You may have recently read the news about Uber OOH coming to New York City. Through a partnership between Uber, Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade (MTBOT), and Creative Mobile Media (CMM), Uber OOH will have access to up to 3,500 taxicabs to display advertising on top, representing over 25% of the total taxicabs in the city.
In light of this recent development, let’s take a trip down memory lane and see how taxi tops have evolved throughout the years:
If you saw a taxi before the 1970s, chances are it was just a plain taxi with no advertisements on it whatsoever (other than the taxi company’s name). From the early 1900s, when taxi cabs were invented, to the late 1900s, no one had capitalized on the idea that there was a secondary income stream to explore. From the 70s to today, cartop/taxi advertisement signage has evolved into a huge marketplace. With digital screens, internet capabilities, and programmatic buying, these signs have made significant moves forward in the digital out of home world.