Marketing After Dark

Australian Passout Marketing is using nightclub hand stamps for advertising.

Inked on the hands and wrists of nightclub patrons, passout stamps are used as proof that someone has paid admission, is of legal drinking age, or can gain re-entrance to a club. Passout Marketing deemed this space too good to go unbranded, and has started working with venue owners and advertisers to stamp marketing messages on club hoppers. As they put it, Passout Marketing allows companies to "get their brand name right onto the skin of their target market".

Passout Marketing owns the rights to use the pass-out stamps of a majority of Australian nightspots, giving them exposure to thousands of men and women aged 18-32 every week. They currently cover over 2,500,00 people each year, and venues are given a cut of ad revenues.

The idea is spreading: The Cool Hunter recently featured stamp advertising in India, which was limited to a (very sensible) 'don't drink and drive' campaign.

Opportunities? This one's easy to set up. Start-up costs are minimal, and entrepreneurs that have connections to both nightspots and advertisers should be able to get up and running in no time. Sounds like a nice sideline for young ad agency employees.

How To Become A Millionaire Planning Parties

Marley Majcher Story

Blame MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 for showing teens nationwide the extremes the super-wealthy go to for a child’s coming-of-age soiree. American teens, who number more than 70 million, want what’s hot at their parties--from bar and bat mitzvahs to sweet 16s, quinceañeras and other coming-of-age rites. Whether you start a new specialty, add teen parties to your existing event planning business, or specialize in peripheries like security or entertainment, teen parties have an angle for everyone.

Party planner Marley Majcher, who founded Pasadena, California-based The Party Goddess! Inc. in 2000, suggests walking the fine line between making teens happy and making their purse-string-holding parents even happier. “You have to be a really good listener and see yourself as a liaison,” she says.

To succeed, bone up on trends. Majcher, whose company brought in $1 million this year, notes that lounge setups are in vogue for teens. Because music and entertainment are paramount to any teen shindig, hooking up with hot DJs in your area can help you break into the market. And you’ll definitely want to market in areas with high disposable income.

Six Figure Business Setting Up Pajama Parties.

Melody Biringer Story

Women want to network with other women while wearing pajamas, getting spa services and shopping—at least this is what Melody Biringer, 41, found out when she founded Crave Party.

Inspired by a pajama party at a friend's home, Biringer got the idea to create fun business networking events for women on a larger scale—at fancy hotels and ballrooms with champagne and strawberries. She secured local spa professionals (massage therapists, nail techs and so on) and merchants to provide the pampering services and shopping, and charged women a $35 fee to register. Her first three nights of Crave Parties sold out in two weeks.

Thanks to word-of-mouth marketing, her parties have grown in popularity. "[It's] networking in your pajamas in a swanky environment—that makes it even more fun to walk into this place," Biringer says. With parties under her belt in New Orleans; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Biringer would like to bring the concept to every major city—and even create annual parties themed around events such as holiday shopping or the Oscars—to push annual sales into the mid- to upper-six-figure range.