Alfi Brings Grove's Cannabis Ads to the Backseat of Your Uber Ride

Source: Alfi

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

Even as a myriad of wellness benefits from CBD products pile up, the cannabis industry faces stiff headwinds when it comes to advertising its products. The two largest digital advertising platforms Google Inc. (NASDAQ:  GOOGL) and Facebook FB  do not permit ads promoting CBD or hemp-based products. 

Therefore, companies have had to get creative when it comes to marketing and advertising, with many relying on traditional advertising methods such as billboards and radio spots. While these traditional methods do offer companies the opportunity to build brand awareness, they lack the data-driven feedback and precise targeting that big digital advertising platforms offer. 

Consequently, cannabis companies are now exploring the growing world of digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising — a space, which has recently been witnessing some impressive innovations and is preparing for massive growth over the next few years. 

DOOH Goes Green

One of the leaders in DOOH innovation, Alfi Inc. ALF recently entered into a partnership with Grove Inc. GRVI, a vertically integrated CBD and hemp company, to advertise Grove’s multiple brands. It uses Alfi’s targeted advertising software on its tablets in Uber UBER and Lyft LYFT cars across 12 major markets. 

Through its AI-powered software, Alfi offers the ability to place ads in front of viewers based on demographic and psychographic data that it gathers in real-time. Meaning that advertisers now have many of the same targeting capabilities typically available on the large digitally native platforms like Google and Facebook but in the less restrictive out-of-home channel. 

Grove Inc.’s CEO, Allan J Marshall, articulated this in a recent press release about the partnership between it and Alfi. “Grove, like all companies in the space, remains restricted to mainstream advertising availability, so focusing on technology solutions and leveraging Alfi's unique ad platform should further growth across all our brands,” he said.

Besides the value of precise targeting, Grove will also benefit from instant analytics on its campaign’s performance, allowing it to make changes in real-time to maximize its ROI. This gives Grove a distinct advantage by deploying smart advertising dollars when its competitors may be making marketing decisions on estimates of reach instead of actual results.

A Growing Space

The Alfi and Grove partnership can be seen as the real-world validation of a study that Alfi conducted earlier this year. In the survey, nearly half of all senior advertising executives stated that they expect spending on programmatic advertising to increase dramatically over the next three years.

Whether it’s a cannabis company like Grove looking for restriction-free targeted advertising, or a legacy company looking for better analytics and transparency for its out-of-home marketing spend, Alfi seems well-positioned to support the expected increase in programmatic advertising.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.