• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, September 5, 2023

Advertisers should soon have a new out-of-home option.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted its first commercial approval for a drone banner-towing operator to Miami-based aerial advertising company Sustainable Skylines.

The company is now awaiting secondary approval for flying full-size ads above the beach, and hopes to begin doing so above Miami Beach in October or November.

The drone service is being touted as a revolution in sustainability, as well as performance and accountability for advertisers.

The hybrid electric UAV drones use about one-tenth the fuel of the small, piloted aircraft normally used for banner advertising, resulting in a 90% smaller carbon footprint, according to the company. They are also quieter, and eliminate the possibility of pilot injuries.

Flexibility is one key benefit for advertisers. Because the drones don’t require airports, and can be deployed much closer to their destinations, campaigns made up of successive banners within relatively short windows are possible. Further, the ability to run more ads within any given period should enable lower costs.

“Drone advertising at a large scale has never been done before,” Jacob Stonecipher, the company’s founder and CEO, noted to Marketing Brew.

While the company has not yet revealed specific pricing, it has said that it will sell ads in two-hour blocks, similar to traditional aerial advertising. Sustainable Skylines is also promoting a “first movers’ partnership program,” offering reduced prices to early customers.

The company — whose CMO, Tim Carlisle, most recently headed up advertising for the Proctor and Gamble account at Publicis Worldwide — is also promising major leaps in measurement and accountability via on-board sensors, camera footage and third-party mobile data to enable accurate estimates of the crowds on the ground.

The next step envisioned is using predictive analytics to offer dynamic pricing — charging based on how many people are likely to see the advertising during a specific timeframe in a specific location. 

Sustainable Skylines, founded in 2019, has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding and is planning to pursue more funding and eventually expand the service to locations around the country.