Finalist Q&A: Altavert Alternative Advertising

Altavert is a specialty advertising service that allows you to take advantage of a practically limitless advertising medium – freeway traffic. Altavert let commuters advertise for you by placing your ads on the personal vehicles of people who live, work, and play in your target markets. You can accurately target specific neighborhoods and even streets, schools, or shopping centers with mobile advertising from Altavert. They actively maintain your fleet with GPS tracking and provide you with proof of performance measures, so you know that you're getting the greatest impact for your investment.

How did you come up with the idea for your business, and what, or who, is your main source of motivation?
While I was an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, I had the idea that perhaps I could lease out ad space on my car to make a little extra money. I lived and worked in an area concentrated with college students, so it should have been easy to find a company willing to advertise on my car. But, after contacting many local companies with the idea, I was met with the same answer - business owners realized the obvious value of this type of advertising, but were too busy running their businesses to deal with design, installation, quality control, compensation, etc. They had neither the time nor the expertise necessary to coordinate this effort. There was no mechanism in place to connect willing and responsible drivers with small businesses that wish to participate in mobile advertising. I realized this unmet need and developed my business plan throughout my MBA studies at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Upon graduating in 2007, I moved to the Mecca of traffic congestion, Los Angeles, to implement my plan and built my company from the ground up.

What is a unique feature of your business?
One thing that often catches people by surprise is that we offer true proof of performance - something you can rarely get in the outdoor advertising world. We offer GPS tracking of your advertising "fleet," providing you with on-demand maps of where your ads have been reaching out to new customers in your target markets. This unique feature is something I have yet to see with any other outdoor advertising company.

What are your thoughts on the connection between small business and the local community?
Small businesses such as mine and those of my clients are a vital part of a community and a local economy. As such, they have to know their neighbors and customers well in order to succeed. As opposed to large corporations whose customers live around the world, a small business' customers may live just around the corner. With an in-depth knowledge of the different neighborhoods and communities that our clients serve, we offer a very localized way to reach out to their customers in the places where they live, work, and play. The connection that exists between small business and community is what our service is based upon, and we realize the importance of this relationship.

Why should the Idea Cafe regulars vote for you?
On the business Owners Idea Cafe website, it encourages voters to place their ballot for an entrepreneur with an inventive approach who also has a plan to reach out to help someone else in some way. I believe that my company exemplifies this idea, because not only are my clients able to tap into a resource that is perfect for local advertising, but also the individual drivers are benefiting as well. In essence, this service changes the paradigm for advertising space from one in which all of the money goes to the billboard company to one in which the wealth is redistributed to individuals compensated for driving their own cars.

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
CAPTCHA
This question is for preventing automated spam submissions.