Drone aerial advertising startup gets green light from aviation authorities

There’s something new in the air for OOH advertisers.

Drone aerial advertising company Sustainable Skylines received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval in Miami, meaning marketers may soon have a new way to fly their ads above beaches there.

The company hopes to initially roll out aerial ad banners above Miami Beach in October or November. This marks the first time a drone banner-towing operation has gotten FAA approval for commercial purposes in the US.

Its tech could potentially disrupt the aerial advertising industry, which has historically relied on piloted aircraft. Aerial advertising, which is particularly popular in the summer, has been used by brands ranging from Dunkin’ to J.Crew.

Sustainable Skylines noted that drones—which take off and land vertically—don’t require a runway or airport, in contrast with traditional crewed aircraft, and use less fuel.

Once its drones are in the air, Sustainable Skylines will use camera footage from the devices and third-party mobile data to measure ad campaigns, according to Jacob Stonecipher, the company’s founder and CEO.

Eventually, Stonecipher hopes to use predictive analytics to offer dynamic pricing, meaning it would charge more on days when more people are likely to see the aerial ads. “We can actually charge in a similar way to the way the Facebooks and the Google Ads of the world are charging, with real data to back up their pricing,” he said.

While Stonecipher didn’t discuss specific prices, he said the company is “charging similar pricing to traditional planes” and will sell advertising time in two-hour blocks. Advertisers can participate in Sustainable Skylines’ first movers’ partnership program, which will feature lower prices than the company plans to typically charge.

Founded in 2019, Sustainable Skylines is relatively new to the aerial ad industry, though it’s not the only company experimenting with drone advertising. It has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding, according to Crunchbase, from investors including former JPMorgan Chase exec Jeff Zajkowski and Paul Mulé, SVP of finance at climate technology company Arcadia. The company’s leadership team includes CMO Tim Carlisle, a Publicis alum.

While it plans to begin operations in Miami Beach, Sustainable Skylines hopes to scale to locations across the country, according to Stonecipher, and will also pursue its next round of seed funding. “Drone advertising at a large scale has never been done before,” he said.