Back in April, we featured Tadacopy—a Japanese company that provides free photocopies for students. Advertisers sponsor the free service by having Tadacopy print their ads on the reverse side of the copy paper.
A variation on the theme was just launched in the Netherlands. Students at the University of Utrecht can sign up with StudyPrint. After registering with their university email address to prove they’re students, they can upload documents to StudyPrint’s website and pick them up by entering a code on the printer, or can bring their files to the print station on a USB flash drive. Emailing documents to a dedicated email address is a third option that StudyPrint is currently developing.
The printed sheets, black and white only, have a horizontal, banner-style ad at the top and bottom of several pages, plus one full page ad per batch. Advertisers only pay for the number of students that printed documents featuring their ads, and can choose whether they’d like their ads to appear every 5 pages, or every 20. Offering advertisers an integrated campaign, StudyPrint will also add banners to emails sent to registered users. Potential benefits for advertisers? Students should, in theory, have warm fuzzy feelings for advertisers that offer them something useful for free. Ads will be viewed several times, since most printed material will be used both for classes or projects, and reviewed for exams.
The startup, which was launched by four students, is currently operating just one printing station on the University of Utrecht’s campus. They aim to expand the concept to other universities and colleges soon. Free love knows no bounds! ;-) (Related: Free notepaper for students.)
Website: www.studyprint.nl
Contact: info@studyprint.nl
Spotted by: Marit Hoekstra
i was wondering how does the advertiser control the ads he pays for, anyway to show the result or maybe a report.
As I understand it, the advertiser is given an account and can observe advertising metrics through the studypring website.