Is collaborative consumption possible in advertising?

A popular trend in the current economy, called a sharing economy or, in other words, a collaborative consumption or, also, a peer economy, has already altered the labor market around the world, for example, the Uber's activity, which is so much talked around these times, influenced that taxi drivers stroked in New York, Chicago, San-Francisco, London. The basic idea of the collaborative consumption is to earn on sharing own possession with strangers. It could, if further develops, greatly change not only the world's economy but people's self esteem and also a positive attitude toward others.

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Possession fell out of fashion!

Recent surveys show Millennials, i.e. people 25-32years old, seem to be far from being a potential buyers of own homes and even less they strive to buy cars. They are not fond of making expensive purchases (with the exception of iPhones, of course), and this is, actually, how they've gotten a title of a 'Generation Rent' as well.

If, only a decade ago, the image of a successful person comprised a possession of a house and a car, today it is associated, quite the contrary, with money invested into an experience and gathering impressions, which are traveling, extreme sports and start ups. Roots of such a transfigurations in a young social life lay in rethinking on the concept of 'Success' after the world's economic crises of 2008.

We entered the word's financial crisis of 2008–2009 overstuffed with goods, to start with bicycles at a top of a list, following kitchen supplies, electronic gadgets and 'not-for-casual' clothes in our closets, ending up with cars and houses which are expensive to maintain. Yet in 2011, in few years only, the wold was already different and a new idea of the 'Sharing Economy' occupied business and social media minds after the Time magazine has named it a one of ten ideas which would possibly alter the consumption system and change the world. It serves young people who choose to refuse buying real estate and, even, furniture, preferring to rent it instead. An idea of a wealthy possession no longer obtain for this generation, they reason that flexible and geo-independent business schedule is a far better way to live.

Economy on confidence

Mr. Jonathan Hilton, the Roost service co-founder and executive director, thinks that a collaborative consumption attracts people so widely because it provokes a hope of financial stability based on trustful and courteous relationships, besides, peer-to-peer services seem to be useful, people think it's nice to share parking lots or warehouses to store things when you don't need it yourself in a while. Few square meters on a pathway near your house can earn you a profit if temporary sold via Parking Panda. DogVacay will help you render an extra room into somebody's dog penthouse. A drill on a garage shelf will earn you another 10 bucks a day via SnapGoods. A peer-to-peer economy is a new business space with a certain privacy were reseller's not allowed.

In last four years many innovators introduced their inventions helping people to benefit from an own property without having a least obligation to pay in advance or extra.

Before the recent times, the transportation of passengers remained to be a monopoly held by taxi companies. Meanwhile, there were thousands of regular drivers with their own cars going same direction you do and willing to give you a ride for a payment you can afford. So, why not to cooperate with a mutual benefit? And we do it now. It was Uber that explained people how to render their vehicles into tools, earning to self-maintain. The service is a transportation assistance, payment goes directly to drivers who had registered with the Uber application. Soon after the application was introduced, many of taxi drivers left official jobs and started to work independently.

Another big peer-to-peer service, Airbnb, works in some similar way but different sector of the consumption. Why to buy a house in a picturesque environment each time one wants to go for the vacation if it is so easy to find a cozy living at any place on the Earth with the help of Airbnb?! A host and a guest contact directly on the Airbnb's site and agree on the rent cost and other terms of living.

Thus, Airbnb and Uber have engaged private houses and cars in collaborative consumption and made it available to many. Nevertheless, economists are still unsure of sharing economy advantages. It's still to be decided in a future if new services create a new economical scheme or they only supersede an existing business. It's likely both are true. In a short scale, a negative impact would be that people do not buy new cars, but, on a long term period, everybody will benefit. The latter statement has been proved by the Airbnb's own recent study launched to see what impact they caused on the local economy of San Francisco. Considering the fact living facilities were less in a price on the Airbnb's site comparing to those of hotels, visitors stayed at the rented apartments longer and, therefore, spent more money feeding the city's budget. Additionally, about 15 per cent of respondents said they wouldn't come to San Francisco at all if they had no Airbnb's assistance.

It is obvious Airbnb and Uber gave a kick–start to the sharing economy development. But we remember that conventional economy was a feeding ground for the advertising and marketing. Guess what are perspectives now for ad business field?

Following creation of many peer-to-peer services, we can observe today emerging of networks connecting networks in new networks in the name of Surviving of Advertising of an Old-School-Fashion style. Built on similar peer-to-peer bases, they suggest more and more matchmaking services and sell/exchange ad spaces, still aimed to seize customers attention and time. Using a new mechanisms they support a conventional way of advertising which is catching users attention and manipulating their decisions to consume a product. Being copying shapes and instruments of the sharing economy they serve themselves but people, although people's collaboration was the core idea for the collaborative consumption.

The only company today that may pretend to have a status of a true advertising provider on the collaborative consumption field is a new player, who entered the field only in 2014, and is called APM Agentuur. 

The company of APM Agentuur has been created by people making their private business and not been involved in the art of marketing, which is, among other, having skills to collect 'customer's views and clicks' and manipulating their decisions. As a private serving business itself, APM Agentuur's founders wanted to clear up the real meaning of advertising, making it a useful tool for both products/services providers and people who would benefit from receiving useful ad information on time.

Business owners meet their would-to-be customers directly on the Ad Pays Me Internet service, created by APM Agentuur and pay them a rent on time and attention, given by the users personally exactly for the goods and services are promoted to their attention. Sounds ridiculous and unrealistic. Why would Internet users actively watch an advertisement?! The core idea of APM Agentuur was to give each site user an Own Advertising Board into a possession, which they compare to the Ad-'mail'-box with only useful ads are allowed in. Every user sets up own priorities for ads coming to the board, check them in a convenient time and get, directly from the advertiser, 90% of the display value of each advertising displayed on the own ad board to his account. Withdrawal is possible after as low as one EURO funds earned only. The rest of 10% goes to APM Agentuur to maintain users' ad boards operation and finding only fairly grateful advertising. There is no referral programs on the site, no pyramid structure, the scheme is as simple as that – advertiser, who wants to be exposed to enthusiastic viewers, pays people when they give out their time attention to be used and don't pay if ad hasn't been seen, a collaboration agent gets fair 10% and an end customer loves business that gives a respect in advance. At the end, business have its money back when the friendly customer comes to visit.

Thus, people spend time on www.adpays.me by seeing an advertising but blocking it. They like ads are not annoying by flickering or intruding a friends-only private space. People better understand what they are told about with a grateful ads and remember it for a longer time when they collaborate voluntarily. More than that, they feel more of love to business which pays its respect per se not only when seeing a customer almost ready to give money away.

Summarizing all said above, we must agree the world is on its change. It goes forward into new and, presumably, fair relationships where a passenger pays a driver, a guest pays a host, advertiser pays a customer for the attention and customer will generously pay back a respect and money for services received. These relationships are healthy and will fill our life with justice.

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