Is anything ever really free? FreeWater is challenging our economic model | Hard Reset

Поделиться
HTML-код
  • Опубликовано: 6 сен 2023
  • 27 million likes on TikTok. A $0.00 product. How does the ‘FreeWater’ company work?
    Subscribe to Freethink on RUclips ► freeth.ink/youtube-subscribe
    Up Next ► Why 10,000 tiny lenses are the key to our sci-fi future • Why 10,000 tiny lenses...
    What is your attention worth? FreeWater is begging us to rethink our current economic model by passing out completely free water bottles that leverage advertising on their packaging to cover the cost.
    This concept challenges the conventional notion of monetizing resources and advocates for a paradigm shift toward accessible goods. FreeWater is looking to expand into other products and even to become “the Whole Foods of free product.”
    What if we could move away from scarcity-centered economics toward a more inclusive, socially beneficial framework, with water distribution serving as an initial stepping stone?
    Watch on Freethink.com ► www.freethink.com/series/hard...
    ◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠
    Read more of our stories on entrepreneurship:
    Y Combinator launches a ‘Tinder for entrepreneurs’ to match startup co-founders
    ► www.freethink.com/entrepreneu...
    The 5-hour rule: How to turn a wasted day into a successful one
    ► www.freethink.com/entrepreneu...
    No, 90% of new businesses don’t fail. Here’s why.
    ► www.freethink.com/society/bui...
    ◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡
    Watch our original series:
    ► Hard Reset: • Hard Reset by Freethink
    ► Just Might Work: • Just Might Work by Fre...
    ► Challengers: • Challengers by Freethink
    ◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠◠
    About Freethink
    No politics, no gossip, no cynics. At Freethink, we believe the daily news should inspire people to build a better world. While most media is fueled by toxic politics and negativity, we focus on solutions: the smartest people, the biggest ideas, and the most ground breaking technology shaping our future.
    ◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡◡
    Enjoy Freethink on your favorite platforms:
    ► Daily editorial features: www.freethink.com/?...
    ► Solutions-based stories, straight to your inbox: www.freethink.com/subscribe/?...
    ► Facebook: / freethinkmedia​
    ► Instagram: / freethink​
    ► Twitter: / freethinkmedia​
    ► Join the Freethink forum: / freethinkforum

Комментарии • 790

  • @2MeterLP
    @2MeterLP 10 месяцев назад +1841

    It feels like a wholesome dystopia. Everything is plastered in ads, but it makes sure everyone can make it to the end of the month.

    • @upsilonalpha3982
      @upsilonalpha3982 10 месяцев назад +156

      Yeah. It really makes you think, why do companies running those ads have so much money to spend in the first place?

    • @cedriceric9730
      @cedriceric9730 10 месяцев назад

      ​@@upsilonalpha3982the miracle of economies of scale

    • @cedriceric9730
      @cedriceric9730 10 месяцев назад +80

      I like it , people suffer for absolutely no reason, yet there is such abundance its actually profitable for things to be given for free

    • @gorilladisco9108
      @gorilladisco9108 10 месяцев назад +38

      Everything is trade off. You want something, you have to pay one way or another. You want to watch free youtube contents? You pay with watching ads on youtube.

    • @DrDanWeaver
      @DrDanWeaver 10 месяцев назад +1

      As other economy sectors open ads can transition to public service info eg saving the health service money by fewer people doing X damaging activity

  • @Siranoxz
    @Siranoxz 11 месяцев назад +841

    In The Netherlands there was a similar idea to have free food in exchange for ads on the packaging covers, only the idea didnt went anywhere because the CEO wasn´t able to reach mass appeal on his idea.
    I hope this free water company can pull it off so this idea becomes more feasible.

    • @ItchyKneeSon
      @ItchyKneeSon 11 месяцев назад +30

      Sounds like it requires initial investment to get the word out. THEN, it could be feasible.

    • @jascrandom9855
      @jascrandom9855 10 месяцев назад +20

      I think it would have been better if they used the ads to make the products cheaper for the consumer rather than completely free.

    • @stuart6478
      @stuart6478 10 месяцев назад +1

      nah f them

    • @BlackopsSOG1
      @BlackopsSOG1 10 месяцев назад +8

      maybe they were too ahead of their time

    • @Omninfinity
      @Omninfinity 10 месяцев назад

      And in Singapore

  • @Gaijin101
    @Gaijin101 11 месяцев назад +925

    really hope they can sustain the model

    • @andrewreynolds912
      @andrewreynolds912 11 месяцев назад +27

      As a socialist yes that can be done. Man! You don't need to profit from this just be sustainable.

    • @frostbite9743
      @frostbite9743 11 месяцев назад

      well... give it a few more years and some success and you'll see the ceo and any one important will have a "accident"... assassinated, like any one with a good idea that threatened the capitalism. like the guy who made a car that runs on water and got poisoned for it.

    • @joshwells3247
      @joshwells3247 10 месяцев назад +10

      If everything is free who pays for the ads?

    • @deepseadarew6012
      @deepseadarew6012 10 месяцев назад +22

      @@joshwells3247 As more parts of the economy are automated, than efforts like in this video can be the thing that drives us to a post scarcity society. It will be paid by robotic labor.

    • @vincentseng
      @vincentseng 10 месяцев назад

      Human are greedy thought, if its free then someone need to make sure everybody just take the amount calculated by for ads per person.
      Imagine having it in a country that hoarding everything free, one people will try to turn back and get more water.

  • @circuloviciosamente
    @circuloviciosamente 10 месяцев назад +651

    For this business to work, they need to offer free products to people who can spend money on the company's products that pay for ads. So this won't solve any real shortages in the world.

