How to Get Paid While Sipping A Latte
So, you’re so sick of advertising you could puke. You’re sitting in a café, look up and see an ad on the back of someone’s laptop. Two things may be running through your head. “Why didn’t I think of that” and “I wonder if they’ll pay me too.”
Well, if you’re a student in Germany you may just be able to turn your notebook into a shameless billboard. Company Smaboo (combination of “smart” and “notebook”) will shell out up to €150 in a few months for the unused space on the back of your computer.
The concept is simple. You turn people who would already buy the product into a walking billboard. This new type of targeted marketing is referred to as “embedded branding.” It’s an innovative advertising technique that is being developed by the startup.
Don’t worry, you’re not going to be bombarded with even more unwanted advertising yet. At the moment it’s limited to universities. But don’t be surprised if a similar concept catches on. It’s guerrilla tactics at it’s finest and it might just have you spilling your latte before you know it.
Thanks to Connie T. for the recommendation.
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Krishna said
am March 26 2008 @ 7:46 pm
Interesting idea…
Myself being a college student, I’d definitely do it to get a couple of bucks on the side.
- Krishna
Jerad Kaliher said
am March 26 2008 @ 8:32 pm
@Krishna, it really seems like one of those ideas that could really flop. With the right marketing team and correct placement it might actually be a huge hit. If you would have asked me at the beginning if Redbull’s marketing strategy would have worked I would have said most likely no. Now they are a powerhouse using a good mix of non-traditional advertising, so it just might work.
Zath said
am March 27 2008 @ 11:33 am
This is a great idea, sponsorship of yourself or your items that get public exposure (…no not in that way!), it’s like when you buy a car – the dealership sticker is always in the back window – that’s the first thing I remove, if they want advertising from me, they can pay from it!
Jerad Kaliher said
am March 27 2008 @ 8:40 pm
@Zath, yeah that’s the idea. It’s the act of placing the advertising within key groups that really gets me as being new and fresh.
On a diffrent note, I like the new design of your blog!
Neece said
am April 16 2008 @ 10:53 am
This is rather neat. Because as the person with the computer, you get to choose who sponsors you! The idea is a bit more ubiquitous than it might seem though. I recently found out about car wrapping. I even applied to do it, but I don’t live in a busy enough area. But it’s basically where they wrap your car in advertising for a specific company and then pay you to drive your car. Or they give you a wrapped car to drive for free. It’s pretty darn cool. And that idea has actually been around a long time, because in my research of it, I found that they used to wrap VW Beetles back in the 70’s!
Jerad Kaliher said
am April 16 2008 @ 3:53 pm
@Neece, does that wrapped car idea still exist? I remember hearing a lot about them when the idea had a lot more momentum. Recently I did a search on them to see if that was the case and I couldn’t find any advertising firms in So Cal that were doing it.