In Ecuador, digital out-of-home advertising is still in the early stages of development. But technological change is happening fast in this Latin American country, and Induvallas is leading the charge. With 24 digital billboards nationwide and counting, this out-of-home pioneer is changing the Ecuadorian advertising landscape while making outdoor advertising more accessible to smaller businesses and budgets.
Innovators in out-of-home advertising
Induvallas has a history of being ahead of the curve. The family-run business, which recently celebrated its 35-year anniversary, was the first company in Ecuador to enter the out-of-home advertising market. Starting off with small billboards, street signs, and other static OOH formats, Induvallas has since grown into a market leader that controls 50-60% of the out-of-home market in Ecuador and has 600 static billboards and 24 digital billboards nationwide.
In Ecuador, the size and number of outdoor advertising spaces are tightly regulated by each city, and static billboards still make up the vast majority of out-of-home ad spaces. But Induvallas has been making headway with digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising since introducing the country’s first LED ad screens ten years ago. Today, its network is the largest in the country.
Bringing DOOH to smaller businesses and budgets
Traditionally, Induvallas’s clients have been big enterprises such as banks, credit cards, or multinational brands like Coca Cola. This is mostly because static billboards, which still make up a large part of its inventory, require significant financial investment.
“For the company, it’s amazing to have digital out-of-home because in one static billboard we only have one client,” says Martin Oña, Marketing Manager at Induvallas and the grandson of its original founder. “In digital, we can have 15-16 clients. So it’s much more interesting as a business for us to have digital screens.”
“Because buying a single ad slot in DOOH is significantly less expensive than renting a static billboard for weeks, Induvallas’ digital displays have also attracted new buyers. Smaller brands interested in incorporating out-of-home media into their campaigns are now more easily able to do so, just buying up as many slots as they want with the budget they have.
The results from its first few LED screens were enough to convince Induvallas that DOOH is the future of out-of-home advertising. The company intends to strategically expand its digital locations, with plans to convert some of its more desirable billboards into digital screens. Aside from the opportunity to rent coveted ad space to more than one client, DOOH presents exciting new opportunities for creativity and engagement.
Partnering with Broadsign to turn vision into reality
In order to meet its aggressive DOOH expansion goals, Induvalas needed to invest in scalable technology that could help support its growth. The company had outgrown the software system that came with the LED screens it had purchased. Programming options were limited, and information had to be input and managed manually using Excel spreadsheets.
“It was pretty basic,” says Ona. “The only thing we could do was put a customer for the whole time or put it for half the day. We couldn’t put something like: I want this customer to be from 4pm to 8pm, or I want this customer Monday, Tuesday, Friday.”
Once key stakeholders at Induvallas understood the benefits Broadsign offered—including flexible programming options, automated content delivery, and real-time inventory availability—they decided to make the switch. The company has been using Broadsign’s platform to manage content delivery for the past few months, and are already seeing noticeable improvements.
“Before, we’d have to manually input the ad content and then manually take it away. With Broadsign, it’s easy because you can just put the start date and end date, and it automatically runs the campaign,” says Ona. “There are a lot of functions that help [our employees] focus on other things that are more important, and that’s better for everyone.”
While the sales team is still in the process of onboarding, Ona is optimistic about the impact Broadsign’s platform will have once the entire end-to-end system is up and running. And he expressed pride that Induvallas is continuing to live up to its legacy as a pioneer in out-of-home advertising and technological innovation. Next on the agenda: programmatic selling.
“With LED screens, we were the first. With billboards, we were the first. Now, with [Broadsign’s] platform and with programmatic selling, we will be the first,” says Ona. “That feels great.”
See how Broadsign can help optimize your DOOH business
Contact our team to get started!
