Personally, I would be rather peeved to be advertised to in this way. I wouldn't find it clever or cute--I would just find it annoying. I would not end up with a good impression of the company, and I wouldn't want to do business with it.
One reason why I don't find it particularly clever, is that it's really not all that different from all the physical junk mail I receive that tries to visually mimic some sort of important government notice.
To me, this would work beautifully if the startup were actually involved in solving traffic or transportation problems. Ridejoy, for instance. If Ridejoy had pulled this stunt, it would have been very cute.
That said, I'll give the man his props. This is ingenuity. Perhaps it's misdirected, to an extent. Perhaps it'll backfire. But it's something different. It is clever, regardless of whether we find it enjoyable or annoying.
EDIT: Minor nitpick, but I wouldn't have made so many grammatical errors in the fake ticket. They're pretty glaring. Especially for a first impression.
Imagine you're an investor, and you drive to "YC demo day", and listen to 30 pitches of small startup companies, go out to your car, and see a flyer in your windshield pitching another startup company...
Are you really going to be pissed at that, or is that just one more pitch (that some on here think shows hustle)? Doubtful investors are going to be pissed at this, and ... so what if they are. A couple of hundred people just visited their web site, most of them with money to invest...
Like handing your CV outside a job fair instead of paying to go in. Those people are there for this very reason and won't be too upset by it. pg and team might be pissed however...
It seems gimmicky, which could work, but then throw in the QR code and incorrect usage of "its" and it just seems unprofessional. If you're investing in the person and not the idea, this seems like a very bad first impression to make.
I think under the circumstances it may actually put a smile on peoples faces. They are probably already in a good mood and the right mindset for something like this.
This was a relatively common tactic in Chicago a few years ago, done by restaurants and a band if I remember correctly. Heading to your car on your way to work in the morning and finding a fake ticket that ended up being, as you say, junk mail, really made people angry. I am pretty sure the city got involved people were so mad.
Yup, I came here to note the "its" problem. I won't try the app or look any further, because anybody who can't be bothered to use proper grammar on a publicity stunt sure as hell isn't going to release a quality product.
Because as humans we don't make mistakes, right? You probably mean well, but this is the kind of attitude that people are complaining about in the HN community right now. People being cynical and instead of giving positive criticism people (like yourself) are picking on a lot of peoples grammar. I understand grammar is important, but working in an industry that heavily relies on print I see far worse mistakes than this on a daily basis by big large corporate printing companies all of the time. It happens, relax man.
Edit and wow, down-voted for telling someone to ease up on the submitter because there is a grammar mistake in the fake ticket? What the heck is wrong with this place? The community appears to be in a lot worse shape than I thought.
It's a funny, well-executed idea, but issuing official-looking city documents with "City of Mountain View" as the header and all of your identifying information is a great way to get written up by the police department.
I would seriously caution people against making it a close copy (particularly of money) of an official document. Depending on the situation, there are state and federal statues backing up the local ones.
The psychology of a car spam victim (flyer for a local garage band's performance, real parking ticket) is pretty funny to observe. When they pull it off their windshield, some will put it in their vehicle (to throw away later), some will toss it onto the ground (even if seem like they'd never litter any other time), and some will double-put it onto the adjacent vehicle (yes, even with real parking tickets).
I think you just left 118 pieces of litter (blowing off the parking lot into adjacent properties) at YC Demo Day. Hopefully you'll perform some sort of "green litter offset" trash pickup to mitigate the environmental impact. Perhaps that may be assigned to you if you're unlucky.
Still, some people actually do pay money for the fake v!@gra to keep spammers in business. The difference here is the other 99.99% of spam victims can't physically locate the spammer to clobber or harangue them.
A 6-months-later update to recount the results of this experiment would be a real service to entrepreneurs as either an inspirational or cautionary tale.
People (both on HN and potentially IRL) or going to get a little frustrated with you for doing something like this. It's a little self-confident (maybe even pushy), will be very controversial, and walks the thin line between awesome and illegal.
Which is exactly why I love it.
Heck, let people call the police, go to jail for a couple of days or pay a fine, make a big ruckus about it, and make sure your company gets mentioned in all sorts of PR. Well done all the way around.
This is always relevant! I can't count the number of times I have shown this url to people discussing QR codes. And I am still waiting for the shiny day I find some creature "in the wild" conducting a QR code scan.
