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AdStand: The Traffic Jam

There's an opportunity in even failed urban infrastructure and brands can cash in on it

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Ad Stand: 2016, The Year of Do Good

AdStand: The Traffic Jam

There's an opportunity in even failed urban infrastructure and brands can cash in on it

Delhi| August 1, 2016

Adstand by Naresh Gupta

There is something about failed urban infrastructure and brands. They spot opportunities in that failure and create memorable award-winning work. Like the Ola boats thatwere pressed into service by Ola during the Chennai floods. Or the lifeboat that Aircel hangs on outdoors in Mumbai andGuwahati.

Last week saw similar urban infrastructure failure in three major cities of India. In Bangalore, it rained so much that people caught fish on the roads. In normal days, Bangalore is not the fastest moving city but in rains, it did struggle to move. In Mumbai,the streets became rivers. In Gurgaon it didn't rain so much, yet the traffic jams lasted 20 hours. This was possibly India's longest traffic jam.

Does the urban failure open up new opportunities for brands? Can new start-ups look at this craft new services?

Here's what is possible for new enterprising people to look at.

Hyperlocal can be powered by Hyperjam

Technology allows mobile phones to read the location and connect with phones in the same location. Imagine if the phones of fellow drivers are connected to one another in a traffic jam for them to have conversations. Imagine group selfies in traffic jams, or discussions over the state of roads or even connecting with cars and bikes that are way ahead in the jam to telegraph to people who are behind. Traffic cops can even moderate the conversation by being on the platform. The next day as and when the jam clears, brands can offer special deals to those who braved the failure of authorities and reward them for their suffering.

One thing that these apps can do is map the potholes and give it a geotag. If integrated with Google maps, the driver will even get a fair warning of impending bumps and breaks.

Food, Fuel and Breaks

There are many opportunities for start-ups here.

First, there can be an army of drivers that can sit-in and brave the jams instead of the poor souls who are going to or coming back from work. The owners and passengers still may have to brave elements to do something else, but they can at least forget looking after their car or bike.

There is a huge market for delivery of fuel to cars and bikes that may run out of fuel standing and waiting in the jam. Imagine never having to look at the dipping needle of fuel gauge. The cars are connected with the fuel delivery service through an app. The app reads the geo location and automatically sends a delivery drone.

The third idea is a food delivery idea. Standing in jams for hours sure is taxing. Last year, in one such long extended jam, I asked a pizza delivery brand if they will deliver in a traffic logjam. The person who attended the call was game to do so, but didn't have the means to reach thecar. What if this can be solved by people on foot or cycles, they dodge anddash to reach you. The delivery brands can geo tag the locations of order and find a way of reaching you. This is a big market waiting to be exploited asstranded in traffic is normal everyday affair in urban India. There is a company in Indonesia doing this, it's time we did it too.

Fourth is to help the stranded drivers to take bio breaks. Does this need an app? May be it does, after all there has to be an app foreverything in this world.

 

The concierge service

Getting stuck in a jam and missing out on urgent things is now a real issue. Jams appear from nowhere, cannot be predicted and mess upbest laid plans. Motorcycle riders who you can hail stuck in jams who deliver your documents, and packets in times of need are waiting to burst at the scene. A host of concierge service can be launched targeting just the guys stuck on road.

Carmageddon is here to stay

There is no escaping the crushing jam that brings the speed of high-flying urban dwellers to a grinding halt. It does open a slew of services that can be delivered to the sufferers of Carmageddon. Special spa treatments, food menu inspired from jam, special fashion line that helps alleviate the side effects.

Failure of urban infrastructure does lead to new categories being created. The current failure of urban infra is of epic proportions. May be, there are series of apps that can be launched to save us from Carmageddon.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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