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Recently I was on an early trip to SF and flying the regional carrier Horizon. In the terminal area was FREE coffee (starbucks) and FREE papers to sip & read. With these "little" things my loyalty and $ does lean to the brand/company. Also, this effort has an additional + of possibly restraining customer explosions for certain plane/rain delays (PDX airport also has free WiFi).
Has your company considered the value of free & fitting services?
this is more than just a poor (obviously regulated) ad but so visually overwhelming that I feel the urge to exit the page/site (seen on boingboing.net).
Revolution Money, a spinoff of Revolution LLC, founded by AOL co-founder Steve Case, and current CEO of Revolution Health...phew! all with similar branding, has launched a new credit card. You don't see that every day.
The RevolutionCard is not an every day credit card, though. The RevolutionCard is distancing itself from the long-standing MasterCard and Visa mold by being more secure, more flexible and a more "internet enabled" model of credit card.
What does that mean? Well, for starters, as you can see above with an actual image of the current version of the card, RevolutionCard does not print users' names or account numbers on their cards; rather, use of the the card is based entirely on encryption and a 4 digit PIN.
Additionally, Revolution Money (backed by Citi, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank), just launched Revolution MoneyExchange (still in Beta), their PayPal killer. The new service, coupled with the card, allows you to store and transfer money across a variety of internet platforms, including social networks and instant messaging portals.
Here is yet another example of how Web 2.0 technologies can benefit consumers and merchants alike, turning the industry on its ear to create opportunities...traditional banks and lenders should watch, learn and listen.
The New York Times has a great roundup of the current effort to relate better to women and moms in the "consumer product categories." Stuart Elliott, Times columnist, captures the woman focused trend as a way to "inject emotional resonance" to brands like Pepperidge Farms cookies at ArtOfTheCookie, as well as several other new sites. Women, according to Ellliot, who previously were referred to as "homemakers" by these companies, now are known as "Chief Family Officers." Women, especially moms, were the original social networkers, and this is a sign of recognition that moms are clearly dominating social spaces like MomLogic, and MommyCast (transparency here: my wife is Gretchen, MommyCast co-host.)
Some of the other sites focused socially on moms, mentioned in the article are Goldfish, Pantene, Clorox's Food Division, Fiskars Scissors, and of course Dove, with their wonderful "Talk to Your Daughters" campaign.
I have to say, though, as I read some of this copy on these sites, I cringed, as it is obviously written by well- meaning young copywriters. As we age we become wiser (although I think my kids would disagree), and many of these sites could use a genuine injection of the what makes mom tick...they're a powerful force on the Internet.
One of my favorite travel planning sites, TripAdvisor, has some new media competition.
VibeAgent just launched and with many collaborative tools is clearly targeting younger travelers than TripAdvisor (two thirds of whom are 35 and older, according to Adviva Research). VibeAgent is a hotel review and booking site heavy on personalization, social networking, and "community," all of whom share great details like "excellent gyms, and great places to exercise," a personal favorite of mine.
I don't know about you, but I always like to know who's writing the reviews, and my gripe about TripAdvisor has been that there's no context to who's contributing. "VibeAgent's" provide photos and more information about themselves. And, just like Facebook (another personal favorite...I admit, I'm hooked), I can keep a network of friends informed of my doings.
VibeAgent is still nascent, and according to CEO & Founder, Adam Healey, has about 10,000 people signed so far, so it remains to be seen whether it can compete with the 5 million plus members and 10 million reviews of hotels, restaurants, attractions, etc., available on TripAdvisor.
Having come from a healthcare background and family (my father is a retired MD, and my sister is an MD, Internal Medicine specialty in Seattle), I know full well that in the medical community, house calls went away years ago. Today, though, many issues persist in the field of health care making the quaintness of “house calls” something worth returning to, or at least “virtual house calls,” by using the technology to enable.
Jay Parkinson, MD, a Brooklyn based physician is a “traditionalist” physician, but with the use of technology he is turning “doctoring” on its ear.
For Dr Parkinson, use of the technology allows him the freedom to have no office; conduct consultations by e-mail, video chat or IM; and he only treats residents of Brooklyn (specifically the area known as Williamsburg) between 18 and 39, preferably in and around that neighborhood. For all face-to-face visits, 31-year-old Parkinson goes to a patient's work or home ("no more wasted time surrounded by coughing people in waiting rooms"). He also treats patients with an eye toward finding the most reasonable health care prices. Patients pay an annual fee of $500, which includes an initial consultation plus two additional face-to-face visits as needed. For each extra service, Parkinson's rates are clearly spelled out ahead of time for those with and without health insurance, and many of the specific rates are available online at his website, plus examples of his practice approach. Additionally, Dr Parkinson blogs about his practice and is a popular photographer on Flickr.
Combining the benefits of an old-fashioned, small-town doctor with the convenience of web technology—sounds good to me! Doctors in the rest of the world: How about you....? Dad??? Sis???
In an interview in this month's anniversary issue of "Rolling Stone," futurist William Gibson said: "...One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we distinguish the digital from the real, the virtual from the real."
Based on a recent BBC story the future has already arrived for some. A Dutch teenager was recently arrested for stealing "virtual furniture" from rooms at the virtual "Habbo Hotel."
A spokesman for Sulake, the company that operates Habbo Hotel, said: "It is a theft because the furniture is paid for with real money and we have had to take legal action quickly."
Six million people in more than 30 countries play Habbo Hotel each month.
Virtual theft is a growing issue in virtual worlds; in 2005 a Chinese gamer was stabbed to death in a row over a sword in a game.
Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei killed player Zhu Caoyuan when he discovered he had sold a "dragon sabre" he had been loaned.
A new form of in-store marketing lets advertisers place their messages right between shoppers' hands, on shopping cart handles that have been modified by Modstream.
Messages are wirelessly streamed to a small screen in a hard plastic case that replaces the standard shopping cart handle. Advertisers and retailers log on to modstream.com to enter their messages, selecting stores where they want their message to appear. Messages can be run across a complete chain or targeted to specific regions, stores or times of day. Since the messages can be changed on the fly, it's easy to adapt the ads for short-run sales or clearance items.
Since a majority of purchase decisions are made by consumers while they're shopping, it makes sense to target them while they're rolling down the aisles. Other companies have tried video screens on carts, but while those might serve up more engaging ads, they're also expensive to purchase and maintain. Modstream's message handles, meanwhile, stand up to rain and snow, and have a 5-year battery life. The system is currently being tested at Home Depot stores in eight states.
Now if it could text me the list of stuff my wife wanted that I've forgotten...
