MASA Business Affiliate member signs first schools to display corporate ads

 

Four Downriver high schools will be the first of as many as 40 area schools this year to try to drum up supplemental revenue by allowing corporate advertising inside school facilities. High schools in the Southgate, Wyandotte, Trenton and Woodhaven-Brownstown districts are the first schools to sign with Bloomfield Hills-based Alternative Revenue Development L.L.C.

The startup company is attempting to create new revenue for school districts by placing ads from its network of corporate sponsors on school newsletters, Web sites, on-campus signs outside of the classroom and other locations.  ARD, formed by a team of local ad executives who lost their jobs in recent ad agency shakeups, detailed its plans at a press conference April 14.

“What we're trying to do is monetize various areas under district control, and we're appropriately targeting family- and community-oriented sponsors,” said Sam Curcuru, CEO of ARD.

ARD connects school districts in need of revenue from state funding cuts with corporate sponsors. Two of the company's sponsors are Eastern Michigan University and Oakwood Hospitals. Curcuru declined to name other sponsors.
ARD offers four categories of advertising packages:

• On-campus signs in athletics facilities or outside auditoriums, and experiential marketing, or one-on-one market opportunities such as setting up a tent at a high school athletic event.
• Web site and e-commerce marketing.
• Direct-to-home marketing.
• New media and technology.

Revenue is split between ARD and the school or district, with shares ranging from 50-50 to 65 percent for the district or school and 35 percent for ARD.
After the initial launch of the program at four schools this spring, Curcuru is projecting to launch in 46 high schools in 34 districts in Southeast Michigan this fall.

Curcuru said the company is projecting revenue for its first fiscal year of August 2010 through July 2011 to be slightly more than $2 million.

David Peden, superintendent of the Southgate Community School District, says his school district is cautiously optimistic about its participation. He said the district has not budgeted for additional revenue from the relationship with ARD, but there's a clear need for it.

“What we get will be gravy, but that gravy's going to be needed because we're going to go into a deficit in about a month here,” he said.

ARD has signed memorandums of understanding with many of the schools anticipated to launch the program this fall, including the Troy School District.
Tim McAvoy, director of community relations for the district, said the district is interested in the program but is waiting to see how it's implemented in the Downriver school districts launching this spring.

“Like every school district in Michigan, we've been struggling with a school funding crisis and we've been working with other school districts in determining what the ARD program would look like,” McAvoy said.

“We're certainly interested in anything that would help protect our programs — if it can be managed in a way that it doesn't take away from the educational climate.”
Source: Crain’s Michigan Business, 4.14.10