Reach Them Before the Show Floor: Taxi Tops and Las Vegas Conventions
Most trade show marketing budgets go to the booth. But the booth is where attendees act on decisions they've already made. In Las Vegas, those decisions are often made in the back of a cab on the way from the airport.
The show is decided before the doors open
76% of trade show attendees decide which booths they'll visit before they ever walk into the convention center. They build a short list from the exhibitor app, emails, and whatever brands they've seen on the way in. If you're not on that list, you're competing for leftover attention in a hall with hundreds of other booths.
The payoff for getting there first is measurable. Brands that run marketing campaigns before a trade show see 46% more booth traffic than competitors who don't. That's not a creative win. It's a timing win.
These aren't casual browsers
Convention attendees are some of the most valuable audiences in out-of-home. More than 80% have purchasing power at their companies, and they're 72% more likely to buy from exhibitors they met at a show than from ones they didn't.
So the math is simple. Pre-show media drives booth visits. Booth visits drive meetings. Meetings with this audience turn into revenue at a higher rate than almost any other channel.
Why Las Vegas is different
In most convention cities, attendees are spread across a metro area and hard to pin down. Vegas funnels them.
60%+ of convention attendees fly into Las Vegas, so nearly all of them start at the same airport.
About 30% take taxis everywhere once they land.
They spend $200+ on taxis and rideshares during their stay.
That's a lot of time on the same handful of roads: airport to hotel, hotel to convention center, convention center to dinner on the Strip. An attendee who sees your brand on that loop on Sunday night walks into the hall on Monday morning already knowing your name.
Why digital taxi tops fit this job
Static billboards along the I-15 are great for awareness, but they can't follow your audience or change on the fly. Digital taxi tops can.
They go where attendees go. Taxis circulate between the airport, the Strip, resort hotels, and the convention centers, which are exactly the places attendees spend show week.
They're eye level. Taxi tops sit in the pedestrian sightline outside hotel lobbies, taxi lines, and convention center entrances.
They can be targeted by time and place. Run your message near the Las Vegas Convention Center, or other convention venues like Mandalay Bay, the morning the show opens, then near the Strip as the evening events start.
You can update creative quickly. Change your message from "See us at Booth 4521" to a day-two demo invite without reprinting anything.
SOMO runs digital taxi-top media in Las Vegas and New York City. For B2B exhibitors in construction, automotive, and industrial shows, SOMO's Las Vegas Taxi Truck network puts the same digital screens on pickup trucks, with an optional full vehicle wrap.
Buying it is easy
There are two ways to buy SOMO taxi-top inventory:
Programmatically, through DSPs and SSPs you may already use, including Vistar Media and Broadsign. Add SOMO's Las Vegas inventory to an existing DOOH plan, set your dates and dayparts around the show, and manage it next to the rest of your buy.
Directly with SOMO for fixed flights, custom show-week packages, or Taxi Truck placements.
A simple show-week flight could look like this:
3–5 days before: brand awareness on routes between the airport, the Strip, and the convention centers.
Arrival day: heavier weight around the airport and resort hotels, with a "See us at Booth ___" message.
Show days: convention center perimeter in the morning, Strip at night, with creative that changes by day.
FAQ for media buyers
What's the best way to reach trade show attendees before a Las Vegas convention? Reach them on the routes they travel between the airport, hotels, the Strip, and the convention center. Digital taxi tops from SOMO cover those routes and can be targeted by time and place around show dates.
When should a pre-show campaign start? Three to five days before the show opens, with the most weight on arrival day and the first morning. 76% of attendees pick their booth list before they enter the hall.
Can I buy taxi-top media programmatically? Yes. SOMO's taxi-top inventory is available through programmatic platforms including Vistar Media and Broadsign, or directly from SOMO.
Is taxi-top advertising effective for B2B? Yes, at conventions especially. More than 80% of attendees have purchasing power, and they're 72% more likely to buy from exhibitors they met at the show.
Which cities does SOMO cover? Las Vegas and New York City.
Reach out to a SOMO representative today to learn more about activating around conventions with SOMO media.
