Entreprenuers Give Free Cups

"Fill up my cup, mazel tov!"

This famous line from the popular Black Eyed Peas hit "I Gotta Feeling" is not just part of a pop song anymore - it is now being substantiated into the Boston College culture. Students around campus will now be able to fill up their own cups for free.

GetFreeCups.com is a company started by Billy Najam, A&S '10, and two of his friends from Yale University. His company is innovative, yet simple: It's designed to give students access to free Solo cups on campus.

Najam and his friends have an exclusive contract with a plastic cup manufacturer to print a certain amount of cups with branded advertisements on the outside of the cups. They design the ads and then send them to the cup manufacturer to be produced.

"We are an advertisement company, and we help local businesses get the word out about their business," Najam says. "We get companies to advertise on our cups, and it helps out their business."

The surrounding local businesses, however, are not the only ones that benefit from Najam's entrepreneurship. Students around campus no longer have to trek to the convenience store and pay $10 for a pack of Solo cups. Students can now just walk a short distance to one of  several residence halls and pick up free cups.

 "The cups will be distributed sometime in December or January at BC," Najam says. "We will set up on campus during the week at certain times in Ignacio, Vanderslice, the Mods, and Kostka. Students can come and pick up from 50-100 cups." The company's Web site, Getfreecups.com, has all other information students might need to find out when and where the cups will be distributed.

Many students already are eager to be a part of the free offer. "I absolutely will be picking up some cups and telling my friends to stop by and grab some too," says Lauren Tellez, CSON '10.

Getfreecups.com is making its start at a time when the population, particularly students, is looking for creative ways to save money. With a list price of $21.71 for a pack of 50 Solo cups, any student looking to register a party and provide all attendees with their own cup will be spending over $40 alone on plastic ware even before they invest in cup content.

"Students will never say no to free Solo cups. If their goal is to get the cups in student's dorms then yes, it will be effective," says Caroline Beimford, A&S '10.

"I could totally see Najam's solo cups as being the next hot item that every BC kid wants to have in their hands. The companies that advertise on his cups will be happy they did so," Tellez says.

Each advertiser's advertisement will remain on Najam's cups for about two to three months. For this upcoming campaign, Campus Tan and Great Places Realty will be advertising with GetFreeCups.com, Najam says.  Advertisers will be able to spread their messages around campus, but there is no guarantee that their sales will increase.

"I would definitely drink out of Campus Tan cups; I just wouldn't go to Campus Tan," Beimford says.

Najam and his co-workers don't lose money in the transaction because the advertisers pay for the manufacturing and production of the cups. The advertisers are willing to do so, because they are assured that the cups will be distributed to their prime target: BC students.

The idea behind GetFreeCups.com came up only after several days of brainstorming. The friends were looking into  traditional ways of advertising, such as printing fliers and pamphlets, and realized that printed publications don't catch as much attention. They tried to think of a new way for businesses to reach out to college students and the idea of distributing cups came to mind. "It might be a more effective way of advertising than distributing coupons and magnets," Beimford says.

The process of getting the distribution of the cups approved by BC was a long one. "It took me four to five months to get total permission to hand out cups at BC. I had to talk to two or three deans," Najam says.

His company had a successful start at Yale University last semester, and they are looking to expand further into college campuses. "For right now we are just doing college campuses. We have only done two colleges but we are definitely looking to expand to other campuses like University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Providence," Najam says.

The effectiveness of Najam's company seems to be obvious - students on campus wont turn down anything that is free. The idea of having disposable cups at their discretion ignites excitement across the BC student body.

"I think the student body will react favorably. Everyone uses cups, so being able to get them for free is an awesome idea," Tellez says.

"They are a staple in many college dorms and students will be very excited," Beimford says.

This free-cup craze that is infiltrating the BC campus could be the next big hit among universities. Other college-based companies such as Facebook also started off with just a couple of college kids brainstorming ideas; Facebook eventually turned into a multi-billion dollar social networking site. Najam's company may be taking steps similar to the creators of Facebook and other networks. With a goal  in mind, Najam and his co-founders  plan to tackle other universities and continue expanding their company. "We're looking to be at multiple college campuses through out the next few years," he says. In the meantime its time to full up our own cups and say cheers to innovative minds and free enterprise.