5 ms·

> Is this one of those "it doesn't have to make sense, it's just for publicity" things? Pretty much. > Why are the uni students holding a rally? What connecti

by rcfox 15y ago

> Is this one of those "it doesn't have to make sense, it's just for publicity" things? Pretty much. > Why are the uni students holding a rally? What connection do they have to"Paybuyer, LLC" which funds this Adwords competitor? It's not a rally; they're holding up giant signs to face traffic. I think it was four people to a sign. (It didn't occur to me to take a picture until I was already far away.) This is just a PR stunt from a new Waterloo-based advertising startup. They're simply piggy-backing on the whole RIM vs Android thing with weirdly-phrased anti-Android propaganda.

namank 15y ago
This I gotta see. BRB.
tytso 15y ago
It's not even advertising. It's a mashup of the yahoo directory (from the early 1990's) concept combined with a Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes model. There are no ads that are put onto publishers' websites to get paid. In order for this to work people have to manually go to the web-based "yellow pages" and then register their intent to buy say, a washing machine, and then that gives you a lottery ticket where if you win, you have to prove that you have purchased a washing machine within N days of registering your intent. So suppose I have already decided to buy a washing machine, and GE, Maytag, and Kenmore have all bought into this scheme. This allows me to get 3 lottery picks, which might have an expected value of 10 cents each ($100, with a 1 in 1000 chance of winning, say). Presumably GE, Maytag, and Kenmore will all have to pay 15 cents, with the startup pocketing 5 cents. The question is whether GE, Maytag, and Kenmore get 15 cents worth of value. Remember, I was a motivated buyer who had already decided to buy a washing machine. The only question was which one. This isn't going to reach someone who hadn't yet decided that they were going to buy, and so didn't have the motivation to go to the startup's web page. To think this would disrupt a true advertising based system, whether it's Adwords, or even the pullouts in the Sunday morning newspaper is just silly.
- brianb722 15y ago
  Thanks. That was a very helpful explanation.
rcfox 15y ago
These aren't my pictures, but they were posted to Twitter, so I think they're fair game: http://twitpic.com/5olpan http://twitpic.com/5olpan http://twitpic.com/5olpi2 http://twitpic.com/5olpi2 http://twitpic.com/5olpn6 http://twitpic.com/5olpn6 http://twitpic.com/5olpup http://twitpic.com/5olpup
- 3pt14159 15y ago
  I honestly thought this whole thing was a hoax or some type of bad joke, then I see my former engineering building behind some people carrying the stupidest signs imaginable. This reeks of the "buy American" bromide that GM fans expose. I have to believe that most people at U of W don't have an unnatural affinity towards RIM, and that this is all just a really stupid stunt.
  - a3camero 15y ago
    It has nothing to do with UW.

by rcfox 15y ago

namank 15y ago

This I gotta see. BRB.

tytso 15y ago

It's not even advertising. It's a mashup of the yahoo directory (from the early 1990's) concept combined with a Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes model. There are no ads that are put onto publishers' websites to get paid. In order for this to work people have to manually go to the web-based "yellow pages" and then register their intent to buy say, a washing machine, and then that gives you a lottery ticket where if you win, you have to prove that you have purchased a washing machine within N days of registering your intent. So suppose I have already decided to buy a washing machine, and GE, Maytag, and Kenmore have all bought into this scheme. This allows me to get 3 lottery picks, which might have an expected value of 10 cents each ($100, with a 1 in 1000 chance of winning, say). Presumably GE, Maytag, and Kenmore will all have to pay 15 cents, with the startup pocketing 5 cents. The question is whether GE, Maytag, and Kenmore get 15 cents worth of value. Remember, I was a motivated buyer who had already decided to buy a washing machine. The only question was which one. This isn't going to reach someone who hadn't yet decided that they were going to buy, and so didn't have the motivation to go to the startup's web page. To think this would disrupt a true advertising based system, whether it's Adwords, or even the pullouts in the Sunday morning newspaper is just silly.

brianb722 15y ago
Thanks. That was a very helpful explanation.

rcfox 15y ago

These aren't my pictures, but they were posted to Twitter, so I think they're fair game: http://twitpic.com/5olpan http://twitpic.com/5olpan http://twitpic.com/5olpi2 http://twitpic.com/5olpi2 http://twitpic.com/5olpn6 http://twitpic.com/5olpn6 http://twitpic.com/5olpup http://twitpic.com/5olpup

3pt14159 15y ago
I honestly thought this whole thing was a hoax or some type of bad joke, then I see my former engineering building behind some people carrying the stupidest signs imaginable. This reeks of the "buy American" bromide that GM fans expose. I have to believe that most people at U of W don't have an unnatural affinity towards RIM, and that this is all just a really stupid stunt.
- a3camero 15y ago
  It has nothing to do with UW.