OnRoute Digital launches mobile-marketing product

SYRACUSE — A new Syracuse company has launched a software platform for mobile marketing that its leaders intend to spread around the country and the world.

Co-founders Noel Bonk and Shane Bogardus began working on the company, OnRoute Digital Media, LLC, three years ago. They first met while working together on a project for Bonk’s company Packet TV.

OnRoute launched its first product, known as BreadKrum, this month. The software aims to give users an easy way to market to mobile devices. The company is targeting broadcasters initially.

OnRoute’s clients will use the software to create campaigns in targeted geographic areas within their markets. Consumers then access the materials through an app downloaded to their mobile devices.

The campaign could be an ad or coupon offer or information on an event, Bonk explains. The system focuses on delivering hyperlocal content by allowing broadcasters to target their campaigns to specific, narrow geographic areas.

Consumers can personalize the service by dictating what types of information they want to receive through the app, Bonk says.

“It’s not just blasting everything to everyone,” he says.

OnRoute is targeting broadcasters first because its founders saw a need in that space, Bogardus says.

“We’ve seen where they’ve been in the technology and where their focus has been,” he says. “It really hasn’t been in the mobile space.”

The mobile-advertising market is growing rapidly, he adds. Many broadcasters, whether they’re single stations or a larger group, don’t have the funding or time to invest in mobile development.

“They just need it now,” Bogardus says. “And they need to execute it.”

OnRoute was one of 14 companies chosen to participate in the Start-Up Loft at the National Association of Broadcasters Expo in Las Vegas in April. They found strong interest from attendees around the country and have even been in talks to deploy the product internationally, Bogardus says.

The company signed the New York State Broadcasters Association as its first customer this month as well.

And while broadcasters are OnRoute’s initial target market, Bonk and Bogardus believe BreadKrum will appeal to any traditional media outlet. They also see potential for customers outside the media world.

Well-known brands, for example, could use the system to deliver targeted content in small areas of specific markets, Bonk says.

The system also allows marketers to group offers together around themes or specific locations. A campaign for Syracuse’s Armory Square, for example, could include event listings and all of the shopping, dining, and other offers consumers could find in the downtown neighborhood, Bonk says.

So far, the company’s founders have funded the firm themselves. They brought on a third partner, Stephen Kimatian, last year.

The company expects to add two to three employees over the next 12 months. The three partners are currently OnRoute’s only staff members.

Bonk says the goal is to deploy BreadKrum in at least 12 media markets in the next year. That’s realistic, he adds. One of the broadcasting groups the partners talked with in Las Vegas has a presence in 20 different media markets around the country.

Before OnRoute, Bonk founded Packet TV, a digital signage company that now works on projects around the country for Fortune 100 and 500 companies.

Bogardus worked previously for NBC and Fox in campaign marketing design. He was director of sales and marketing for the Fox affiliate in Burlington, Vt. and has worked for Clear Channel Communications and Citadel Broadcasting.

Kimatian was previously general manager at Channel 9 WSYR-TV in Syracuse. He also led the broadcast group for Clear Channel Television with stations in Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, Elmira, Binghamton, and Watertown and was general counsel for Newport Television with 40 stations in 26 cities.

Kimatian ran for Syracuse mayor in 2009, losing to Stephanie Miner, and for city auditor in 2011, losing to Martin Masterpole.