Hottie in the library

Exam procrastination (well, procrastination in general in fact), is something us students are undeniably aware of. With the popularity of sites such as Facebook and Twitter, this has only been further enabled. However, the start of the exam period this year saw University of Manchester student Sean (who asked for his surname not to be used in order to maintain the mystery behind the business), in his own bid to procrastinate, bring procrastination to a whole new level… www.hottieinthelibrary.com.

Sean, fashion student and business enthusiast, has previously been involved in various Manchester based start ups (including the Manchester beanie and Manchester scarf), has created an interesting new take on websites based around social interaction. Sean’s ‘Hottie in the Library’ website encourages students at the University of Manchester to take pictures of those in the library they deem ‘hot’ and to then send the picture in, where Sean and his team decide whether/when to put said picture up on the site. Once up, students can then vote on a scale of ‘hot to OMG’ for each picture.

The site has caused quite a stir already, with over 110,000 viewings reaching 93 countries worldwide, and 1,600 Facebook likes. It also appears second on Google’s search engine results through simply typing ‘hottie in’. It has not only received photographic hottie endorsement from the ‘The Apprentice’ (a BBC series) judge Nick Hewer, who commented that he thought the site was a great idea, but now in its third week it already has numerous business prospects ahead of it.

Whilst the website itself only took a couple of weeks to set up, this project has been thought through far more than first seems, Sean commented that  ‘the strategic approach towards his target ‘market’ needed to be considered, along with allowing for both potential expansion and various money making opportunities’.

A hot market?

With Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of a site which pitted fellow university students against each other (as people chose which student out of two was better looking), it is clear that this concept of voting based on the attractiveness of your friends, is one which university students love. In Zuckerberg’s case, it also acted as an inspirational platform for the creation of his multi-billion pound business. However, there has been much controversy over such ventures, with sites such as ‘Fitfinder’ (created by UCL students) being taken down due to user based content deemed inappropriate and offensive.

Hottie in the Library can be considered vastly different to its counterparts in this regard, and because of this can be seen to have the potential to flourish. After meeting with Sean to find out more about the set up, it is apparent that there is a lot more substance behind this website when compared with others. This is not only due to the screening of images before being published, but also due to its general ethos which Sean said ‘aims to challenge our traditional conceptions of beauty’. The website includes images of ‘hotties’ asleep at their desks, posing for a picture and decorating cookies, and so is quite clearly about enjoyment just as much as what we might deem to be ‘hot’.

From a business perspective, this approach can be considered vital, as whilst Sean had a number of business proposals suggesting to add a far more sexual element to the site, maintaining its light-hearted image was key to Sean in order to enable it to progress in a more positive and less controversial manner. On looking at the potential market for viral sites therefore, this one seems to tackle a more untapped area, based not only around procrastination and the social links of seeing your friends online, but also on acceptance. Sean commented; ‘there are so many bitchy fashion sites around, that ‘Hottie in the Library’ aims to present us with something a little bit different’. The fact of the matter is, with over 68 hotties online, there has been not one request to take pictures down and the numbers viewing the site are still increasing, despite no longer being exam period. Furthermore, such an approach creates the ideal platform for a far more legitimate (when compared with more spiteful and controversial sites) moneymaking scheme, which companies might want to be associated with.

Building a Business…

With such a fast and fickle industry, Sean recognises the need for flexibility in developing his venture. An important aspect of this, is enabling the site to provide a potential platform for various money making opportunities, as is apparent with other sites already requesting to be affiliated with the ‘Hottie in the Library’ through online links. There is of course, the option of revenues through advertising. However, Sean emphasises that the most important thing at this stage is brand building, and he recognises that students being flooded with ads would certainly not go down well at this early stage.

There is however, the option to take a much more subtle approach, something which advertising agencies are finding increasingly important as people have begun to find it so easy to completely switch off when they are being constantly bombarded by adverts. Instead, Sean sees a lot more potential through this affiliation approach, which can be far more specific to the market. An example of how this can be done is through references to clothing brands or products appearing in pictures of the hotties. The ability to enable this is apparent in one of the first hottie pictures, where the student was described as wearing All Saints, as well as what seems to be some unintentional Coca-Cola product placements in others pictures.

This can be taken a step further when one not only considers expansion across different universities, but also the many ways in which this could be applied, with hotties popping up in gyms and on the tube… product placement could become a lot more specific and applicable to day-to-day lives. For now however, after previous business success around Manchester, Sean is enjoying the frivolity of his creation. For those students interested in business and finance however, one thing this does show us, is the far more practical side of business when it comes to both targeting a student market and the changing world of money making in an internet environment. Furthermore, as the next generation of potential entrepreneurs, it has perhaps also encouraged us to think outside the box…