Tech start up uses billboards to get message to the masses

California’s 101 Freeway, with it’s billboards preaching to a steady stream of traffic, is the Silicon Valley’s answer to Madison Avenue.

Box.net is responsible for the billboard challenging software giant Microsoft and its Share Point software.

In the process the company is spending a huge chunk of its marketing budget on the freeway.

“There’s hundreds of thousands of commuters you’re able to connect with,“ says CEO Aaron Lewis.

“Of course our first question is, ‘That’s so expensive, should we really
do a billboard?‘“ adds Vice President of Marketing Jen Grant, “but thinking it through, this is where the people are having these conversations.“

Commuters having conversations while stuck in traffic, looking up at the latest gadget or learning about the latest startup at Box.net, a small but growing firm itself, translates into opportunity. 

They’re now known as the billboard company.

“That’s funny, in the past couple weeks, it’s been the billboard, but we’re hoping over time, it’ll be the software company,“ says Levie.

“It’s definitely been that way since the Silicon Valley became the Silicon Valley, where you could drive down 101 and see startups, big and small companies, and people who get it, who love to talk about it,“ says Grant.