Yeah, I can go to tripl.com or whatever, also add your twitter/fb/G+ page otherwise you'll just look like some bozo stuck in Web 1.0 (contact by phone?!)
The only regular use I ever have for QR codes is loading a long page url I'm looking at on my desktop to my phone. I keep a chrome plugin installed so I can click a button for a QR code. Beyond that, I'm not going to some random link encoded in a QR code.
I used to feel the same way, then I started using QR codes to pay for things with LevelUp. I still haven't scanned one myself, nor do I have any intention to ever do so, but I have had people scan my QR code. :)
The joke is pretty good but it's unfortunate that the startup (Tripl - discover the world through your friends beautiful travel stories) has nothing to do with the ticket. Seems like it would work better for AngelList or some other company.
It's a novel idea that can sometimes have a great effect. This sort of marketing trick has been used too many times to count. I remember a few years ago there being an ideas festival in my city and someone came up with the idea of using fake looking city issued traffic infringements like yourself that resembled authentic tickets pretty closely that said something like, "A $250 fine for not doing what do you want in life" or something along those lines.
What happened next however is the organisers behind the campaign were slapped with a littering charge, warned that it's actually highly illegal to impersonate a traffic fine even if you put a disclaimer on the fake infringement ticket. I don't recall what else they were fined for besides the littering charge, but I am pretty sure it cost them a small fortune combined with the other charges.
Be careful, this kind of gimmick could cost you dearly. City councils love a good opportunity to extort money out of people.
Went to the website. It looks pretty enough but maybe you should show screenshots of what it actually does, since it's completely ambiguous unless you click on the tiny "Learn More" button at the top.
I received an email from a company that I did business with that said "urgent: [...]" as the title.
The email was a sale information message.
I complained to them immediately and haven't done any business with them since. Indeed this sort of dishonesty gets me to avoid as much as possible any support for a company. The message was not urgent in the least.
An antisocial attempt to con people in to paying more attention to your company: Hate is a word I seldom use but it seems valid here.
Presumably next up you'll be doing something like standing up in movie theatres shouting "fire!" so that people will exit past your friend holding an advertising board ...
wow this promotional idea combines all the fun of physical spam with the temporary terror of possibly going to jail. I understand their next promotion will involve donning ski masks and breaking in to your apartment while you shower. good work.
I probably wouldn't respond this way, but: if I see you touching my car, my personal property, and you're not wearing a law enforcement uniform, it would be well within my right to respond as if you're stealing or vandalizing my car. I can't speak to SF, but in many areas, when the police respond to the physical altercation, they'd be asking me if I want to press charges.
As annoying as it can be to come out and find someone has placed a flyer on my car, I very, very, seriously, highly doubt that I would NOT be charged for assault if I was to beat them up for it. But I'm willing to look at evidence in the contrary.
I think it works because the joke is clear by the second line. Any further and I bet people would be pretty pissed.
I had a friend do something similar to another friend just as a prank. Everything about the "ticket" looked official except for small print at the very bottom, which gave it away. They actually bought a disposable camera, took photos of the parked car (it wasn't illegally parked), and went to develop the photos before the joke was revealed.
Praise from me for the naughty tactic regardless of execution. If you're note sure if you did the right thing then find some consolation in the fourth point on this page:
http://paulgraham.com/founders.html
the thing i hate about windshield fliers is that there rarely is a trashcan nearby. Thus, being respectful of the wonderful bay area we live in, i end up folding it up and putting in my backseat or cup holder. It stays there for weeks until i go through the annoying stage of picking up all the miscellaneous stuff laying around in my car.
[+] [-] nessus42|13 years ago|reply
One reason why I don't find it particularly clever, is that it's really not all that different from all the physical junk mail I receive that tries to visually mimic some sort of important government notice.
[+] [-] jonnathanson|13 years ago|reply
That said, I'll give the man his props. This is ingenuity. Perhaps it's misdirected, to an extent. Perhaps it'll backfire. But it's something different. It is clever, regardless of whether we find it enjoyable or annoying.
EDIT: Minor nitpick, but I wouldn't have made so many grammatical errors in the fake ticket. They're pretty glaring. Especially for a first impression.
[+] [-] unreal37|13 years ago|reply
Are you really going to be pissed at that, or is that just one more pitch (that some on here think shows hustle)? Doubtful investors are going to be pissed at this, and ... so what if they are. A couple of hundred people just visited their web site, most of them with money to invest...
