“Revenue sharing”? or “Profit sharing”? SkoolLive misleads school boards.

April 24, 2015

Sharing “revenue” means schools ALWAYS get money back.  Sharing “profit” means schools may never receive a dime. 

Screen Shot 2015-03-20 at 4.57.30 PM
From Jim Metrock:  SkoolLive wants to sign up both national and local advertisers for its in-school digital billboards.  (The company refers to the billboards as kiosks.)  SkoolLive tells local businesses that advertising with SL is a great way to help support their local school.  This is moronic.  Advertising on SkoolLive’s kiosk billboards is one of the worst ways to benefit your school.

This is taken from SkoolLive's website aimed at potential advertisers.

This is taken from SkoolLive’s website aimed at potential advertisers.

Above, SkoolLive says, “All the revenue we generate from media placements and sponsorships is shared with the schools that ran those placements, so your advertising dollars will be going directly back to the schools in your community.”

First a quick accounting refresher.  When a company sells something they generate REVENUE.  In the course of making that REVENUE, the company spends money. Those expenditures are EXPENSES.  Simply stated: REVENUE minus EXPENSES equal = PROFIT (or LOSS).

SkoolLive is making a false statement on their web page.  This company is saying they are going to share “All the REVENUE” with schools. This is not true.  In the article below, SkoolLive tells schools a different story than the one they tell local advertisers.  Below: “The Vail (SkoolLive) contract promises the district 20 percent of the PROFIT.”

From the Tucson.com article Schools open halls to electronic billboards. January 22, 2015

From the Tucson.com article Schools open halls to electronic billboards. January 22, 2015

SkoolLive is not sharing REVENUE, they plan to share PROFIT, if there is any.  When SkoolLive sells an advertisement for the school kiosk, there is always REVENUE. There is not always PROFIT.  This may seem a minor point – it is not.  This is a company that is not precise with its wording.  That’s a red flag for anyone thinking of partnering with SkoolLive.

Imagine a local business running an ad campaign on SkoolLive’s kiosk billboards.  The local advertiser pays $1,000.  That means the sales revenue for SkoolLive is $1,000.  If SkoolLive’s expenses run $1,200, then there is negative PROFIT.  20% of zero is zero.  SkoolLive in this situation is not going to share any of the local advertiser’s money with the local school.  For SkoolLive to say “your advertising dollars will be going directly back to the schools in your community” is absolute rubbish.  If a local business wants to give money to their school, they should give 100% of the money to the school and be content to have your company’s name mention in the school newsletter.  

 

P.S.   “All the revenue we generate from media placements and sponsorships is shared with the schools that ran those placements, so your advertising dollars will be going directly back to the schools in your community.”  
SkoolLive made another mistake in this sentence besides using the word “revenue” when they meant “profit.”  
The company has no intent to share “all” revenue or profit.  They will share “some.”

Corrected: Some [not “all”] of the profit [not “revenue”] we generate from media placements and sponsorships is shared… will be going directly back to the schools in your community.

Tags: