Drone Banner Ads are Taking Marketing to a Higher Level…Literally
By: Dawn Zoldi
San Diego-based PromoDrone has modernized the concept of the bi-plane flying overhead with an advertising banner. It uses drones for flying marketing campaigns.
Founded by Jamar Williams, a Part 107 Certified Remote Pilot in Command and self-acclaimed creator and communicator, PromoDrone was born from his belief that aerial drone technology would captivate everyday people by grabbing their attention.
“The fundamental mission at PromoDrone is to create a more connected and memorable experience through stimulating, engaging, and interacting with audience viewers,” Williams explained. “Our win-win-win approach to operations ensures our users, partners, and stakeholders all benefit from the vast experiences that PromoDrone can deliver.” He mused, “On top of this, we also get to experience joy from the smiles and excitement in the eyes of people who get to witness the banner drone in action!”
Those experiences start with the company’s lightweight highly durable custom 3D printed PD-Hex Frames. The frames hang QR code-enabled mesh systems that display two full color banner panels from DJI Matrice 600 drones. This allows for 2-way viewing up to 100 feet away.
Promo Drone’s clients include advertising and marketing agencies, event organizers and planners, outdoor venues and stadium spaces, hospitality and VIP event experience curators and more recently, independent drone operators and drone solutions companies for licensing and resale.
Early on, PromoDrone flew over the star-studded Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Hosted by actor and longtime supporter Alfonso Ribeiro of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” fame, the event helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide free highly specialized medical care for disadvantaged children.
The company recently supported other high visibility and charitable events, including: the exclusive SMASH Global VIP Event, which showcased professional mixed martial arts fighters in LA; The 3rd Annual Undertow Charity Golf Classic at Torrey Pines which helped to raise dollars to revitalize San Diego Parks Foundation’s neglected Linda Vista Recreation Center for the local community; the 17,000 strong San Diego-based Bro-Am Festival which provided grants to nonprofit organizations serving homeless, at-risk and disadvantaged youth through music, art and surfing programs; as well as several Flawless Cuisine promotions for Master Chef Lauren Lawless.
“We also supported unique outdoor spin cycle class promotions, family birthdays and gender reveals,” said Joree Weatherly-Director of Brand Development, the company’s creative executive with a background in sales management, customer success, and content production. Weatherly drives PromoDrone’s creative strategy, strategic partnerships, and operations development.
In just five years, this novel start-up has matured from providing services locally to selling licenses globally. For a set price plus a per-flight royalty fee, licensees receive single or multiple banner frame kits, setup and integration support, co-branding and social re-share, access to training and third party partner services and an opportunity to become a reseller. The model is working.
The company recently partnered with Bella Wings Aviation, a Guam-based aviation company that focuses on UAV solutions. Bella Wings now uses PromoDrone for brand promotions targeting the tourism, hospitality, municipal, and private and public event industries. Florida-based Aironautica and New Jersey’s Tracer Drones also signed on as PromoDrone resellers.
PromoDrone is now exploring potential partnerships in Africa, Italy, South Korea, Australia and South America and offers regular crowd fund equity offerings on Startengine (https://www.startengine.com/promodrone). The company seeks to raise a $1M in seed funding to develop and sustain its next iteration platform: a digital display with artificial intelligence (AI).
This next generation platform will involve a multi-screen digital display enclosure that allows for 360 degree viewing of flying digital advertisements and communications. The system will be capable of advanced AI recognition to provide ad-buyers enhanced awareness of brand interactivity and return on investment insights to optimize campaign efforts. In addition to marketing uses, PromoDrone anticipates its upcoming digital platform could also potentially be deployed for two-way communications, force protection, border patrol, venue security, first responder communications and emergency broadcast notifications.
Check out Dawn’s latest Dawn of Drones podcast episodes on DRONELIFE: Drone Service Franchises with Blue Nose CEO, guest Sean Guerre talks about Energy Drones and Robotics. being part of a culture of safety for Drone Safety Awareness Week!
Dawn M.K. Zoldi (Colonel, USAF, Retired) is a licensed attorney with 28 years of combined active duty military and federal civil service to the Department of the Air Force. She is an intIernationally recognized expert on unmanned aircraft system law and policy, a columnist for several magazines,recipient of the Woman to Watch in UAS (Leadership) Award 2019, President and CEO of UAS Colorado and the CEO of P3 Tech Consulting LLC. For more information, visit her website at: https://www.p3techconsulting.com.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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