The Story

The 2 Million Dollar Squarefoot is a pet project I started after some deep thoughts (or lightheadedness?) while flying 35,000 feet over the Pacific.

Seated next to a hotshot property agent, I was at first appalled and then intrigued and finally inspired by his account of a $2M, barely 1000-foot-plus condo he just sold. But to stop his bragging of his stellar salesmanship, I jokingly said: “$2M for 1,000 foot, that’s okay. $2M for 1 foot, that’s a bragging right.” Naturally, that earned me a disgruntled stare. But even he knew that his outsized ego was no match to an impossible quest.

With hours to kill, I wondered from the mindless joke to a Google story to my laptop documents. With one page-down, I suddenly realized, from a 12-inch ruler atop one file, that I was also looking at an one squarefoot window, and a light bulb went off. What if this was indeed a $2M squarefoot? Imagine the buzz it would get, and buzz drives traffic drives clicks. Emboldened by a few Merlot, I did some simple number crunching, and bang, mission impossible became possible.

Having never sold a squarefoot in my life, I shared the scheme and offered a partnership. But he returned it with a laugh and a bet, for the best dinner in town, that it couldn’t be done.

Of course, sky dreaming was easy. Once home, I googled around for million dollar squarefoot, online billboard, 1/4-inch ads, and the like, but nothing came up, to my great surprise. So, after some more number-crunching, without the Merlot this time, I decided to go for it.

Bright idea or wishful thinking? Only one way to find out: turn this flight tale into live action. And now, we will see what is takes to succeed.

Skylark

About

Welcome to the 2 Million Dollar Squarefoot. We are making history, and you are our witness. With the priciest footage in the world falls in the $2,000 range, a $2,000,000 squarefoot is definitely one for the record books. And indeed it will be: world’s most expensive squarefoot and world’s most expensive billboard.

Instantly understood but instinctively questioned, 2 Million Dollar Squarefoot is a simple yet intriguing headline that will tickle the curiosity of millions, because rarely does something so impossible on one hand can also be very probable on the other. Using 1/4-inch web ads at 10-quarter a day to fill an online billboard, we are on a quest to do the impossible. Along the way, we hope you will find the messages informative, useful, or at least entertaining. Spread the word, follow our progress, and let’s make history!

FAQ

What is the big idea?

Simple: Sell an one squarefoot space for $2,000,000. If you see this as totally outrageous and downright impossible, then congratulation, you are in the 99% majority.

Are you for real, and how is it possible?

100% real, 99% possible (we can hope, right?), and 1 vehicle: 1/4-inch web ads at 10-quarter a day to fill a squarefoot billboard. That is, slice a 12-inch square into 1/4-inch blocks, and get buzz-seeking advertisers to buy them for just 10 quarters a day for a year. That’s 2304 x 2.5 x 360. Voila! 

Why is it buzz-worthy?

Simply put, the 2 Million Dollar Squarefoot is a brand headliner that is instantly understood but instinctively questioned by everyone, but as it becomes real, genuinely admired the achievement. After all, who isn’t curious, and curiosity will drive many to see what this is all about. Well, it got you here, no?

• This is the first time a squarefoot of web space is being sold
• It is 1000 times more than the priciest footage in existence
• When all sold, it will shatter 2 world records:
• The most expensive squarefoot
• The most expensive billboard

But your squarefoot is not... real!

Yes it is. A squarefoot is a squarefoot, may it be a Fifth Avenue apartment or a Time Square billboard or a magazine insert. It’s the how much, not for what, that counts. It just happens that the most expensive footage is generally found in real estates, so we use that for reference.

Why 2,000,000?

For 3 excellent reasons: First, it is twice as good as 1,000,000, the most common milestone that is becoming so... well common now; Second, it is the origin and inspiration of our story, and a nice roundup from our number-crunching; Third, it is an ambitious yet achievable target.

Do you really expect to reach 2,000,000?

Absolutely. Everyone can picture a 12-inch-square, and that at $2M it is simply unheard of. Curiosity drives buzz drives traffic drives clicks. With only 2300 blocks, at just 10 quarters a day, this is very affordable exposure for the thousands of businesses seeking high traffic at low cost.

How long will it take and how long will the billboard stay up?

We see this as a 6-9 month quest, with bulk of the buzz and traffic spanning the first 12 months. But we intend to keep the site running till at least 2008, for 2 full years. There is no hard cutoff date: as long as good traffic comes through, the billboard stays up.

But screen area is in pixel, what is 12-inch?

True, but most displays use a standard 96-DPI, and that makes it easy: 1/4-inch = 24 pixels, 1-inch = 96 pixels, and 12-inch = 1152 pixels. Yes, some displays use different settings that may show the squarefoot a bit larger or smaller, but who’s counting :-)...

But you can’t see the whole squarefoot on screen!

True. As said, it takes one page-down to get to the bottom, so early advertisers win. And yes, some displays have XGA - 1024-pixel - or less resolution that wouldn’t show the full 12-inch across. But by-and-large, 1280 and higher displays are fast becoming the norm, so a non-issue for most people.

Who else is doing it?

You tell us. For the record, we coined these terms and you saw them first here: 1/4-inch web ad, online billboard, 2 Million Dollar Squarefoot.