Eduaction Screensaver on Energy Saving in IT

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How to reach new target groups behind their computers 

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7th step – Distributing the screensaver via internet

Distributing a screensaver is a little bit different than other digital products like pdf publications and web pages. This is due to the fact that it is an executable file, a program that potentially may contain a virus. So it does not make sense to send it around via email through newsletters directly. Or would you open just any file that you get by email from an organization that you maybe even do not know?

You need to make sure that people trust in the program. The best way to do this is to upload it to large and well-established freeware platforms on the internet like winload.com, tucows.com, and others.

Big freeware platforms check everything that is uploaded for viruses and guarantee a download that is free of viruses. So we uploaded the screensaver to several of the biggest platforms and requested them to check our screensaver and publish it on their webpage.

8th step – Distributing the screensaver to companies

 Putting a screensaver on the internet makes it available for everyone, which is first of all a good thing. But if you want to target a specific group it makes sense to also think about channels that reach exactly the group you desire. In our case here we wanted to address  YMPs. So we did some research on companies that are likely to have a high percentage of YMPs within certain divisions such as engineering, IT development, etc. A screensaver is a great vehicle to get your message across to all employees in general of companies as well. Once you have convinced the IT management of the company, it is just a small amount of work for them and hundreds of PC workstations will carry your screensaver. In our case, we decided to address companies with an information package that consisted of a nicely designed CD in a box, with a movie version of the screensaver and an information letter as well.

We searched specifically for the staff members of the company that are dealing with sustainability and Corporate Social Sustainability and addressed the CD pack by name to them. These employees are already familiar with our topics and therefore are easier to convince. We decided to put a movie version of the screensaver on the CD and not the real screensaver because we wanted to give the executives in the companies a chance to have a preview of the screensaver without having to install it right a way.

One week later we contacted the companies by phone and discussed our proposal of a free screensaver.

We managed to get an agreement with one of the biggest companies in our region: Daimler- Benz. The IT division liked our screensaver very much and agreed to include it into their internal software pool. This is a collection of programs that are checked and available for download for all employees at Daimler-Benz worldwide. The IT division put a notification about the screensaver on the internal news system so that our screensaver would be noticed as an option for download.