Several black cabs in Birmingham are set to be fitted with new roof-top animated screens that could display critical public information alerts.
Digital Screens to Take Off in Birmingham
The screens will be able to display live breaking news, weather updates, traffic and emergency advice and highlight details of large public events. As well as informing the public of alerts, businesses can benefit by paying for advertisements to promote services and products.
Birmingham City Council’s Licensing and Public Protection Committee has approved the venture following a Dragons Den-style pitch from Wedooh, the company behind the product. The first fifty screens are expected to be installed in the city’s black cabs by the 1st October.
“This is an innovation for Birmingham which will benefit all stakeholders, businesses, the city council, residents, taxi drivers and visitors.”
More Than Just Advertisement
CEO of Elonex, part of the Wedooh group, Nick Smith, addressed the committee. He said: “This is an innovation for Birmingham which will benefit all stakeholders, businesses, the city council, residents, taxi drivers and visitors.
“It’s much more than just an advertising channel. They’ll highlight events, deliver vital public information to the local community, increase the feel-good factor for residents and have a positive impact on Birmingham’s economy.”
The committee had rejected two similar applications from different companies in 2008 and 2016 with concerns expressed surrounding driver and road safety. Reservations were also raised with the latest bid on whether the screens would be too bright and distract other road users. However, Brightmove Media, who has been operating ‘taxi tops’ in London for over four years with Wedooh, declared the units had been thoroughly safety-tested and hadn’t been related to any accidents in London.
It was confirmed that the signs would only face pedestrians, not other motorists and that the brightness levels on the screens were controlled.
Charles Jepson, Managing Director of Wedooh, confirmed the screens wouldn’t advertise full length videos and that the quickest motion image allowed was equivalent to a ‘falling snowflake’.
Restrictions on Content
Restrictions by council licensing policies will be in place and will control the content that’s allowed on the advertisements. Content such as political, sexual, alcohol or drugs will not be allowed without prior approval of the authority.
Mr Jepson highlights the potential for real-time adverts. He said: “It’s something we’ve pushed in London and would love to push in Birmingham.
“In a day where tragedies are happening we can switch our adverts off immediately and tell people to avoid certain areas and so on. I think it’s really critical.”
Taxi drivers will also benefit from the advertisements as they’ll receive twenty-five per cent revenue for the content displayed. The introduction of the animated digital screens is expected to be welcomed by black cab drivers in Birmingham.
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