Napkin Advertising

In the latest edition of Springwise, a venture with a network of 8,000 spotters scanning the globe for smart new business ideas comes a great marketing idea…advertising on napkins. While this is not revolutionary it got me thinking about approaching restaurants and coffee shops and offering free napkins with advertising on them. Almost any service would benefit from being in front of a targeted audience every day. The coffee shop saves money and the advertisers wipes up!

The new marketing venture in Australia that Springwise uncovered promises to capture the attention of consumers—and hold onto it for more than 15 minutes—when they’re out and about and in the mood to shop. This idea takes napkin distribution one step further by providing the branded dispensers too.

NapkinAd features advertising promotions printed on napkins and napkin dispensers in high-traffic shopping mall food courts, where there’s a constant flow of traffic during business hours, with consumers stopping to chat, rest, grab a cup of coffee or bite to eat—and may even shove a few free napkins in their pockets before heading off to their next destinations.

Similar to tissue pack advertising in Japan, the idea is to get an advertisement directly into consumers’ hands—and for longer than one might look at a leaflet before tossing it into the nearest trash can. Like other give-to-get ventures, it works because it offers customers something useful and relevant at no charge—not only do most people not mind the ads, but many feel a fleeting sense of gratitude towards whoever offered them the freebie.
Tissue Pack Advertising

Following is an excerpt from Japan Times Online:

“Four billion packets of free tissues are distributed every year in Japan, a large proportion of which end up in my apartment. I just went through the places they collect, including a kitchen drawer and a basket just inside our entranceway, and found give-away tissues from travel agencies, consumer finance companies, fitness clubs, optical chains, banks and a fair number of drinking establishments. The most interesting find, if I exclude the one with an offer for a “massage” by a beautiful foreign blonde, was a pack with recruiting information for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.