    • @denisflorian2431
      @denisflorian2431 10 месяцев назад +20

      if the company is google, you do not need to pay for google, then its a W

    • @gymratsunited8391
      @gymratsunited8391 10 месяцев назад +83

      Being Poor now doesn't mean they'll be poor tomorrow. Man if a company is raking in mountains of cash from providing free products they are incentivized to give it to as many people as possible regardless if they can buy their current products because in the future those people will likely remember that you were the company that gave them the essentials. Honestly, this is branding gold!

    • @circuloviciosamente
      @circuloviciosamente 10 месяцев назад

      @@gymratsunited8391 So your premise must take into account the social mobility of each country or region. Good luck explaining it to stakeholders when presenting your marketing campaign.

    • @oomraden
      @oomraden 10 месяцев назад

      ​@@gymratsunited8391with the rise of data analytics, we can only hope the facts are favorable

    • @gymratsunited8391
      @gymratsunited8391 10 месяцев назад +7

      @@Joe-sg9ll that's also a good point

  • @LiquidDemocracyNH
    @LiquidDemocracyNH 11 месяцев назад +384

    He's describing two different things and kind of lumping them together.
    Thing number 1 is that the marginal cost of producing some goods is declining so much it could potentially become free.
    Thing number 2 is that water, and many other goods, could be paid for through advertising instead of cash.
    Advertising isn't free. In fact, I would argue that it costs us more than cash because it relies on us being irrational enough to be manipulated by ads Into buying products that we potentially don't really need.
    The goal of a Zero Marginal Cost economy is not to sell things using ads, it is to create an environment of free collaboration like what currently exists with Open Source Code. Where it becomes less efficient to put the boundaries of property rights around code than for different programmers to share that code with one another freely

    • @ItchyKneeSon
      @ItchyKneeSon 11 месяцев назад +27

      Word. That manipulation you speak of is why I didn't use my marketing degree and opted to teach English abroad with it instead. But, the cynical side (majority?) of my mind told me I was just 'marketing' the ideas/thinking of the west to Asia while diluting their culture. Le sigh...

    • @WildVoltorb
      @WildVoltorb 11 месяцев назад +6

      Well... I love open source software

    • @pingpong1727
      @pingpong1727 10 месяцев назад +4

      While I agree it can be thought of as manipulation, I personally don't really have a want to buy things, I don't really worry about purchasing products I don't need

    • @hackladdy9886
      @hackladdy9886 10 месяцев назад

      ​@@pingpong1727 The thing is, that's what advertising relies on as a whole. You need to, on average, get more money back in purchases than you spend on ads. If you don't, then you'll never pay for ad placements. If you give everything away for free, via ads, then the products being advertised need to see a corresponding boost in sales at least equal to the cost of those ads that went to making products free.
      In a sense, this business model can only go so far. If they make a free grocery store chain, but all the ads on the products are never purchased because alternatives to those items exist in the free store (i.e, ads for Lay's chips, but the free store also has potato chips), then they'll pull all their ad money, and the free store will go bankrupt.
      That's why you'll likely never see any bottled water companies advertise on Freewater. They can't advertise a paid alternative that's identical to the product you can get for free. Free bottled water can advertise anything other than bottled water. Free rideshare can advertise anything except rideshare. Free food can advertise anything except food.
      But if all of these categories become free, even if made that way by different individual organizations, the result is a free alternative to everything, and thus, all the ads for every category would run dry.
      You'd need either a self-organized, networked system where certain organizations agree to supply materials and produce products for each other for zero cost, or a complete teardown and replacement of capitalism itself.

    • @RandomPerson-tz7wk
      @RandomPerson-tz7wk 10 месяцев назад +17

      1. He explain how his business work. It's not "lumping" them together.
      2. In the video it clearly state that water is FREE for the consumer. NOT THE ADVERTISER.
      3. It's have nothing to do with zero marginal cost economy you randomly lumping into this. His views is that product and service is possible to be obtained for free irl through ads.
      4. Another random lump, open source code. It's totally irrelevant. How do think the internet work? It is run by ads to pay for all the hosting and computing cost. You got to pay something. It's either your attention or through subscription.

  • @adamsparks5877
    @adamsparks5877 10 месяцев назад +41

    This feels like its going to lead to that black mirror episode where you're forced to watch ads on the walls of your home

    • @Nic-iz6vp
      @Nic-iz6vp 4 месяца назад

      Bro you gone too dark with thisss

    • @aniketkumarsingh3499
      @aniketkumarsingh3499 2 месяца назад +1

      They are not shoving the water down your throat , if you don't want to see ads just buy water from some other company .

  • @rancidmarshmallow4468
    @rancidmarshmallow4468 10 месяцев назад +117

    This seems like it works for now because the cost of the water is low and the ads are being handed to middle or high income consumers in large cities, how would advertisers possibly still be interested in paying for a product being given to someone in poverty, who will never end up buying something because of that ad? In a way, the cost of the free item is the potential amount the person getting it will spend on the advertised products later. If that drops too low compared to the cost to produce the free item because people get used to ignoring the ads, don't have the means to buy those things, or the free item is more valuable, the price will become too low for the model to be sustainable

    • @matthewthompson6455
      @matthewthompson6455 10 месяцев назад +6

      Yeah this idea is garbage.

    • @minecraftminertime
      @minecraftminertime 10 месяцев назад +18

      If you think it’s garbage, stop using Google and RUclips.

    • @extasja
      @extasja 10 месяцев назад

      you really are rancid.. jeeesus

    • @y0h0p38
      @y0h0p38 9 месяцев назад +5

      ​@@minecraftminertimeOnline stuff is accessable to anyone. Your marketing your product to everyone, poor or rich, and those with money are more likely to be online. With a physical item, you have to physically move, ship or package it in each country, not just the entire planet. With very poor areas, theres not really anyone to market these products too, they arn't going to be buying imported items or anything.This idea can work in small areas or communitys, but not on a larger scale, at least until we can stabalize everything and have issues with poverty, etc fixed

    • @LuminaNinetales
      @LuminaNinetales 9 месяцев назад

      And how many times did you buy something because you saw an ad on youtube exactly ? Tell me.

  • @JanMyler
    @JanMyler 10 месяцев назад +193

    It's a really interesting model. Specifically with water, in Europe, where most countries have good quality tap water and drinking fountains outside basically for free, I don't wanna see more people getting on the trend of water in one time use packaging. Just because it's free does not mean it's sustainable or necessary.

    • @iluvpandas2755
      @iluvpandas2755 10 месяцев назад +8

      True in most developed countries free water is not too useful but in poorer countries with less healthy tap it is a life changer.

    • @iluvpandas2755
      @iluvpandas2755 10 месяцев назад +5

      Even if the consumer cannot afford the advertised product if they are given more of the essentials like free water they will be able to climb out of poverty.

    • @freshrockpapa-e7799
      @freshrockpapa-e7799 9 месяцев назад +6

      ​@@iluvpandas2755yes but why would a company want to put ads seen by poor Africans? The whole thing makes no sense.

    • @anyways4438
      @anyways4438 9 месяцев назад +3

      Drinking fountains are the kind of free water we need everywhere, I don't think the guys in the video are bad people but I want their idea to fail, which it probably will

    • @iluvpandas2755
      @iluvpandas2755 9 месяцев назад +1

      @freshrockpapa-e7799
      Well if the poor can afford the basic stuff they can climb out of poverty then buy the advertised products.

  • @rushabhsuchdev3335
    @rushabhsuchdev3335 10 месяцев назад +66

    Although it's a clever idea, the idea on a large-scale does contain a potential loophole. If the premise is that everything can be obtained for free as long as users are exposed to advertising for other products, those advertised products must, in turn, be purchased to sustain the companies promoting them. In the grand scheme of things, this can result in a statistical net zero outcome.

    • @mycollegeshirt
      @mycollegeshirt 9 месяцев назад +6

      Sounds a lot cheaper than a billboard

    • @Nov1706
      @Nov1706 9 месяцев назад +10

      If the free things are life sustaining and the purchased goods are luxury, the trade off isn't important.

  • @dwighthouse
    @dwighthouse 11 месяцев назад +12

    Another thing. I also live in Austin, and I can confirm it is about 300 degrees most days. My lawn is not doing so hot right now. Can I come by and pick up... 8000 gallons of free water per month? I promise I will stare at an ad for 30 full seconds.

  • @Rusty_119
    @Rusty_119 9 месяцев назад +13

    “Be the Whole Foods of free products” this line perfectly sums up the reality of Silicon Valley investors having loads of cash but still needing to be spoken to like children

  • @dwighthouse
    @dwighthouse 11 месяцев назад +5

    1. Make free products supported by ads.
    2. All products become free.
    3. ???
    4. Profit… wait, that can’t happen because ads are for selling other products for profit. If everything is free, there is no profit and nothing to advertise. So then companies won’t take out ad space on those other free products, so they aren’t ad supported, so they can’t be free.
    This business plan is an Ouroboros: it eats itself. It only seems to maybe kind of work as long as you don’t look too closely.

  • @stinson87
    @stinson87 10 месяцев назад +13

    Being a rather frugal person, this is really interesting. I am one of those people that downloads a game with micro purchases but will only watch ads and not spend a dime on upgrades :D

  • @RayMak
    @RayMak 10 месяцев назад +3

    The ads on the bottle!!! That is very very smart!

  • @danycashking
    @danycashking 10 месяцев назад +5

    I prefer this honestly because physical ads are less intrusive, if it interests you it interests you and if not you can ignore it, unlike digital ads which chase you down like a bloodhound surfacing on every webpage you visit repeatedly even if you would never buy the product or service advertised.

  • @jascrandom9855
    @jascrandom9855 10 месяцев назад +18

    This is an amazing idea. However, I don't think it's scalable to the whole economy. It still requires people to buy whatever it is being advertised. Not to mention it might not work completely with most products, as most cost more to make than plain bottled water. But it could be used to lower the cost of some products.

  • @Wozza365
    @Wozza365 10 месяцев назад +8

    The people that are going to be most interested in free stuff are also those that are the worst to advertise to. There's no point advertising pretty much anything to people who are completely broke.

    • @marcinlachowski5832
      @marcinlachowski5832 10 месяцев назад

      unless ads are not ethical, like fake gurus shady business.

    • @kjw79
      @kjw79 10 месяцев назад

      Not necessarily. I have family who are not poor, and have a lot of purchasing power BECAUSE they are budget conscious with their daily purchases. They would never spend $3 on a bottled water because they intend to save to purchase large high quality items instead

    • @Wozza365
      @Wozza365 10 месяцев назад +1

      @@kjw79 yes you're right, I'm one of those people too, but because we are budget conscious, the ads selling other products are also not going to appeal to us either. Most people budget conscious don't really let ads sway their purchase decisions as much.

    • @Wozza365
      @Wozza365 10 месяцев назад

      @@kjw79 also weird coincidence if your initials are also kjw as mine are too:)

  • @smhily
    @smhily 11 месяцев назад +52

    If something is free, you're the product

    • @VictorMartinez-zf6dt
      @VictorMartinez-zf6dt 11 месяцев назад +5

      What about free water fountains?

    • @OddWoz
      @OddWoz 10 месяцев назад

      You are anyway.

