09/05/2026
The future isn’t coming. It’s already pulling into the driveway. Jordan, Derek and I have been talking seriously about what autonomous vehicles are going to mean, not just for transportation, but for business, marketing and everyday life. Cybercabs are coming. Autonomous vehicles will be increasingly common over the next three years, even more established in five, and I believe that within 10 years they will fundamentally change the way we think about transportation. There will come a day when our children and grandchildren look at us completely confused and say, “Wait…you actually DROVE the cars yourselves? Wasn’t that dangerous?” And all of us old folks are going to laugh because we remember when driving was simply part of life.
But here’s where TRADE UP MARKETING comes in. We don’t want to sit around watching the future happen. We want to participate in it. We’ve already had the conversations about purchasing Cybercabs, we’ve filled out the paperwork, and now we’re waiting to see what comes next. And when we can get them, why wouldn’t we wrap them from bumper to bumper in TRADE UP MARKETING? Think about the utility. A client flies into Tampa? Send the cab. A friend needs picked up at the airport? Send the cab. You’re buried at work and can’t pick up your freshman or sophomore from school? Send the cab. Mom and Dad are coming over for dinner and you don’t have time to go get them? Send the cab. And when we aren’t personally using the vehicles? Put them to work. Let them travel throughout Tampa Bay providing rides while a rolling TRADE UP MARKETING billboard moves through the community all day long.
That’s the part that fascinates me as a marketer. The vehicle stops being just a vehicle. It becomes transportation, infrastructure, convenience, advertising and potentially a revenue-producing asset all at the same time. Instead of paying for a billboard that sits beside the highway, imagine owning the billboard and having it drive around town. That is where Jordan, Derek and I are looking. Not at what marketing looked like yesterday, but at what attention, mobility and business could look like tomorrow.
Some people are going to think this sounds crazy. That’s OK. Almost every major technological shift sounds crazy right before it becomes normal. We’re not trying to predict the future perfectly. We’re positioning ourselves to be ready for it.
TRADE UP MARKETING. Send the cab.
