Will people pay you to carry your advertisement?

This isn’t some ad man’s wild pipe dream. The Pocono Record carried this amazing true story.

Columnist Martin Sloane contributed a story there encouraging people to switch to reusable cloth bags, and reader Louise Fail wrote to say that she bought 4 large cloth tote bags at her local 99 cent store, and carries them everywhere in her car.

The bags she bought had an advertisement printed on them, but she didn't mind paying for them!

When was the last time someone paid money to show your advertisement around? Clearly, there's a marketing opportunity here.

People are concerned about environmental degradation, and they they don’t like being passive victims. Most want to do something positive if someone takes the lead, makes a better alternative available.

You could cash in on this huge groundswell of feeling to get your message across in a manner that your stakeholders are actually willing to invest in.

The big boys haven’t caught on to this yet. This remains an opportunity for the nimble and the imaginative.

Dramatic isn’t it? Louise paid 99 cents to become a walking billboard for the brand whose name is on that bag. She doesn’t mind that it carries advertising. Ever heard of such a thing?

All you smart marketing folks out there might want to leverage this insight.

We can ship you smart, great looking cotton totes at less than a dollar a bag, with your ad message on them.

Sell them at cost or even a little below cost to make them look even more attractive. Make them available at as many outlets as you can. You’ll be amazed to see how many people support your environmentally friendly action.

Sounds good? See http://www.badlani.com/bags and select from a line of attractive bags you can use to co-opt your customers into becoming walking billboards for your message. At no cost to you!

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Norquest Brands is a small organisation based in Ahmedabad, India, that seeks to offer viable and attractive alternatives to plastic bags, which they consider a serious threat to our planet’s continued good health.