    • @Singlajayin
      @Singlajayin 10 месяцев назад

      Based jahy sama wisdom

  • @definitelynotcole
    @definitelynotcole 11 месяцев назад +10

    Nothing is free. We have been this through this before. Think about the app industry on your phone, eventually they get their money. And there's nothing wrong with that. People need to get paid for their work.

    • @SozioTheRogue
      @SozioTheRogue 11 месяцев назад +1

      It depends on what you mean by that. Obviously nothing is literally free but it can be virtually free. We pay taxes so that many things are virtually free, roads, homeless shelters, parks, I can't really think of more examples but you get the points. RUclips is a prime example. If they didn't use ads we would all be paying a dollar to use it every month. I'd rather see adds on my water than pay for it, knowing that it can honestly be "free" if someone put their mind to it. and apparently a company now has, lets hope they keep it going and spread it to more things.

  • @homo-sapiens-dubium
    @homo-sapiens-dubium 11 месяцев назад +10

    well, technically this is bringing us closer to scenes from the movie idiocracy with people wearing pyjamas with ads printed on them

    • @elijahgtp
      @elijahgtp 10 месяцев назад +6

      You're a bit late. People have been doing free ads on their clothes for decades with all the logos. It's fools who think they can impress others with a more expensive logo on their t-shirt.

  • @ferdailio
    @ferdailio 11 месяцев назад +8

    I'm pretty sure this is one of the concepts explored in the Idiocracy movie.

  • @ninjanerdstudent6937
    @ninjanerdstudent6937 10 месяцев назад +27

    The vending machines need to be deployed in all colleges. Food pantries are already ubiquitous across campuses. This needs to happen.

    • @Koczu0
      @Koczu0 10 месяцев назад +5

      or just sink with clean water, take your bootle...

    • @freshrockpapa-e7799
      @freshrockpapa-e7799 9 месяцев назад +3

      Please don't. Terrible idea. Colleges can have a regular canteen and fountains, there's no need for more packaged consumption.

  • @subscriptionsmail3940
    @subscriptionsmail3940 11 месяцев назад +4

    Feels like I have more questions now than I did earlier

  • @user-xi2zy2mv4e
    @user-xi2zy2mv4e 10 месяцев назад +93

    Advertising to people who cant afford water is the greatest business plan I have heard this entire day.

    • @ayszhang
      @ayszhang 10 месяцев назад +3

      You clearly don't know how advertising works 😂😂😂 Why do brands make sure their logo is printed on shopping bags?

    • @freshrockpapa-e7799
      @freshrockpapa-e7799 9 месяцев назад +1

      ​@@ayszhangso that their brand logo ends up held by a homeless dude? Nah, that doesn't feel right.

    • @aryaprincess2479
      @aryaprincess2479 9 месяцев назад +1

      They are not advertising to people who cannot afford water. Everyone gets water and gets to see the advertisements. It is that for every bottle you get, the advertisements paid for it. If you can afford water but got one for free you might buy something from the advertised products as well since you will be seeing them every day in your free water.
      The people who cannot afford water will get free water as a side effect of it.
      At least this is what they are trying to do.

    • @freshrockpapa-e7799
      @freshrockpapa-e7799 9 месяцев назад

      @@aryaprincess2479 how will the poor people get the free water if you only give it in rich neighborhoods? Or viceversa? I really don't understand how you're not seeing the problem. No one will pay for ads watched by poor people, who are the people who need free stuff in the first place (although not water, because that's already given to them for free pretty much anywhere).

    • @aryaprincess2479
      @aryaprincess2479 9 месяцев назад

      @@freshrockpapa-e7799 They will be giving it everywhere. As long as advertisers are willing to pay for a place in the bottle's advertising body, that is what matters. It doesn't even matter if anyone will ever buy anything because they saw an advertisement there.
      Many companies give free money to put their products on a good cause just to get clout. A company that supports the free water movement would get positive view from people. This is what advertisement does, they pay to get clout. They cannot put a profit on this on the advertisers side. You never know how much money an advertisement will bring back to the company. You just do it for clout.
      I have seen big companies pay millions just to advertise themselves on sports events for example, have you ever taken into consideration that advertisement to buy coca cola? I sure don't, you either drink coca cola or you don't. I personally don't drink coca cola so no matter the million/billions they spend on advertisement, they are doing nothing for me.
      They give millions to put advertisement in billboards or TV shows... someone is making a huge profit from the advertisement money, in this case it is the billboard owner or the TV owner, what these people are trying to do is put that profit into making bottled water and not make millions for themselves, other than paying their monthly salary (I guess).
      I am not saying it will work, but if it can work, it can work for water since it is super cheap and everyone drinks it, and also I would personally try to promote it for the sake of giving water to those who can't have it.

  • @Mactakun
    @Mactakun 9 месяцев назад +3

    I can’t wait to watch an ad before I get my designated three pieces of toilet paper.

  • @Real_Name_Redacted
    @Real_Name_Redacted 11 месяцев назад +65

    I like the concept.
    Taking the youtube approach and directing it to a physical product isnt somethingbive thought of before.
    I know people Will complain that you're being charged out of your taxes due to government subsidies and so forth, but we pay taxes regardless.
    So if they can take something that I am forced to pay on a yearly basis (depending on my income and bracket) and funnel that into something that directly benefits me as well as charitable acts overseas, im good with that.

    • @ItchyKneeSon
      @ItchyKneeSon 11 месяцев назад +11

      I guess I'd rather have my taxes go to *healthy* food for others than to unnecessary wars. We can't really choose either way.

