There are all sorts of on campus jobs college students can get these days…now, they can even become “Nomads.” Students on the University of Washington campus in Bellevue, Washington can roam the campus with an iPad strapped to their backpack and earn money for being a walking billboard.
The company that offers the service has the same moniker, “Nomad.” It was started by a former University of Washington alumni, 23 year old Jonah Friedl. He came up with the idea while attending the University and working for a restaurant. The restaurant asked him to develop a unique strategy to attract more student customers. Friedl says the traditional methods of using people with signs on campus was hard to manage and hard to track returns. So Friedl says he turned to technology to help out with that.
Students who want to be “Nomads” can either use their own iPad or lease one from the company. They download an app and when they are ready to wander the campus, they can open the app and click, “start advertising.” Sensors in the iPad screen tell the company which areas the students go to and how many interactions they have, then Friedl tracks the data.
Students work when they want to, but there are limitations to when they can log in. The app is controlled so that it is only available during appropriate times, for example, a student can’t log in and be paid for wandering at 1am on a Monday morning.
The data collected is charted to show density of exposure and where the most impressions are coming from. Sometimes that means the student has to hand out a business card for the advertiser, which has a code that is tracked to see how it is redeemed. Those results are then correlated to sales or app downloads.
Although the program was launched at the University of Washington, Friedl says it is spreading to colleges and universities all over the country.