When possible business models for ColaLife have been discussed in the past, people have floated the idea that perhaps AidPods could carry advertising but the discussion has gone no further than that. Then along comes Clare Cunningham who brings the whole idea to life with some great models and some analysis of what might be possible and the issue becomes very exciting. In Clare’s words:
I am a designer and have been following the ColaLife project with great interest. Recently you posted a section on your blog entitled ‘Is wealth creation the new philanthropy?‘. This got me thinking about how the aidpod itself could generate income. You may have considered this approach already but I thought I would suggest these two ideas just in case.
Could the AidPod be used as an advertising space?
The pod itself acts as space for advertising with adverts printed onto the pod. The money from the advertising goes to the Coca Cola franchisee to pay for each pod’s inclusion.The drawbacks for this are:
- Coca-Cola may feel very reluctant to allow any competition advertising alongside their brand.
- There is the moral debate of advertising to people in such desperate situations.
Then this lead me to wonder . . .
Could the advertising potential of the AidPod be used rather as a place to disseminate useful information?
Government health campaigns; educational information; local news/issues/community groups. This may not directly answer the question of revenue generation. However it may encourage government support if it could aid in their agendas. I don’t know a huge amount about how governments/ organisations work in these areas so your answer may be that it’s not viable as an idea. However one idea can lead to another…I think ColaLife is a fantastic project and hope to see it go from strength to strength.
What do you think? Could AidPods carry advertising?
