Sacha Chua is one of my favorite geek girls and tech evangelists.

Now based in Canada, where she's a grad student at the University of Toronto's IBM Center for Advanced Studies, Chua is attending BarCampEarthToronto and has a unique proposition for those who would like to bring their product or service to the attention of the geeks who will converge for the two-day event:

Advertise on her laptop.

Sure, it may sound crazy, but she's serious about this.

I love her idea, and here's an excerpt from her blog post that explains why she decided to do this:

The back of an 8.9-inch laptop screen *really* doesn't seem like much space to advertise on, but *everyone* looks, believe me. It's the irresistible combination of cute geek girl _and_ insanely tiny laptop.

And it happens *every* *single* *time.* It helps that I have small hands. Most people just can't deal with gadgets that small. Sure, black Macbooks are trendy, but they're not as rare as a *teensy* little laptop that a geek girl is happily typing away on. (In Emacs, no less.)

I can't help it. I get attention. I might as well make use of it.

More to the point:_you_ might as well make use of it.

Check out the rest of her blog post, and digg it if you want more people to know about this crazy idea.

The beauty of this is that it's cute and geeky. It will draw the attention that traditional advertising can't, because it talks to geeks, if you will, in their own language.

Heck, the true-blue geeks are bound to admire her tiny laptop. It's a natural thing for them to do. And she'll be talking to them at any rate. Why shouldn't advertisers take advantage of that opportunity?

I believe this will be an increasing trend in advertising. Sure, professional models and traditional celebrities will still have their place, but we'll also see more and more viral campaigns launched by ordinary Internet users, and more individuals being tapped to "endorse" products and services they actually use and love.

Whether it's through blogging or face-to-face conversations and elevator pitches, we are all tapping the power of our social networks. The Internet is both global and personal.

At the end of the day, the Internet is not just a network of computers (or a network of computer networks), but, more importantly, a network of people.

UPDATE: Hmm, Chua's site seems to be down at the moment, so you can check out my entry over at my personal blog for a "mirror" of the details.

The basic ad rate for Chua's laptop space is US$1 for 0.5″ x 0.5″ and US$2 per square half-inch (0.5″ x 0.5″) for the premium package that includes a 40-second elevator pitch.

Both the basic and premium packages come with other benefits, so just check out the complete details.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: OK, Chua's site seems to be back online, heh. Yay!