in creating dynamic and interactive ad campaigns. By running the ad when it needs to, it can more effectively tap into the relevant audience’s preferences. For instance, a bar’s happy hour promo can run on Friday evening for office workers leaving work to see and ponder.
Conclusion
Technology is making vehicle ad campaigns more manageable and cost-effective—and it’ll only get better from there. As long as this is the case, “ads on wheels” will remain a crucial component of a brand’s digital marketing strategy. As for what else can make an already convenient advertising solution, only time can tell.
References
1. Why it Works: Coca-Cola’s Christmas trucks should keep rolling. Available from: https://www.marketingweek.com/why-it-works-coca-cola-christmas/
2. Management of moving outdoor advertising. Available from: https://patents.google.com/patent/US11222355B2
3. 2025 Digital Media Trends: Social platforms are becoming a dominant force in media and entertainment. Available from: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/digital-media-trends-consumption-habits-survey/2025.html
4. Meta Expands Gen AI Tools to Video Ads As Platform Competition Ramps Up. Available from: https://www.adweek.com/media/meta-gen-ai-video/
