There is a new generation of jobs on campus for college students these days…now they don’t have to work in the mailroom or cafeteria…they can be walking billboards! A startup company called “Nomad” is equipping students with technology to walk around with advertising on their backs.
Nomad was started by 23 year old University of Washington alumnus Jonah Friedl. Friedl said the idea came from when he was in school at the university and working at a restaurant. Management at the restaurant wanted him to come up with an idea to get more college kids to dine there. Traditionally, a company would have put a person with a sign on campus. But Friedl said he didn’t think that would work. “If we want to put people on campus, put representatives on campus, it’s really hard to do that – hard to track, hard to manage. So we thought we could build some technology to help us out with that.”
The program works by having student “Nomads” who either lease an iPad from the company or use their own download the app. When they need to walk on campus and want to work, they simply open the app and click “start advertising.” Sensors in the iPad screen tell the company which areas they go to and how many interactions they have, then Friedl tracks it. The app is controlled so Nomads can only work at appropriate times, while times like 1am on Monday morning would not be available to work.
The data collected by the iPad is charted and shows the density of exposure and where the Nomad is getting the most impressions. Sometimes, the Nomad hands out a business card with a code. The technology can track the code then see how it was redeemed and correlate sales or app downloads to a specific Nomad.
The program’s flagship voyage was on the University of Washington campus, but Friedl says it is spreading to other colleges and universities around the country.