"A new technology developed by Vert, a small company based in Somerville, Mass., transforms ads on top of taxicabs into real-time, animated electronic billboards. Vert's software, first tested in the Boston area, lets advertising messages change according to ZIP codes, neighborhoods, even city blocks, enabling marketers to target audiences in a way never before possible with outdoor transit advertising.
With Vert, a Webserver, built into taxi-top screens, communicates with a global positioning system. The GPS determines the taxi's location. In turn, a wireless modem, which keeps in touch with Vert's central server, delivers the relevant ads for a particular area. So, a cab passing through a city's financial district can display stock quotes. Another traveling in a Latino neighborhood can relay ad messages in Spanish. Or a taxi at an airport can beam temperatures of major cities to travelers. The messages appear in color on the taxi screens-10 times brighter than televisions-in a format similar to Web banner ads....
One company test-driving the technology is Lycos. 'We thought it was perfect for Lycos because you can target by city blocks or areas of the city,' says Kim Patrick, vice president of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, the Boston agency handling a $20 million year-long campaign for Lycos. The Vert-enabled cabs are part of a $1.2 million effort within the larger campaign to attract 18- to 34-year-olds in 'unexpected places.'
By year's end, roughly 200 Vert-enabled cabs will be deployed in Boston and in New York...." [Business 2.0, via Andy Rhinehart]
