Kindergarten: The Next Frontier in Marketing

by jill ~ September 17, 2008

Working in this business, we get some strange requests.  One of our clients recently asked us to look into marketing or advertising opportunities that exist on New York City trashcans. Seriously! It might sound strange at first, but it’s not so out of the question - there’s advertising everywhere on the street these days, from bus stops and phone booths to taxis and Go-posters as a few examples. 

If you live here, then you know there are a lot of trashcans - they seem to be everywhere.  (We now know there’s a bin per corner only in commercial districts.)  So, having advertising on these cans wouldn’t be a bad idea - and would even make an interesting marketing vehicle, considering that they are ubiquitous and most people use them at one time or another each and every day. 

Well, there aren’t advertising opportunities on trashcans currently, according to the Department of Sanitation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this happened in the next few years, as marketers are constantly looking for new ways to reach consumers. 

This Brandweek article says that the latest marketing vehicle will be school supplies.

All part of their 2^nd Annual “A Day Made Better” campaign, OfficeMax will “honor 1,300 teachers at select schools with in-class ceremonies where it will distribute $1 million in school supplies.” School supplies are expensive, so they are giving back while creating very early brand recognition for the students who use and see their supplies everyday.

Another organization, “All By Students, meanwhile, is giving out $20 million worth of free, co-branded notebooks at college campuses including Arizona State, Harvard and MIT. The multisubject notebooks are divided by ads for 11 brands including Geico, AT&T, General Mills, Altoids and Sears.”

Reel ‘em in early, right?  In any case, I’m sure we’ll see transhcan advertising soon enough too.

Jill Feldman is president of Mediashop Public Relations.  She wants to hear from you, so please email her at jill@mediashoppr.com.