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DrivAd.com Is Definitely Not Your Father’s Advertising Vehicle

DrivAd.com mixes traditional vehicle-mounted advertising with the still-emerging world of social media.

The 1-year-old company based in Kearny Mesa is the brainchild of Olivier Baudoux, the company’s founder, investor and CEO.

The traditional side of Baudoux’s business is vehicle-carried messages. It’s outdoor advertising, a concept older than Henry Ford. Messages are carried on a see-through display affixed to an automobile’s rear window.

Then, there is the new world of social media, including posts to Facebook, Twitter and Yelp.

Those messages are posted by “DrivAdvocates” — people in the community who are familiar with, and fans of, the product being advertised.

It is DrivAd’s job to find and cultivate those people, who become ambassadors for the brand. Baudoux’s business helps to reward those ambassadors for their work.

In all, DrivAd counts 20 ways that its ambassadors can get the word out about a client business. For example, advocates can log their visits to a business using Foursquare.

Social media postings are not limited to the written word. Advocates may be asked to post photos or video testimonials to the Web.

Delivering the Metrics to Clients

Supporting each advertising campaign is some innovative computer technology that automates communications with advocates and reporting metrics to clients.

That is of particular interest to Baudoux. Software architecture and Web services are among his core skills. Baudoux was previously chief information officer of San Diego-based Encore Capital Group Inc..

DrivAd’s cloud-based analytical platform does several things. For example, it keeps track of how far the rolling billboards have driven. Advocates are asked to track mileage by taking a photo of their odometer with their mobile phone, then uploading it to the DrivAd platform. The machine does the rest.

The platform also keeps track of social media activity. Clients are able to log in and get real-time data and statistics regarding their campaigns, such as the number of impressions, cost per thousand and Facebook “likes.”

The platform represents a year of work, Baudoux said. Software developers in India, Mexico and the United States contributed to the project.

The portal is one of the company’s biggest assets, said Jamie Sutton, the business’s vice president of sales.

There is no typical DrivAd client or campaign.

“Everybody uses us a little differently,” Sutton said .

Baudoux cited an example of a college that prefers that its students post video testimonials about what they got out of class.

Advocates are rewarded with products from the advertisers; the advocates are not paid by advertisers.

For example, Cirque du Soleil used DrivAd to get the word out about its “Totem” show in Columbus, Ohio. In the case of a traveling show, advocates who post about the event may get access to a special backstage reception following the performance, Baudoux said.

A person who turns her auto into a rolling billboard for a sandwich shop might get $200 worth of food after two months.

Concept in Mind for Years

DrivAd calls its coordinated social media placements “virtual driving.” That side of the business is gaining prominence. Frequently the company bundles the driving and “virtual driving” elements. Sutton recalled told one client that the brand ambassadors carrying its automobile signs should be used for posting on the Internet as well.

Income from Encore Capital and previous corporate work freed Baudoux up to do something entrepreneurial with his life. The native of Rouen, France, started DrivAd with $250,000 of his own money.

Baudoux says he is looking ahead to getting venture capital.

Though Baudoux has been on his own for a year, the DrivAd concept had been in his mind for much longer. In fact, he embarked on a similar business about 10 years ago in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Baudoux noted that the world of billboards is limited. Google Inc. AdWords are no longer a new concept, and the inventory of those is limited as well. DrivAd concentrates on auto windows and the vast open country of social media.

In other words, he said, it’s new territory.

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