Finding the Sponsors: The Dawn of our Journey

Initial reflections on our goal and the challenges ahead

Last week we officially launched the 2019 Oonee Sponsorship Drive. I can’t wait to start working with brands who support the cause in building a green scooter & cycle parking network across New York and other cities. At the dawn of this journey, I wanted to pause and reflect on some of the challenges we face, and why I feel this opportunity can be so special for the right brands.

Sponsorship plays a key role in this project; as it can finance the construction and upkeep of each cycle parking & service station in the network. This revenue stream also allows us to keep membership fees low so that everyone in the community can enjoy this new transportation option, regardless of means.

To maintain existing units and expand the network, we very much need local and national brands to step up and take the marketing space on the exterior.

Oonee Themes are unlike anything else on todays streets

When I first joined Oonee, I thought the task of selling the marketing space would be easy. After all, we’re offering street-level marketing space at prime locations in the New York City area. But the reality is a bit more complicated.

Traditional out-of-home media, presented on billboards, bus shelters, and newsstands, are still the preferred advertising choices of many advertisers because large networks exist and content has already been optimized for that format. With relatively little work, a brand like Adidas can blanket a city with advertisements. Though our nascent network is compelling, it requires some optimization of content to take full advantage of the format, and there are currently only two locations.

Focusing on Quality not Quantity

I’m really hoping that the right brand understands that this is much more than a piece of marketing inventory, though. An Oonee sponsorship will get far more attention than much larger buys.

For one, it’s a sponsorship/marketing hybrid. The kiosks offer copious amounts of space for graphics and images, but they also give brands the opportunity to align their marketing dollars with their stated values. We’re building the bicycle & scooter infrastructure of tomorrow, and this infrastructure is a crucial green component in a sustainable urban future. We’re giving brands a chance to not only tell people what they stand for but to show what they stand for.

Secondly, our kiosks do much more than store bikes & scooters. They’re engaging placemakers that invite people to sit, feel and otherwise interact with them. These structures are meant to be iconic landmarks, not just dull pieces of infrastructure. Small details like lights that can change color to match a viral marketing campaign really have the potential to make this special.

Traditional billboard placement can tell you what a brand values, Oonee combines traditional advertising with cause marketing to show the public what a brand values.

Community leaders and advocates come together to support the growth of this crucial infrastructure

Lastly, I really think that Oonee can give brands an opportunity to show support for diverse social entrepreneurs and non-traditional founders. Our project is very much focused on green goals, but its story is black. Just one percent of venture capital funding goes to black founders - more than ½ of our full time staff is black, including the Founder and CEO. Our goal of bringing better infrastructure to cities would be audacious under normal circumstances, but it’s especially remarkable given the communities that we come from.

As brands like Nike spend millions to sponsor black activists like Colin Kapernick, I hope we can convince them to spare just a small percentage of spend to support a tremendous social project led by a largely black & diverse staff. With just a little imagination they’ll get lots of exposure and will actively support doing the right thing for communities by embracing greener transportation alternatives.

Eight billion dollars were spent on just out-of-home advertising alone in the US last year, not including sponsorships and other marketing buys. Over the next few months, I’ll be working to convince advertisers to spend just an infinitesimal fraction of that to support emerging green mobility infrastructure in New York.

I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us.

We’ve launched our 2019 Sponsorship Drive- with the goal of generating critical, much needed revenue for network expansion. Interested in placing your brand on innovative green infrastructure? Drop us a line at info@ooneepod.com