If it's difficult to pay the bills on your house, try turning your house into a billboard.
An advertising start-up in Orange, Calif., is offering to help 100 Americans pay their mortgages -- if the homeowners convert their houses into massive painted ads for the business.
It's a really good marriage for us to be able to help homeowners and for homeowners to be able to help us and bring attention to our business, said Romeo Mendoza, CEO of Adzookie, a mobile marketing firm promoting a local ad network.
For the lucky homeowners, Adzookie promises to cover the full costs of mortgages for between three months and one year, depending on how long the residents are willing to keep their exterior walls decorated with the company's logo.
Mendoza told AOL News he came up with the promotion after his 6-year-old daughter saw a bank-owned sign in front of a house on her way home from school and asked him what it meant.
By the time we had driven home, I had figured out a way to help homeowners by paying their mortgages, he said.
Since launching the Paint My House initiative earlier this month, Mendoza says Adzookie has received about 10,000 applications -- an encouraging sign for the small company but also a sobering reminder of the economic hardships faced by many homebuyers.
It's kind of depressing to a point, because most of these people need help, said Mendoza.
Working with an initial budget of $100,000, Mendoza planned a promotion that would assist 10 homeowners in paying their bills while adorning their homes with Adzookie's logos and social media icons.
But thanks to news coverage and social media buzz about the gimmick, Mendoza says his company has attracted the interest of other sponsors -- allowing Adzookie to paint an additional 90 homes and potentially share the ad space with other brands.
The contest is open to almost any homeowner in the United States -- no matter the size of the home or the size of the mortgage.
Article link with pictures: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/12/new-advertising-company-will-turn-your-house-into-a-billboard/
An advertising start-up in Orange, Calif., is offering to help 100 Americans pay their mortgages -- if the homeowners convert their houses into massive painted ads for the business.
It's a really good marriage for us to be able to help homeowners and for homeowners to be able to help us and bring attention to our business, said Romeo Mendoza, CEO of Adzookie, a mobile marketing firm promoting a local ad network.
For the lucky homeowners, Adzookie promises to cover the full costs of mortgages for between three months and one year, depending on how long the residents are willing to keep their exterior walls decorated with the company's logo.
Mendoza told AOL News he came up with the promotion after his 6-year-old daughter saw a bank-owned sign in front of a house on her way home from school and asked him what it meant.
By the time we had driven home, I had figured out a way to help homeowners by paying their mortgages, he said.
Since launching the Paint My House initiative earlier this month, Mendoza says Adzookie has received about 10,000 applications -- an encouraging sign for the small company but also a sobering reminder of the economic hardships faced by many homebuyers.
It's kind of depressing to a point, because most of these people need help, said Mendoza.
Working with an initial budget of $100,000, Mendoza planned a promotion that would assist 10 homeowners in paying their bills while adorning their homes with Adzookie's logos and social media icons.
But thanks to news coverage and social media buzz about the gimmick, Mendoza says his company has attracted the interest of other sponsors -- allowing Adzookie to paint an additional 90 homes and potentially share the ad space with other brands.
The contest is open to almost any homeowner in the United States -- no matter the size of the home or the size of the mortgage.
Article link with pictures: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/12/new-advertising-company-will-turn-your-house-into-a-billboard/
