Kimik: a million dollars in 6 months and we still shut it down
Kimik was one of the first programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising platforms in Mexico. It sold a million dollars in its first six months and still shut down in 2021. The product worked; the market didn't want it.
- Kimik let you buy advertising on 2,500 outdoor screens in minutes, the way you buy an ad on Facebook.
- It measured the impact of each ad with geolocation data: who walked past the screen and whether they later visited the store or downloaded the app.
- It shut down because a handful of companies control screen inventory in Mexico, and they'd rather sell by the month than programmatically.
| Detail | Kimik |
|---|---|
| Founder | Carlos Gotlib |
| Founded | November 2019 |
| What it was | Self-serve programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising platform |
| Network | 2,500 LED screens in Mexico |
| Customers | Large brands and agencies |
| Sales | 1 million dollars in gross sales in the first 6 months |
| Status | Shut down in 2021 |
| Reason for shutting down | Small market and inventory concentrated in a few screen owners |
What Kimik did
Kimik made buying outdoor screen advertising self-serve. Before, buying a digital billboard was slow, expensive and rigid: you had to negotiate with a salesperson and pay for entire months.
With Kimik, any brand could book screens in minutes, as easily as running a Facebook ad, and build campaigns by location, time and budget.
How we got the screens and the customers
We got the screens by going straight to the biggest inventory owners in the country. That's how we built a network of 2,500 LED screens in Mexico.
The customers were large brands and agencies. In the first six months we sold a million dollars in gross sales.
Attribution: measuring whether a billboard sells
The most valuable thing we built was attribution. We used third-party geolocation data to know which people passed near each screen and at exactly what moment, so we knew which ad they were seeing.
Then we measured what happened over 7 to 30 day windows: whether those people visited the advertiser's store or downloaded their app. For the first time, a billboard could be measured almost like a digital ad.
Why Kimik shut down
Kimik shut down in 2021 for two reasons: the DOOH market in Mexico is very small, and the inventory is in the hands of very few companies.
Those companies would rather sell by the month than programmatically, because they make more money. The attribution we built was good for advertisers, not for the screen owners. And since there are so few of them, there was no real pressure to change.
In practice, they only gave us leftover space, with no priority. When they sold an exclusive, they'd sometimes pull our campaigns, even when our clients had already paid. That made it impossible to deliver the full service, and without that there was no way to grow.
What I learned from Kimik
- A product that works doesn't survive a market that doesn't want it. We had customers and sales; we didn't have control of the inventory.
- If your supplier is also your competitor, you don't control your service. We were selling screens owned by companies that made more selling them directly.
- Transparency helps some and threatens others. Measuring results attracted advertisers and pushed screen owners away.
- In concentrated markets, market size matters more than the product. A few players can block any innovation that doesn't suit them.
Frequently asked questions
What was Kimik?
A programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising platform in Mexico, founded by Carlos Gotlib in November 2019, with 2,500 self-serve LED screens.
What is programmatic DOOH?
Buying ads on outdoor digital screens automatically, by location, time and budget, instead of negotiating monthly placements with a salesperson.
How much did Kimik sell?
One million dollars in gross sales in its first six months.
How did Kimik measure the results of a billboard?
With geolocation data: it detected who walked past the screen and whether, in the following 7 to 30 days, they visited the store or downloaded the advertiser's app.
Why did Kimik shut down?
Because the DOOH market in Mexico is small, and a few screen owners control the inventory and prefer selling by the month over programmatic.
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