Like handing your CV outside a job fair instead of paying to go in. Those people are there for this very reason and won't be too upset by it. pg and team might be pissed however...
[+] [-] malbiniak|13 years ago|reply
However, what's there to lose?
[+] [-] rjb|13 years ago|reply
This was a relatively common tactic in Chicago a few years ago, done by restaurants and a band if I remember correctly. Heading to your car on your way to work in the morning and finding a fake ticket that ended up being, as you say, junk mail, really made people angry. I am pretty sure the city got involved people were so mad.
[+] [-] fabricode|13 years ago|reply
"Try the new app right now, its beautiful:"
As clever as it is, it would have been far more effective if you had checked your grammar before printing two hundred flyers.
[+] [-] xb95|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DigitalSea|13 years ago|reply
Edit and wow, down-voted for telling someone to ease up on the submitter because there is a grammar mistake in the fake ticket? What the heck is wrong with this place? The community appears to be in a lot worse shape than I thought.
[+] [-] vnorby|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] protomyth|13 years ago|reply
// sorry to be a killjoy
[+] [-] mchannon|13 years ago|reply
I think you just left 118 pieces of litter (blowing off the parking lot into adjacent properties) at YC Demo Day. Hopefully you'll perform some sort of "green litter offset" trash pickup to mitigate the environmental impact. Perhaps that may be assigned to you if you're unlucky.
Still, some people actually do pay money for the fake v!@gra to keep spammers in business. The difference here is the other 99.99% of spam victims can't physically locate the spammer to clobber or harangue them.
A 6-months-later update to recount the results of this experiment would be a real service to entrepreneurs as either an inspirational or cautionary tale.
[+] [-] fusiongyro|13 years ago|reply
Paper's biodegradable. This is just littering.
[+] [-] austenallred|13 years ago|reply
Which is exactly why I love it.
Heck, let people call the police, go to jail for a couple of days or pay a fine, make a big ruckus about it, and make sure your company gets mentioned in all sorts of PR. Well done all the way around.
[+] [-] ajasmin|13 years ago|reply
At least it shows these hackers are willing to go out and some promote their ideas.
[+] [-] colmvp|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stfu|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] fudged71|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nathanb|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grecy|13 years ago|reply
Is it legal for a random person (not law/parking enforcement) to pick up the wiper and but whatever garbage they want under there?
Can I put my used McDonald's bag under someones wiper?
[+] [-] raverbashing|13 years ago|reply
NOBODY CARES ABOUT QR CODES
Yeah, I can go to tripl.com or whatever, also add your twitter/fb/G+ page otherwise you'll just look like some bozo stuck in Web 1.0 (contact by phone?!)
[+] [-] cheald|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justjohn|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tedunangst|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reinhardt|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jhuckestein|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] DigitalSea|13 years ago|reply
What happened next however is the organisers behind the campaign were slapped with a littering charge, warned that it's actually highly illegal to impersonate a traffic fine even if you put a disclaimer on the fake infringement ticket. I don't recall what else they were fined for besides the littering charge, but I am pretty sure it cost them a small fortune combined with the other charges.
Be careful, this kind of gimmick could cost you dearly. City councils love a good opportunity to extort money out of people.
[+] [-] mratzloff|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pbhjpbhj|13 years ago|reply
The email was a sale information message.
I complained to them immediately and haven't done any business with them since. Indeed this sort of dishonesty gets me to avoid as much as possible any support for a company. The message was not urgent in the least.
An antisocial attempt to con people in to paying more attention to your company: Hate is a word I seldom use but it seems valid here.
Presumably next up you'll be doing something like standing up in movie theatres shouting "fire!" so that people will exit past your friend holding an advertising board ...
[+] [-] dmor|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] meatsock|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bdcravens|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jack-r-abbit|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] earbitscom|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kurtvarner|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Xcelerate|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bdcravens|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jere|13 years ago|reply
I had a friend do something similar to another friend just as a prank. Everything about the "ticket" looked official except for small print at the very bottom, which gave it away. They actually bought a disposable camera, took photos of the parked car (it wasn't illegally parked), and went to develop the photos before the joke was revealed.
[+] [-] allardschip|13 years ago|reply
Let us know how it goes.
[+] [-] mukaiji|13 years ago|reply