Strange Idea Watch: What the … ?

Arguably the strangest idea in the short history of e-mail marketing comes in the form of the Web site BottleOnBeach.com.

Touted as an innovative answer to the spam problem, BottleOnBeach allows marketers to craft a text message and upload a list of e-mail addresses for which the message is intended.

Pricing starts at a minimum sponsorship rate of $1 for 10,000 messages for six months, after which the promotion expires.

How do would be recipients get the messages intended for them? They go to BottleOnBeach.com and enter their e-mail addresses and any messages intended for them will appear.

“By hosting e-mail messages on Bottle on Beach Web site for recipients to come and beach them out, the legal risk is mitigated, complicated opt-in and permission procedures are removed and the likelihood of being accused of spamming and financial cost associated with that accusation is eliminated,” said a press release announcing the site.

By providing a platform for commercial messages, BottleOnBeach.com will allow legislators to craft tougher laws to punish spammers, the release said.

The spam problem will never be solved as long as commercial and personal messages are intermingled in people’s inboxes, the release claimed.

“Once commercial messages are segregated from personal messages, the spammers will find themselves standing out and, therefore, easily being weeded out,” the release said.

In an interview with Magilla Marketing, Alex Zeng, proprietor of BottleOnBeach.com, said the idea will require “a simple change in consumer behavior” to work.

He added he intends to get the word out through advertising and PR.

Ummm, let’s see. Getting e-mail marketers to upload their lists to an unknown-quantity Web site. Check. Getting a critical mass of people to regularly go to BottleOnBeach.com to look for commercial messages intended for them. Check.

Mr. Zeng does score points for creative thinking, though.