Gratis RFID umbrellas track movements, excite marketers

Dutch Umbrella -- a startup focusing its efforts in and around the city of brotherly love -- is looking to take the idea of courtesy umbrella rentals to a new level by incorporating RFID tags and marketers. Currently, the firm has landed eight partners that will toss logos on the stark white umbrellas and utilize the tantalizing tracking information that gets recorded each time a rainy day encourages patrons to grab some cover. Merchants are required to pony up $100 per month in order to receive the marketing intelligence, and can then use it to determine where umbrella carriers go once the downpour begins in order to better position future ads. Unfortunately, we tend to hear that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but there's probably not much truth to that.

[Via DailyWireless]

[LukeA @ Jun 10th 2007 10:06AM]

I'd rather be wet.

[ScOObyDoo @ Jun 10th 2007 10:14AM]

I never knew there was a market for umbrella rentals, let alone RFID tracking ones...

Seems like another solution in search of a problem...

[Stan Winstone @ Jun 10th 2007 10:22AM]

Are you f-ing kidding me? A cheap umbrella costs $4! Give me a free Mercedes with the RFID marketeer tracking and we have a deal.

[pencap23 @ Jun 10th 2007 10:28AM]

True, but no one wants to carry one around with them when it is sunny. Oh and, it definitely isn't always sunny in Philadelphia. ;)

[Gordon @ Jun 10th 2007 10:59AM]

Oh it rains in Philly...I'm just lazy. They'd be tracking my unopened umbrella in my laptop bag. :)

[todd @ Jun 10th 2007 11:50AM]

Yeah, um, it's raining....and I'll be going.....uhhh, the same freakin' places I would be going if it wasn't raining. Nice try.

[rockeranimefreak @ Jun 10th 2007 11:58AM]

Umbrella Corp ftw!

[Deadguy2322 @ Jun 10th 2007 12:31PM]

Dutch Umbrella, is that anything like a Dutch Rudder?

[George @ Jun 10th 2007 2:32PM]

The comment about it being sunny is philly is a joke, there is a tv show on fx called "its always sunny in philadelphia" for those who are lost. And i might ad its a hilarious tv show at that.

[thesawzall @ Jun 10th 2007 5:52PM]

This could really ruin the guy on 16th Street who sells $1 umbrellas marked up to $10 on rainy days.

[Reginald @ Jun 10th 2007 5:57PM]

Ironically I saw 2 umbrellas lying in e park this morning in Philly. Not too much good RFID tracking would do in this case. People loose umbrellas all the time.

[G-Bot @ Jun 10th 2007 11:12PM]

Wow - someone will find a way to track anything ! A matter of time before we all have RFID's in our cars or in our company assetts - laptop bags, etc...then our bosses could check to see if our laptop bag was just sitting at home when we were supposed to be working !

[julie @ Jun 12th 2007 10:23AM]

At some point tracking devices will be implanted inside us and marketers will send advertising to the devices....

[getbwr @ Jun 10th 2007 11:42PM]

How are they tracking the umbrellas? Do they have some kind of satellite-bourne RFID reader?

[Maboza Richie @ Jun 11th 2007 4:15AM]

That's what I was wondering too.

If it works, this is a great idea, regardless of what the naysayers... eh... say.