The Out of Office Ad is one of the most ingenious things I have ever come across. The Out of Office Ad is a new way of earning revenue for your company or yourself when you are out of the office by branding your “out of office” auto-reply emails.
This brilliant idea comes courtesy of Saatchi & Saatchi Stockholm. The creatives over at Saatchi & Saatchi Stockholm came up with the Out of Office Ad when their art director went on paternity leave. A local ad company called B-Reel sponsored the art director’s auto-reply email, and now gets to plug themselves to everyone who happens to email the director while he’s away.
This marketing experiment was so well received that Saatchi & Saatchi Stockholm are starting a service to connect out-of-office-workers with sponsors. The service still seems to be in beta mode as of now, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it up and running and fending off competitors by the end of the year.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Sponsored Vacation Emails
- Opportunity for companies to monetize out of office auto-reply emails by allowing sponsors to advertise.
Where This Applies
- Advertising
- Opportunity for advertising agencies to offer sponsored out of office email services.
- Marketing
- Opportunity for marketing companies to facilitate connections between out-of-office workers and sponsors.
- Technology
- Opportunity for technology companies to develop platforms for managing sponsored vacation emails.
