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I know I know, I said I had a special announcement today, but it is going to have to wait until tomorrow, or early next week. (Painting my dining room is going to take priority) Plus, I spent way to much time working on my ustream.com channel. Connecting a camera to a computer has proven to be more difficult than I anticipated. . .
Instead, I have a fantastic idea to help average people save money on their cell phone bills. I actually researched this a bit and it seems google has a patent on similar technology using google voice, but we are not going to use google voice. We will create our own service.
Google: If you are wondering why I talk about Google so much it is because their products are great. I am sometimes afraid of what Google will accomplish in the next ten years. The rumor is true. . . I did have the opportunity to interview with Google. I spent days researching how many golf balls you could fit into a school bus and other similar infamous Google interview questions. Interesting, I was asked no such questions. . . and unfortunately, I was not offered the job. At least I got to interview. . . not many can claim that. . .
Anyways. . . back to the idea. . . everyone has a cell phone. Some people choose to purchase these ringback tones. . . not ringtones. . . ringback tones are those annoying songs that you hear instead of well, ringing. Cell companies came up with a way to capitalize on the tiny amount of dead space left in our lives.
My idea is to give people the option to sell out. Allow average people to place a custom advertisement in that space. You call your friend Joe, and instead of ringing you hear Joe say “While you wait for me to answer, I wanted to tell you how great I think Marco’s Pizza is. They have the most authentic flavors in Ohio” Hello (Joe answering).
The advertisements could be linked to local businesses. I would need to do research, but I am assuming that most phone calls happen locally anyways.
Maybe Joe would get .25 cents every time someone calls him. This could be directly taken off of his cell bill. Of course, some type of analytic system would have to be built in to make sure that Joe waits and doesn’t cut the ad short. Also, you would need to consider that the phone company is going to want a cut.
It’s a pretty light and playful idea today, but hey, it’s Friday, and I have a room to paint. Check back the next few days and the super secret top secret announcement may be released!
#big
Very creative idea. How much advertising is too much though?
I remember during the gas spike a few years ago a few people were selling our their car paint space and letting companies cover their whole car with an ad and basically become a driving billboard. Anyone know how much they got paid for this? I think the idea was basically enough to cover gas, 200-300 dollars a month..
This cell phone idea is interesting though!
What about for more called or “popular” people… Should the ads stop when the phone bill reaches 0.00 or should the person be able to MAKE money? (this could cause abuse…)
Keep the ideas coming…