Paying “tenfold” for this campaign marks a large gamble relative to what Chegg has done in the past by using low cost solutions such as affiliate marketing and airing their own chegg of the week videos typically produced by  just a couple of staff members at their offices.

A new extension of their affiliate program is the launch of so-called “Chegg Champions” or online brand ambassadors that promote and spread videos.  Each video has a special promo code that when used will earn the “Chegg Champion” a $5 commission and a $5 discount for the renter.

Chegg has become a favorite of college students in the past few years along with Amazon.com and Ebay’s Half.com as alternatives to the outrageously priced textbooks found in campus bookstores.  If it’s back to school time you might just get some yolk on your face as their mascot, Shelly, has been known to frequent a campus or two passing out free burritos to hungry students.

In 2008, Chegg boasted student savings in excess of $16 million.

As part of their social entrepreneurship Chegg plants a tree for every textbook that is rented through their service and claims to have planted roughly 1.5 million trees with the American Forest Foundation, their not-for profit partner.

Message: “Give the high cost of textbooks the bird.  Don’t buy it.  Don’t buy it.  Rent all your books at Chegg.com. Save $500 or more every year.  Visit Chegg.com”

Medium: TV: MTV, Comedy Central; Radio: Terresterial stations, Pandora; Online: Hulu, YouTube

Audience: 31 College Markets