For one thing, your audience has to be able to find you. Once they do, they have to want to take the necessary steps to access your message. Freeride, a New York City firm, is betting an offer of free online time will cut through at least some of the clutter and antipathy. The brainchild of Jordan Stanley and John Mezzina, Freeride accommodates itself to the realities of Web advertising. The Web is a very personal space.
People go where they want when they want, and tend to wear blinders along the way.
So it's very hard to get consumers to see your advertising while they are surfing. The points can be redeemed for free Internet access, subsidizing future travels around the Web. Stanley thinks this barter system might be the key to opening up the Net in the future. The service seems popular with sponsors, consumers, and ISPs alike. Stanley says that over the course of one month, Freeride received more than 100 inquiries from ISPs with a combined user base of approximately 110,000.