StickEarn, an advertising technology firm that debuted in January 2017, has effectively transformed transportation into a scalable outdoor advertising platform. The company formed by four Indonesians, namely Archie Carlson, Garry Limananta, Sugito Alim, and Hartanto Alim, is developing quickly by collaborating with strategic partners under the umbrella of PT Paragon Pratama Teknologi.

In terms of capital, StickEarn, for example, received an initial investment of US$ 1 million from East Ventures. Following that, East Ventures and SMDV, as well as Grab, OVO, and Agaeti Ventures, invested US$ 5.5 million in a Series A round to be utilized to develop new products as well as data and analytics capabilities.

StickEarn advertising services can be provided across thousands of Grab partner car and motorbike fleets throughout Indonesia in collaboration with Grab. "Not only do we have access to over 100,000 Grab drivers in Jakarta, but also in their operational cities.

 

 

 

 

 

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"Not only do we have access to over 100,000 Grab drivers in Jakarta, but also in their operational cities. As a result, StickEarn can meet the demand for advertising on cars in more than 21 Indonesian cities," said Archie Carlson, co-founder of StickEarn. "After three years of operation, we have distributed US$ 4 million to our driving partners.”

The StickEarn service has grown along the way. Not only does this company provide branding services for cars and motorcycles, but it has also begun to expand the market by providing branding services for buses, taxis, public transportation, and airplanes, allowing it to reach a wider range of audiences and companies whose market segmentation can be adjusted.

In addition to StickEarn, the founder of StickMart and StickTab established StickMart and StickTab in 2018. StickMart is a car-selling platform, and StickEarn offers product display services to do online consumer surveys. StickEarn essentially provides many sorts of offline to online advertising in order to give impactful, intelligent, and accessible advertising media.

StickEarn now has 400 brands from diverse industries using its services. Energy, FMCG, home appliances, personal care, and e-commerce are among the industries represented. 

"We believe we can cater to marketers from any industry that is aiming for a large audience," said StickEarn co-founder Sugito Alim.

The inspiration

StickEarn was inspired by adverts on cars or public transportation in Singapore, London, New York, and Hong Kong, which are common but were not as popular in Indonesia. The product is then customized and packaged in Indonesia at a lower cost for the Indonesian market. 

"We pioneered car-wrapping advertising, transforming cars into moving billboards," Archie explained. "We see a lot of possibilities here. The heavy traffic in Indonesia's main cities has the potential to be leveraged by businesses to get closer to their consumers.”

As a result, StickEarn has not ceased innovating since 2017. Starting with exterior car advertising, the company then launched StickMart and StickTablet, which are in-vehicle shopping and entertainment systems. Advertisers like this service since it allows for product sampling and surveys to be undertaken by Grab passengers.

StickEarn also introduced MobileLED in 2019, an advertising platform in the shape of a Videotron on a truck created in conjunction with Ming Promotion. StickEarn supplies 40 trucks in Jakarta and other cities, with more on the way. MobileLED rotates around major thoroughfares.

In Jakarta, there are ten routes with varied demographics, ranging from residential to schools to business centers, so customers can choose which route best meets their target consumers. His party is currently focusing on new services, including advertising platforms as well as data and analytics.

StickEarn's benefit, according to Archie, is that it combines cutting-edge technology with excellent precision and is simple to use. Advertisers may use StickEarn's dashboard to track the movement of their ads at any time and from any location. This organization also offers free design consulting services to its clients in order to ensure that their adverts are visible everywhere.

StickEarn also offers a driver monitoring program. Drivers must also take images of the quality of the stickers on a regular basis to ensure that the creatives remain in good condition.

"If (it’s damaged by) the weather and visibility deteriorate, we invite drivers to our studio where we re-paste it," Archie explained.

A growing business

"The growth of StickEarn is quite healthy.  We were able to accomplish a 300 percent increase in three years of operation. This demonstrates that the StickEarn service meets the needs of the brand and is well welcomed," stated Sugito. 

He also stated that the company currently employs 250 individuals. StickEarn prioritizes the client experience and service excellence. 

According to Sugito, the current difficulty is that transportation advertising is a new area in the realm of out-of-house advertising. The market originally questioned the usefulness of the new platform because they were already accustomed to the prior platform. Education is really important. 

"More than 70% of our current clients are repeat customers.  This figure demonstrates the great degree of satisfaction with StickEarn services," Archie stated proudly. "At first, the four of us went out into the streets, knocking on the doors of brands that later became advertisers.  We recall the challenge in the early days because our service was still in its infancy and there were no case studies or testimonials to back us up.”

“The effectiveness was always questioned, and we spent a lot of time investigating and answering those questions," Archie says.

"We gradually explain to them about the technology we employ and how this platform can reach more individuals at a lot lower price," Sugito added.

Its business goal is to quadruple its service sales. This is due to the fact that he is testing a number of new services, which are yielding interesting results.

"We're also leveraging new technology to improve our ability to monitor the success of our platform.  We're also in the process of spreading our wings in a number of countries.  All you have to do is wait for the game date," he said.