Negroponte and Buy One, Give One Laptops

Nicholas Negroponte is combating slower-than-expected adoption of his One Laptop Per Child initiative with a simple and brilliant marketing ploy. Steve Hamm and BusinessWeek have the scoop: the $100-per-laptop goal is not quite yet achievable (unit cost is still at $188), so Negroponte's OLPC is going with a "Give One, Get One" plan to encourage American consumers to pay $400, get one laptop for themselves and have another sent to a child in one of four underdeveloped nations.

In the sense that all companies/organizations have to "market" their ideas, I love this "Buy One, Donate One" ploy and hereby nominate it as the Good Marketing Ploy of the year. See how TOM's Shoes does it, too, and more importantly note that my use of the word "Ploy" is with all due respect. Getting peoples' attention is a competitive thing in any endeavor. I bet this works.