Philadelphia start up Dutch Umbrella offers pedestrians free use of their sponsored umbrellas. There are pick up and drop off points for them across the Fairmount area of the city and they’re soon expanding further. The brollies’ straps contain RFID chips which uniquely identify each item. The data are read regularly at each pick up and drop off point to form a map of the umbrella’s use. This research is then converted into reports for existing advertisers and helps market the medium to potential new sponsors.

The data could be useful to advertisers in pinpointing static locations that might be viable for an outdoor campaign based on the freqency of visits recorded by the umbrellas. The software analysing the RFID information was developed by location data specialists Concept2 Solution. It costs $100 per month for a campaign with 100 umbrellas in circulation. The name Dutch Umbrella is derived from the bicycle sharing system that’s long been a tradition in Amsterdam. Of course, effectiveness depends upon a good supply of rain spread continuously across the marketing period for the advertiser.

Dutch Umbrella comes from bar owner Joe Carlson, who wanted a way to lend his customers umbrellas and business partner Karen Rostmeyer, who had the idea to generate advertising revenue from the concept.