    • @dwighthouse
      @dwighthouse 11 месяцев назад

      @@ItchyKneeSon got some bad news for you. Most of your taxes are already just being given to other people in the form of handouts and various social programs. If the USA never again spent another penny on the military, and also the courts, congress, and all the actual lawmaking and enforcement, the country will still default eventually because they are spend far more on giving people things than they take in in taxes.

  • @turnleft8645
    @turnleft8645 10 месяцев назад +30

    I also think they will only be able to pull something like this off in countries where people have high disposable income. If people who take the product can't afford what's being advertised then there are no incentives for the people who advertise their product

    • @dominicrutherford4498
      @dominicrutherford4498 10 месяцев назад +4

      hopefully their profits cover poor countries. 10 cents a bottle for wells, maybe they’ll be able to make even more astounding donations in the future

  • @Whayles
    @Whayles 11 месяцев назад +8

    This was actually really great! I’ve heard discussions and proposals about emerging business models, but never thought about as supported physical products. On the whole for competitive markets, once growths slows, there is always a race to the bottom. So this is quite interesting

    • @gorilladisco9108
      @gorilladisco9108 10 месяцев назад

      Google had done that for years ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
      And before that, radio. television, and newspaper had already done that too. So, it's new in the stuff that they are used on, but the concept is old.

  • @S25plus
    @S25plus 11 месяцев назад +5

    LOL, "that guy can fold a human in half" 🤣🤣🤣

  • @mluna1237
    @mluna1237 10 месяцев назад +5

    This is an interesting idea, but I don't like that they're using water in disposable bottles as their launch point. If this takes off, they're going to be competing with municipal water fountains, which are not only free to use, but don't have ads on them either. I'd feel much better about this idea if they had picked a different product.

  • @ninjanerdstudent6937
    @ninjanerdstudent6937 10 месяцев назад +8

    Imagine getting a free apple that advertises an Apple product.

  • @gymratsunited8391
    @gymratsunited8391 10 месяцев назад +44

    Being poor NOW doesn't mean they'll be poor TOMORROW. If a company is raking in mountains of cash from providing free products they are incentivized to give it to as many people as possible regardless if they can buy their current products. In the future those people will remember that you were the company that gave them the essentials. Honestly, this is branding gold!

  • @alexskeens9845
    @alexskeens9845 11 месяцев назад +13

    This is a great expectation of companies that force ads on us and is a great human standard to give back.❤

    • @clusterstage
      @clusterstage 11 месяцев назад +3

      This is exactly why "in the age of AI, money will be irrelevant."
      Goods (and services) are given away for free in exchange for attention and other abstract things (like beliefs/votes/hopes&dreams)

    • @stuart6478
      @stuart6478 10 месяцев назад

      advertising nightmare future. f that

    • @alexskeens9845
      @alexskeens9845 10 месяцев назад

      @@stuart6478 think about all the companies that have extra profits that are sitting in bank accounts they could be using that money to give away free houses that could advertise their business more if you got rid of all the homeless people and they gave everyone a more of an equal chance to make a quality life I'm for it

    • @clusterstage
      @clusterstage 10 месяцев назад

      Idiocracy (2006) @@stuart6478

  • @pmr5336
    @pmr5336 9 месяцев назад +1

    The business model only works as long as the advertisers additional sales profit is bigger than the amounts spent on advertisement. So the catch is, that you only get the water for "free", because you are gonna spent (at least) an equivalent additional amount on the advertised goods (on average over the target population). So for the average user it is not free, but instead fairly priced.

  • @mybachhertzbaud3074
    @mybachhertzbaud3074 10 месяцев назад

    So pleased to see this! A few years ago , a young man at a high school asked me, for what I supposed was an assignment, "What would you change to make the future better"? My reply was to get rid of money and just give things away. Kudos guys!😁

  • @jamesheller2707
    @jamesheller2707 11 месяцев назад +6

    This was really cool video and Idea, Keep up the good work guys!! you are doing amazing job

  • @ArturNagy
    @ArturNagy 11 месяцев назад +23

    Sound interesting and promising, hope they can sustain the way they do things!

  • @ThunderousMuffin
    @ThunderousMuffin 11 месяцев назад +5

    I think I've finally found the loop hole needed to get medical marijuana for patients since insurance won't cover it. Partner with organic grows and sell ad space on various packaging that meet state requirements. Gives the industry a place to promote and does some good too.

    • @WildVoltorb
      @WildVoltorb 11 месяцев назад +1

      Free weed huh, that sounds amazing

  • @Rumen.Aleksandrov
    @Rumen.Aleksandrov 9 месяцев назад +2

    This may work for a while but we wont really live in a "free world". The companies that are paying for advertising will need to generate money, and if every product is free then there will be no company that will be able to pay for advertising.

  • @kyleb3967
    @kyleb3967 10 месяцев назад +3

    I'm skeptical of this model in the long run because of price arbitrage. If people are willing to purchase water, then giving it away for free is not a market equilibrium. An arbitrageur can simply order or collect free water and sell it to willing buyers, maybe just by ripping off the ad-supported label. If there is no cost to taking more, a rational consumer will take as much as they can hold. In fact, if you set up a stand with those waters costing 50c at the same place, I'm sure people would gladly turn over two quarters. Ta-da, you've made free money. Additionally, I suspect the ads on the side of the bottle are being overvalued because ultimately firms want to advertise to people who are likely to purchase their product. The fact that someone is looking at a water bottle which cost them nothing would indicate to me that person is no more and probably even less likely to fork out their money on something else. Essentially, I think this "free" product will eventually fail in a market where people already expect and are willing to pay for the product.

  • @nikytamayo
    @nikytamayo 9 месяцев назад +2

    It's weird to think about, but other kinds of products of labor, like art, music, and writing (journalism, feature writing), have had negative value for a while, now. Supported by advertising or used as advertising.
    Not that labor is unpaid, only that what the consumer pays... or doesn't pay... doesn't reflect the value of labor put into it.

