New Marketing Firm Bets on Taxis to Lure in Advertisers

A local marketing firm, MBY Ethiopia, is installing tablets on taxis in Addis Ababa to air paid content on them.

The company that inaugurated its operations yesterday at the Sheraton Addis Hotel was quoted as saying it had completed pilot testing with 250 metered taxis, where 18 companies advertised their products.

MBY Ethiopia is installing tablets at the back of front seats where ads can be viewed by passengers. The tablets are connected to the cloud, although they can also work offline. The scheme will be able to create additional income for taxi owners as the firm will pay them for their service.

According to Addis Maleda, an Amharic weekly newspaper, BMY plans to install its tablets in 5000 taxis while also expanding its digital reach to public transportation, health centers, and other public spaces.

MBY Ethiopia is not the first company in Ethiopia to start using transport vehicles for advertisements. Around two years ago, a startup called Black Clouds Creatives installed one hundred 10.1-inch tablets in one hundred minibus taxis across the city.