For years companies and associations have advertised on the campus for their events with enormous quantities of flyers. That requires a lot of paper, ink and effort, so four students of the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) decided to make a dedicated flyer app.
You will probably recognize this: you walk across campus and get flyer number zillion for a party, lecture, or drinks squeezed into your hands. Regularly that’s fairly senseless, given the fact that students often immediately throw the page into the litter box. Waste of the message and the paper. Can this not be done more effectively and friendly for the environment? Business student Richard van Baarlen (22) thinks it can. Together with three fellow students he developed the StuDo app (Students + something to Do), which will be launched on February 1.
Why have you decided to make an app?
“During our minor (Entrepreneurship & New Business Venturing) we got the assignment to think from an idea towards a potential startup. One of our team members, Maxime van Baasbank, read in an article from RSM Sustainable that a flyer-free campus is desirable. He came with the idea, which we collectively optimised. We started and our idea was judged very favourably by customers, students and coaches. Ultimately, we decided to make a company out of the assignment.”
How does the StuDo app work?
“Companies and associations can upload their digital ad to our site, we check it and consequently put it in the app. Students who have downloaded the free app can submit their areas of interest via special filtering options. This ensures that you will not receive flyers which aren’t useful to you, but only get to see ads with regard to your interests. For example, if you don’t like après-ski-parties, you will not receive any flyers for them.”
What advantages does a flyer-app have compared to ‘real’ flyers?
“The most important is the environment-friendly aspect. Fewer flyers means declining use of paper and ink. Additionally, it is much cheaper for companies and associations to advertise digitally. Finally, by the provision of statistics, it’s much easier to ascertain the number of and reach the interested parties per category. If, for example, there are 2000 people with an interest in network drinks, they can be reached with a single ad. With paper flyers you have to print many more, because not everybody on and around campus has an interest in that specific subject. All in all, this app fits perfectly in innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability, core values of both RSM and Erasmus University.” MvS