  • @ehanoldaccount5893
    @ehanoldaccount5893 10 месяцев назад +1

    Nothing is free. This video reinforces that. You pay with your time, time is money. Add up all the time wasted on RUclips adds and compare that to a wage if you had worked all that time.. You get the point. Also we are more likely to shift towards paying to advertise, much of modern fashion is just paying to advertise a brand’s name in a fancy font..

  • @Xiaoxiao738
    @Xiaoxiao738 10 месяцев назад +4

    For this to work you will have to set a limit of items per person otherwise you'll just have people that go and empty the vending machines or the stores.
    Which won't really work because the quantities of food people need to survive are different. What a family needs to survive is different to someone who lives by themself.
    So if you ended up with all the shops being like this. Now your food consumption is determined either by the state or a corporation.
    For water it makes sense cause water should just be free anyway.

  • @JesPulido
    @JesPulido 10 месяцев назад +5

    I could see this being successful at music festivals, theme parks, airports. Places with captive audiences and other companies that they can sell ads to. Also, people already walk around with miniature billboards on their clothing and Starbucks/Dunkin cups.

    • @RandomPerson-tz7wk
      @RandomPerson-tz7wk 10 месяцев назад +1

      No it won't. There going to be some jerk that is going to take all the free stuff and resale it a mark up.

    • @selfsaboteursounds5273
      @selfsaboteursounds5273 10 месяцев назад

      @@RandomPerson-tz7wk not unless this new industry lobbies the gov't to make that sort of reselling illegal. In fact, snack manufacturers already of something like this in place, with the "NOT FOR RESALE" markings on packaging that are backed up by other vending laws. People who want to resell cheetos have to buy bulk quantities that are specifically sold and marked for that purpose. Same situation applies here

  • @retartedfreak
    @retartedfreak 10 месяцев назад +7

    This is brilliant. ROI is basically impossible to track on advertisments, and this just exploits that. It markets itself because it's novel, but it will never scale.

    • @jordan8056
      @jordan8056 10 месяцев назад +3

      not necessarily true. Lots of "untrackable" ads have promo codes that give discounts so their effectiveness can be tracked

  • @McMarc_1993
    @McMarc_1993 10 месяцев назад +1

    this is really cool. I love the idea and would love to see this concept on many more products in the food and drink category. Those would be the kind of ads I welcome, since they benefit everyone.

  • @charithfernando
    @charithfernando 10 месяцев назад

    This playlist is really inspiring. Thank you for the great edits and cool presentation in every video. Please continue this playlist.

    • @freethink
      @freethink  10 месяцев назад

      We will! Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind comment.❤️

  • @manana1444
    @manana1444 10 месяцев назад +1

    This reminds of the tissue pack marketing that has been popular in japan for a long rime. I wonder why the whole "giving away consumable stuff with ads for free" type of marketing never seemed to get picked up in other countries, considering it's supper effective and beneficial to everyone involved.

  • @ninjanerdstudent6937
    @ninjanerdstudent6937 10 месяцев назад +11

    Genius idea. Ads in intangible products can be blocked seamlessly, but ads in the tangible products cannot be blocked.

    • @thundaz7095
      @thundaz7095 9 месяцев назад

      Custom water bottle cover?
      Just slip it on when getting the free water and never even see the ad.

  • @hclwalterx
    @hclwalterx 9 месяцев назад +1

    No matter if you have to say something or not, just write down a comment, so this gets pushed by YT!!! Share and like. This should be mainstream.

  • @ItchyKneeSon
    @ItchyKneeSon 11 месяцев назад +7

    If this model takes off, at some point, won't the value of each item's advertising drop like crazy?

    • @2MeterLP
      @2MeterLP 10 месяцев назад +1

      Only if everything becomes free. Some things (like cars) are too expensive to produce to give them away for ad viewing.

    • @cedriceric9730
      @cedriceric9730 10 месяцев назад

      ​@@2MeterLPcars are technological dinosaurs run by cartels , if the experiment with free television works , cars will certainly be next

    • @cedriceric9730
      @cedriceric9730 10 месяцев назад

      You mean like a feedback loop😂
      It can go any direction

  • @veganchaatparty
    @veganchaatparty 10 месяцев назад +2

    This is literally nuts.....totally blown away by this.....wow what a way to think about ads and goods.....amazing...epic....I super hope they succeed in growing the business......thanks for sharing!

    • @freethink
      @freethink  10 месяцев назад +1

      Glad you enjoyed it! What product do you think should be next?

    • @veganchaatparty
      @veganchaatparty 10 месяцев назад

      that's a superb question, thanks.....I want to suggest food revolution through vertical farming and I am sorry If you already talked about it and I haven't yet watched.....thanks@@freethink

    • @anmolagrawal5358
      @anmolagrawal5358 10 месяцев назад

      ​​@@freethinkConcept of Kundalini / energy work in relation to sexual enrichment and meditative advancement.
      Thukdam is another similar topic that got some steam recently.
      It is very interesting and has got great potential, so if you guys can find someone who is qualified to explain / inform about this, I think that would be great.

  • @Thegentechgamer
    @Thegentechgamer 9 месяцев назад

    7:19 "other essential goods, like beer"
    ah yes, beer is an essential good. can't live without it.

  • @davidemartella8149
    @davidemartella8149 9 месяцев назад

    Best tradeoff I ever seen: free water just because it is platered in ads. So trivial and so genius.

