In the movie Speed, Keanu Reeves risked his bus exploding if it stopped. In real-life, some drivers will now see digital ads if their car stops for more than three seconds.
That is the one strand in the advertising proposition for Waze, the crowd-powered drivers’ sat-nav aid that also has marketing ambitions.
“We give brands the ability to intercept a Wazer commuter while they’re in the process of navigating,” US sales head Jordan Grossman tells Beet.TV.
“Our largest and most effective unit is what we call a zero-speed takeover unit. When that car stops for three seconds – whether you’re in a red light or in traffic – we can serve up a takeover unit to the smartphone.
“You can click ‘Drive There’, which will reroute the Wazer in real-time – thus providing a closed-loop solution to understand how your mobile dollars are correlating to in-store foot traffic … literally changing the route in realtime and measuring that activity.”
In other words, when you’re next in heavy traffic, Waze, which Google acquired last year, could recommend a diversion to a drive-thru pizza joint.
Grossman says car-heavy Los Angeles is Waze’s biggest market, with about two million users.
We taped this segment at the Mindshare Client Huddle.