AdLoad Technologies Inc. is bringing roadside advertising to the roadway with its digital screens for big rigs.
With a revenue-sharing model for the trucks’ owners, AdLoad does the work of selling, managing and producing the ads that appear on the backs of trucks.
"We’re on highways and major roadways all over the country," said Dustin Cox, vice president of business development with the company. AdLoad has five employees who are working out of Lodi, but it is looking for office space in Sacramento.
The ads can be used for brand awareness all over the country, or they can be geofenced and tracked for specific geographies. That means they can show up to traffic behind a truck that is heading toward the location of a specific restaurant, he said.
AdLoad shares the revenue of its advertising with the owners of the trucks, which in most cases are small and mid-sized fleets and some independent operators. Hosting the screen doesn’t require any additional work or cost to the truck owner, but it does provide some revenue, Cox said.
The screen displays a static image for about 10 seconds before cycling to another image. Customers can have multiple images for their products show up in succession, or the images can cycle between other advertisers, Cox said.
Rates can vary, but AdLoad gets paid 7 cents per image. The company can have 1 million impressions per week.
Traffic rules don’t allow the images to play video or to fade in and out. So the image must remain static for its time on the screen. AdLoad’s screens cycle a new image every 10 seconds, Cox said.
Co-founder Ranjit Phagura started building prototypes and the software from his home in Rocklin in 2018. The product went to market starting in January last year with a pilot program on 20 trailers.
Phagura has patents on the digital display doors and the digital display trailer door installation.
Cox declined to disclose the company's revenue.
The company is now on 100 trucks, mostly moving between Seattle, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Dallas, along with some other side routes. It has had trucks travel through most states. The company wants to add another 150 trucks next year.
The screens are very durable. They are the same kind used for bus stop digital adds, so they can tolerate weather, water and harsh treatment. They can even go through automated truck washes.
The LED screens are custom manufactured for AdLoad in Mexico, and they are connected via 4G Wi-Fi networks on a live feed, so the company can update them in real time.