  • @Singlepringl
    @Singlepringl 8 месяцев назад

    I like that it doesn’t look like regular water bottles. I like the ads on the pack. It’s lovely 👍🏾

  • @AgentOrange96
    @AgentOrange96 10 месяцев назад +2

    I see a fundamental issue here. Businesses buy advertisements to gain customers who pay for goods and services. If they fail to convert ads into enough paying customers to turn a profit, they will no longer run the advertisement.
    Those who will require ad-supported options are going to be the ones who cannot afford to buy the products or services being advertised.
    So either the businesses pull out because they are not making money or the customer is getting milked for even more money that they do not have on products they saw advertised.
    This may be mitigated in markets where people have wealth but still like free stuff, and then might spend their money on whatever is advertised rather than the item they were originally going to buy. Which makes Austin actually a pretty decent place to run this kind of program.

    • @DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWii
      @DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWii 8 месяцев назад

      I think it's just too expensive for marketing to unqualified prospects. Free products are already giving away at conventions where it makes more sense to do so because attendees payed for entrance and have an interest in your field.

  • @TheTarrMan
    @TheTarrMan 10 месяцев назад

    @5:54
    WTF I wasn't expecting that, hahaha!

  • @nicolasdujarrier
    @nicolasdujarrier 11 месяцев назад +4

    Sorry, but such idea can’t really work if there isn’t an allocation limit per person, as otherwise someone with hoarding behavior could collect the most chunk of it just for himself. And if someone is hoarding, then it ruins the advertisement business model (that want to advertise to as many potential customers as possible)
    To be more effective, there is a need to set-up an account per person, and every person would be allowed a free allocation / per day. Ex: 1 bottle per person, per day. And with targeted advertising related to the account.

  • @ac-qf7hf
    @ac-qf7hf 10 месяцев назад +2

    It's nice to know people are able to hand out products for free when it's supported by ads, but I'm skeptical if this business model can last. Free things are highly exploitative and it might be more difficult to find advertisers as they scale up and give more expensive products.

  • @kumrogames
    @kumrogames 9 месяцев назад

    Wild idea for sure! would be nice to see this take off!

  • @Maebbie
    @Maebbie 10 месяцев назад

    gonna just put a cover on top of the water bottle lolol

  • @MyUncleWorksForNintendo
    @MyUncleWorksForNintendo 8 месяцев назад

    "essential goods, like beer!" I do need my beer.

  • @smily1110
    @smily1110 10 месяцев назад +1

    Free water is not free to the company Freewater. The company Freewater has to pay for the water, the bottles, and printing the advertisement .They do this by getting companies to pay them to advertise there product or services.
    My eye brows raised when I heard free cars. It made me wonder.
    When all these products are free to the public because they pay for advertisements, what will be left to advertise?
    Will it cost more then a car?

  • @Vulioll
    @Vulioll 10 месяцев назад +1

    Wow and I apreciate the bottles are Aluminum! It's really the best choice for recyclability!

  • @practicalryan
    @practicalryan 10 месяцев назад +1

    I feel like other companies are already doing this. Except the ad revenue is passed on to the companies and consumers pay full price for something they "Agreed" to in their 10,000-page Terms of Service.

  • @NiDeCo
    @NiDeCo 10 месяцев назад +4

    As long as the thing you're giving out for free isn't easily resellable, this might work for some products.
    If you have a store where everything is free, with no limit, the person running the store next to it could just walk in, take everything, and set it up in their store and sell it with 100% margin.
    (if the products are in some way sellable, because hopefully consumers wouldn't put down money for something that says it should be free... but everyone knows there's ways around that AND situations where even people who wouldn't normally are going to pay for it)

    • @boarbot7829
      @boarbot7829 9 месяцев назад

      Not 100% margin. Infinite/undefined profit margins.

  • @jaanunlimited17
    @jaanunlimited17 9 месяцев назад +1

    It's a paradox, if everything becomes free than what will they sell ads for?

  • @DesignFIaw
    @DesignFIaw 10 месяцев назад +2

    I'm wondering, if it is free, what stops people from hoarding, or other companies from redistributing it?

  • @ashurroth6585
    @ashurroth6585 11 месяцев назад +2

    I think some of the comments have a good point. Sustainable packaging is a must. Aluminum would be a step in the right direction but even those have a plastic coating inside.
    The individualized advertising is what's going to make this worth a company's dime and time. Imagine being able to take something like the google algorithm from someone's smart device and printing the label as it vends. Steering people towards local businesses or online stores. That kind of targeting is something that companies already pay a lot of money for.

    • @rkenshin87
      @rkenshin87 11 месяцев назад

      QR code printing as it vends is totally doable

  • @apoorvgupta2511
    @apoorvgupta2511 9 месяцев назад +1

    If at one point everything is free, then who( or which companies) will pay for ads, as everything is practically free.

  • @rubbersidedown5620
    @rubbersidedown5620 11 месяцев назад +4

    If they stood way back from the cooler of free water and just had a big sign that said this water is free because it was paid for by ads you might get a lot more people coming by and then anyone who wanted to talk to them could do so on their own accord.

    • @rkenshin87
      @rkenshin87 11 месяцев назад

      A good part two or future video

  • @TheNobleBard
    @TheNobleBard 10 месяцев назад +1

    I like the concept. Implementation will become VERY important to avoid a tragedy of the commons.

  • @isa_lim
    @isa_lim 10 месяцев назад +2

    What if advertisers want to target their ads? Kinda hard to convince the advertisers their ads will get enough impressions from the correct group of people no?

    • @pedroclampton
      @pedroclampton 10 месяцев назад

      if the correct group of people is location based mainly, than this would work very well.

  • @Rusty_119
    @Rusty_119 9 месяцев назад +1

    “Be the Whole Foods of real products” this line perfectly sums up the reality of Silicon Valley investors having loads of cash but still needing to be spoken to like children

  • @freedomwriter1995
    @freedomwriter1995 11 месяцев назад +2

    They need to pack their products in metal cans to prevent them from worsening the global plastic pollution crisis.

