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February 2, 2011 • 10:41 PM 0

Groupon to make its TV debut at Super Bowl XLV


For a company that thrives online and via social media platforms… Groupon is stepping up their game.

…Chief Operating Officer Rob Solomon explained why the company is eager to have a presence in the most-watched sporting event of the year. “Groupon has served as a bridge between the online and offline worlds,” he said. “After two years in business earning 50 million subscribers to date, we feel it’s time to use TV to reach an even broader audience.”

Though I’m not much of sports-fan…I do know that the Super Bowl is THIS Sunday.  Um..talk about last-minute ad placement!?

…according to people familiar with the situation. One company that had purchased time during the game decided to pull out in the past couple of weeks, so Fox then re-sold the time to Groupon.

While they are the pioneers of group-buying, Groupon’s largest rival Living Social is gaining ground.

If you recall, in November 2010, Groupon shockingly rejected Google’s $6B offer for purchase.  Since they haven’t gone public yet…they don’t owe us any explanations, but it’s safe to assume that the ~$3M price-tag for 30 seconds of airtime + production-time, is probably pocket-change.

Filed under: Business, Marketing, Social Media, Sports, , , , , , , ,

January 17, 2011 • 7:00 AM 0

Hollywood actors, doing their part to make more money – Part II


Looks like I’m not the only one who thinks Hollywood endorsements on Twitter isn’t cool…

The U.K.’s consumer watchdog agency is clamping down on endorsements by bloggers and social networkers, who will now be required to state any relationship they have with a product.

The move brings U.K. Twitter regulations in line with those in the U.S., where the Federal Trade Commission requires that Twitter endorsements include the words “ad” or “spon” (for “sponsored”) to flag their status.

We’ll just have to wait and see if an American watchdog agency decides to follow suit…

Filed under: Business, Marketing, , , , , , , , ,

January 12, 2011 • 8:00 PM 1

Hollywood actors, doing their part to make more money


You can’t blame them, can you?  Because at the end of the day, everyone wants to find new ways to make money.

What am I talking about?

Ad.ly. It’s an advertising agency that utilizes Twitter & famous people to advertise products to the masses.

Since its launch in September 2009, it has crafted more than 20,000 endorsements for more than 150 brands, including Sony (SNE), Best Buy (BBY), and Old Navy.

So how many of these celebs are in on this?

…more than 5,000 other personalities ranging from A-list to D-list.

How much do you think they’re being paid?  Friendly reminder, each “tweet” is limited to 140 characters.

The celebs earn a flat fee per tweet that ranges “from $1,000 to mid-five figures,” says Gullov-Singh [Ad.ly’s CEO]. With more than 5.6 million followers, reality TV superstar Kim Kardashian collects “in the ball park” of $10,000 per tweet, he adds, “but her price keeps going up.

Not sure if you caught that..$10K per 140 characters.

I think this is a brilliant example of social media gone awry.

Filed under: Business, Marketing, Social Media, Tech, , , , , , , , , ,

January 11, 2011 • 11:15 PM 2

Banning plastic bags, everybody’s doin it


It’s only January 11th, and already 4 different locations have enacted the plastic bag ban.

Italy started off the year, banning plastic bags as of January 1st.

The government of Italy has become the first in the European Union to outlaw the use of plastic bags by all retailers, signaling a large shift in a country which uses over 20 billion bags per year (400 per person) – an amount equal to 25 percent of the total produced and used in the entire EU.

On January 5th, the great city of Brownsville (15th largest city in Texas), joined the bandwagon, and today, both Kaua’i and Maui, HI, can proudly say that they’re part of the club.

After doing a little research, it turns out that a lot of other places ban plastic bags too.

2002 – Dhaka, Bangladesh enacted the ban.

2003 – rural Alaska & South Africa joined

2005 – Eritrea & the Republic of Somalialand

2006 – Rwanda, Tanzania, & Zanzibar

2007 – Kenya & Uganda, and San Francisco, CA

2008 – China

2009 – Buenos Aires, Argentina & American Samoa

2010 – Mexico City, Mexico

Click here and here for additional locations I may have missed.

It’s interesting that the list above includes countries like Eritrea (3rd world), and China, which is the 2nd strongest GDP and has a population which accounts for 19.5% of the word’s entire population.

Something tells me that if this smorgasbord of a list can do it, so can the rest of the world.

Filed under: Business, Green, World, , , , , , , , , , ,

December 25, 2010 • 1:20 PM 1

ATMs dispensing cash are so passé


Last week, a mall in Florida debuted a new ATM machine.  Just swipe your credit card, and poof, out comes a 24-karat bar or coin.

Thomas Geissler, the inventor of the Gold to go machines says:

“Instead of buying flowers or chocolates, which is gone after two or three minutes, this will stay for the next few hundred years,” Geissler told the Associated Press. But he also envisions that the machine, which is making its North American debut at the upscale Town Center Mall in Boca Raton, will draw “serious investors” who don’t want to buy gold at pawnshops or over the Internet.

I’m wondering if there will be a security escort for customers?  The ATM vestibule was designed and created for a reason.  Just because the ATMs will be placed in upscale areas, doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily safer to purchase your gold bars and coins out in the open.

Well, not to take away from the excitement,  I recommend you keep this link handy, so that you can be best prepared when the GoldtoGo machines debut in your area.

Filed under: Business, Finance, , , , , , , , ,

December 23, 2010 • 6:13 PM 0

Advertising of the future, brought to you by BMW Germany


Forget print, banner/Internet or mobile advertising… BMW is taking the advertising to a whole new level.

BMW Germany is literally getting into consumers’ heads, by burning its logo onto the insides of their eyes.

I know, that sounds sort of freaky, but it’s actually quite ingenious.

Using pioneering new “flash projection” technology, BMW is testing a cinema spot in Germany that does not feature a visible logo. Instead, a bright photo flash occurs during the ad, and a few moments later the audience is asked to close its eyes.

At this point, the audience sees an after-image of the brand that has been created by the flash. The letters “BMW” appear before them, in the same way that you might see a bright spot if you had been looking at the sun and then closed your eyes.

Check out the spot in the YouTube video below.  Obviously, you won’t get the same effect, but you’ll learn how BMW Germany put the commercial together, and see real-time reactions of the audience.

Who knows, this may be a glimpse into the advertising of the future…

Filed under: Business, Marketing, Random, Tech, World, , , , , , ,

December 9, 2010 • 8:31 AM 0

Do not track me, at a click of a button


In response to the FTC’s call for regulation of tracking (by way of cookies), and in effort to cater to its users, Microsoft has announced that

IE9, set to debut sometime next year, will offer Tracking Protection Lists, a feature similar to current popup blockers, that can stop specified websites from tracking users’ online behavior through cookies or other methods.

Thank you Microsoft.  Looking forward to this feature.

Filed under: Business, Marketing, Social Media, Tech, , , , , , , , ,

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