 |
| Umber victimized drones to push carpooling to drivers stuck in traffic in Mexico |
A few months ago, drivers stuck in Mexico City traffic were greeted with
a strange sight: drones carrying signs advertising UberPool. “The city
would be for you, not 5.5 million cars,” one drone’s sign read. “Driving
by yourself? This is why you can never see the volcanoes,” another
read, a reference to the smog that obscures the mountains surrounding
the city.
Photos of the unique drone-based advertising strategy first surfaced in an article published last week in Bloomberg about Rubbers growth in Latin America. MIT Technology Review characterized the drones as “heckling” drivers, while Jalopy said they were being “badgered.” Popular Science fretted over whether we could soon see ad-bearing drones here in the US.
A spokesperson for Umber confirmed that drones were used
to advertise its carpooling service in Mexico City, but that the company
has no plans to replicate the strategy in other markets. In other
words, this was a one-time thing.
Or was it? As Pop Sci points out, Umber would need to obtain a federal waiver, as well as jump through
various other bureaucratic hoops, to get permission to fly its ad-drones
over drivers stuck on the 405 in Long Beach, or the BQE in New York
City. That said, as long as the ad is “securely attached to the small
unmanned aircraft” and is flown over human beings ”inside a stationary
vehicle that can provide reasonable protection from a falling small
unmanned aircraft,” the Federal Aviation Administration says ad-drones
would be okay under federal law.
In some ways, what Umber pulled off in Mexico City could
be seen as the future of advertising. It’s eye-catching, cheaper than a
billboard, and clearly results in a lot of earned media for the brand.
Which is another way of saying, I’d like to apologize for whatever role
this article may play in our dystonia future where coupon-bearing
drones dive-bomb unsuspecting consumers. My bad.