    • @Ratgodx
      @Ratgodx 11 месяцев назад

      No. That’s obviously gonna be a price increase they can’t sustain. Go complain to China and India about pollution and let us have this

  • @miroslavkutak9430
    @miroslavkutak9430 10 месяцев назад +1

    The amount of plastic is just mind boggling...

  • @mrbane2000
    @mrbane2000 11 месяцев назад +14

    Love aluminum bottle design. I think it would even easier and better to recycle then plastic

    • @2MeterLP
      @2MeterLP 10 месяцев назад +4

      Indeed! Aluminum is one of the rare materials where recycling is cheaper than producing new, AND it is infinitely recyclable. 76% of all aluminum ever produced is still in use.

    • @gmarefan
      @gmarefan 10 месяцев назад +1

      Eliminating single use altogether is many times better.

    • @jantschierschky3461
      @jantschierschky3461 10 месяцев назад

      Still cost energy

    • @mrbane2000
      @mrbane2000 10 месяцев назад

      Not really if you use vulcano@@jantschierschky3461

  • @schmourt
    @schmourt 9 месяцев назад +1

    all the people who wouldn't stop... couldn't be me. I love free stuff. i would've stopped for yall

  • @sandyj342
    @sandyj342 10 месяцев назад

    That was hulk 😂

  • @mazariej11
    @mazariej11 10 месяцев назад +2

    The problem with the concept is that if they really did make everything free, then what are people going to buy ads for if no one has to buy anything

  • @janwama
    @janwama 11 месяцев назад

    This is so exciting! We'll see how it goes ❤

  • @billylardner
    @billylardner 10 месяцев назад +6

    If this ever launches in the UK, not only will I use it, but I'd be more than happy to donate to support a model like this (as long as the business model doesn't start relying on donations)

  • @deendeon10
    @deendeon10 9 месяцев назад

    "Drink mountain dew to continue advertisement to resume gameplay"

  • @anmolagrawal5358
    @anmolagrawal5358 10 месяцев назад

    3:58 I was waiting for this actually.

  • @mark_tolver
    @mark_tolver 10 месяцев назад

    I'm now dreaming of the day I can walk into a coffee shop and order free coffee.

  • @DoubleDipGames
    @DoubleDipGames 10 месяцев назад +1

    The problem with this model is once people get everything for free, they’ll stop working, have nothing left to spend, advertisers will leave and nobody will have any water

    • @HBEggspert
      @HBEggspert 9 месяцев назад

      Just cause you'd be a lazy do nothing doesnt mean everyone else would.
      What you do in your spare time, would be your primary time. I raise chickens and donate eggs. I give away meat from processed birds and i do construction.
      I don't believe anyone is truly lazy. You don't have a place and you are probably deeply depressed doing something you don't want to do everyday for someone you hate. With real freedom, given no requirement for "SLAVE FOR FOOD" i've actually managed to become a bigger asset than i would of ever been "working".
      Water falls from the sky, i collect it, why shouldn't it be free? I collect it for free? Have you lost sight of everything that isnt a spreadsheet or computer screen? Throughout most of human history, water was free boss.

  • @lostboy8084
    @lostboy8084 10 месяцев назад +1

    I bought water and it was buy one get one free. I honestly turned down the free water and the cashier was asking why not well because I only needed one bottle. In the end I asked if she wanted it and they are not allowed to accept things so the homeless guy outside got a sandwich and water from me.

  • @JasonValasek37
    @JasonValasek37 10 месяцев назад

    Genius concept… love it!!! Lemme know if I can help!

  • @Safaricom_
    @Safaricom_ 11 месяцев назад +1

    2:10 wait RUclips free right 😂

  • @ernestohernandez4519
    @ernestohernandez4519 11 месяцев назад +1

    So you’re saying Nike should be paying me to wear their clothes? Since I’m a walking ad for them.

  • @Str8UpFax
    @Str8UpFax 10 месяцев назад

    Ive never cared that my online data is being sold but ive always just wished i could get a cut.. this is something similar and i like where its going

  • @omarika96
    @omarika96 9 месяцев назад

    I bet you anything he was waiting so long to say that money laundering joke 😂😂

  • @salahuddinmuhammad3251
    @salahuddinmuhammad3251 10 месяцев назад

    This is excellent. I hope it spreads. Bring it to Philadelphia.

  • @joelfox8381
    @joelfox8381 9 месяцев назад

    Amazing! Monetizing people's time and attention instead of the product! Brilliant! To be able to give away WATER for FREE. Civilization is truly progressing. If only one day I can trade my refillable bottle of free water for a disposable bottle plastered with advertisements, then I will know that prosperity is upon me.

  • @B0A2
    @B0A2 10 месяцев назад

    I’ve seen them on tiktok several times and I LOVE the business model

  • @JustJonFr
    @JustJonFr 9 месяцев назад

    This video is like an ad, promoting free water, that is paid for by ads

  • @jeseAudio
    @jeseAudio 10 месяцев назад +1

    Haha, imagine free potable water in the tap.

  • @DrDanWeaver
    @DrDanWeaver 10 месяцев назад

    Loved this. Also I guess they can choose ads to take and block the most rapacious orgs. Wonderful.

  • @TheHotdogstand
    @TheHotdogstand 9 месяцев назад +1

    I think the white shirt on that one guy might have made people think you guys were missionaries 😅

  • @KWifler
    @KWifler 10 месяцев назад +1

    The social aspect of this makes me think that I'd be a good early adopter since I'm asocial. I don't take into account whether or not other people like something or not.