The company's early years were devoted to refining the sensors and scaling back their size. (The original was refrigerator-sized and needed electricity.) Along the way, Christian picked up customers.
But MobilTrak ramped up its marketing efforts when Boice and his two partners bought it in April 2004, shortly after selling a Virginia software company they owned.
Car dealers, many of whom have embraced the MobilTrak radio device, above, believe that 80 percent of their business is with customers who live or work within 10 miles of a car lot.
(Mobiltrak Inc.)
|
|
The three -- Boice, his father Craig Boice, and Kevin Gallagher -- now own 80 percent of the company while Christian owns the rest, Boice said. Christian was not available for comment. Boice and his partners work in Herndon and 15 people work in Phoenix, where the sensors are built. Three MobilTrak salespeople are based elsewhere in the country.
MobilTrak also operates in Seattle, Los Angeles, New Jersey and Charlotte. Within 36 months, Boice hopes to have a presence in 100 markets. One California company, Smart Sign Media, uses MobilTrak's sensors and changes the advertising on digital billboards, depending on which radio station people are listening to as they approach.
The price of the MobilTrak service ranges from $500 to $6,000 a month, depending on the client and the number of locations they want to monitor.
Home Depot just tested the technology in Phoenix, Boice said. Simon Property Group is about to install it in the parking lot of a California mall, he said. And two of the nation's largest radio station owners -- Clear Channel Communications Inc. and Infinity Broadcasting Corp. -- are trying the service in the Washington area.
Radio stations use the data MobilTrak collects to lure advertisers.
For example, if MobilTrak shows that Clear Channel stations have a loyal following in the Tysons Corner area, "that's a chance for me to show all the retailers there that we're a good investment," said Bennett Zier, Clear Channel's vice president for the Washington-Baltimore area.
Michael Hughes, a senior vice president at Infinity, appreciates that MobilTrak can produce ratings information quickly. For example, the firm provided him with data on listeners of a Washington Redskins game on WJFK (106.7) the day after it was broadcast.
Hughes said he knows the data are limited because the information comes from only a few locations around the region. "But media these days is about immediacy," he said. "And to have immediate measurement is very attractive."
