With more than 95,000 miles of coastal shoreline and thousands of public and private beaches, the United States has a booming beach tourism industry. Based on a survey taken in 2010 by the U.S Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States, more than 58 million people flocked to US beaches in just one year. With that many people spending hours each day outside, businesses have learned that beaches also make for prime advertising opportunities. If you have ever been to a beach during peak holiday seasons, chances are you have seen an airplane with an advertising banner trailing behind it, crossing back and forth over the shore.

An advertising company will send up a small airplane, usually a crop duster, to pass over a designated length of shoreline for a few hours at a time, or even the whole day. Trailing from the back of the plane is either a custom message spelled out in 5-7ft tall letters on a banner that stretches between 25-35ft long. Another option is a banner billboard silkscreen printed on a large nylon canvas. Depending on the location to be covered, a banner airplane can cost anywhere from $400-$600 an hour. For many businesses, this is a worthy expense, knowing that they can reach massive crowds in a single day with little other advertising competition. But, a new form of aerial marketing has been becoming popular thanks to its ability to truly grasp the attention of an audience.

After getting a degree in Business Management from the Willliam Patterson University of New Jersey, Jamar Williams moved to San Diego, CA where he began working in video production using drones. Realizing the potential behind drone technology for advertising, he was accepted into the San Diego Jacobs Center startup incubator in 2016 with his new business, PromoDrone. Rather than using the old standard airplane or even a blimp to advertise to crowds, PromoDrone has specially designed drones that market businesses.

PromoDrone sets up all clearance issues with the Federal Aviation Administration and only employees vetted Part 107 licensed drone pilots. A banner is then wrapped around the drone’s landing gear, without interfering with the drone’s ability to land. And while that banner is noticeably smaller than that carried by plane, it can get closer to crowds and is very eye catching. With the advancement of drone technology, Jamar also has a new advertising drone called the Arkan, which engages crowds like never before.

The Arkan is a heavy lift commercial drone that supports 2 large 4K digital display screens. The screens can display any type of message, from a still photograph to a video, in ultra bright clarity. The Arkan drone also has 4 HD, live stream, AI recognition cameras that transmit to the display screens. Now companies can interact with audiences, entertaining them, while gathering crowd analytics for future promotional campaigns. The screens can even display scannable QR codes allowing crowds to instantly access the company being advertised.

While advertising with PromoDrone is not cheap, there is a base rate of $500 for 20 minutes (standard drone flight time), the marketing value these drones provide can far outweigh the cost. The standard forms of aerial marketing are still attention grabbing, but they can’t even come close to the response a company will get advertising with a novelty like a drone. As Jamar said, PromoDrone is not just aiming to revolutionize aerial marketing, “We’re looking to evolutionize outdoor marketing, event-based marketing.”