• by Ken Liebeskind , September 17, 2001

On any given day, almost every city street is littered with taxi cabs. And while people don't immediately associate taxis with media buying, these cars can be powerful ad vehicles. And now, thanks to Adapt Media in New York, taxi rooftop ads are entering the electronic age.

Ad|runner, from Adapt Media in New York, displays ads on electronic billboards on taxi roofs. Each display panel carries a computer and a global positioning satellite receiver that enables it to receive and display messages according to a preset schedule and precise location. After signing up with Adapt, advertisers can log onto Adapt's website to create their ads and direct when and where they will be played.

The company claims ad|runners are unique because there is no other medium that can be updated so quickly and directly by the advertisers themselves.

The technology also provides real time reporting, telling advertisers where and how often their ads have been played. This gives them the opportunity to change the schedule to the time and place their ads work best.

Ad|runners were launched in New York in June on this year on 50 cabs, according to an agreement with the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission. The first advertiser was ESPN, which posted sports scores on ad|runners. TimeWarner has used them to advertise RoadRunner high speed Internet access. Jim Salim, author of The Great Wall Street Swindle, has used it to advertise the book.

Justin Barocas, director of media planning at Weiden & Kennedy, ESPN's agency, says ad|runners are the ideal medium for the sports information company. "We search for opportunities to expand the brand in different ways and anything with actual broadcast potential we're interested in," he says. He notes that with ad formats like ad|runner, "out of home is no longer a static two dimensional medium."

The CPM rate for ad|runners is $1 to $10, depending on the level of targeting, with highly targeted ads costing more, according to Baruch Katz, Adapt's director of marketing. Advertisers can buy private or shared networks which give them exclusive or shared use of a taxi. For shared use, advertisers pick the time and place they want to advertise and their messages rotate.

Cab companies are paid $125 per cab per month to run ad|runners.

According to Katz, the Limousine Commission agreed to let the company place ad|runners on more cabs. Adapt is negotiating with fleet companies to equip 50 more cars by the end of the year. There are more than 12,000 medallion cabs in New York City. Katz says the company plans to introduce ad|runner in other cities next year, including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston and possibly Washington D.C.