The Nicest #Fail Page I Have Ever Seen #WhereMyFriendsBe

WhereMyFriends.Be was featured today on Mashable.com [http://mashable.com/2011/02/24/facebook-google-maps/]. Needless to say, their site quickly swamped and failed. I am totally impressed with this post. Better yet, they can capture the email addresses of interested parties, which is also brilliant. What a good way to make some lemonade on a crazy day!



Here's a screenshot of the fail page:



http://bit.ly/wherefriendsbefail



I have Amplified their page post below for your reading.

Amplify’d from wheremyfriends.be

where my friends be?

this

Well, this is a little embarrassing... The ridiculous popularity of our mention on Mashable has brought us three college freshmen hackers to our knees. We were up all night trying to find workaround solutions and quick fixes, but now we have to get to class. We’re firm believers in providing utility and happiness with our products. Because wheremyfriends.be isn’t currently performing at the optimal level we’d like, we’d rather scale down than compromise the experience for everyone. After making 5 or 6 web apps in the past few months, we learn a little something from each one. The message here is clear: popularity and traffic surge is a double-edged sword. Huge amounts of users coming to our site is a great problem to have, but accounting for it and being prepared for the influx is of paramount importance. Thank you so much for sticking with us. Because we are committed to having only the highest quality product and we will be rolling the site back out to new users slowly over the course of the day. Please enter your email down below if you’d like to be notified when wheremyfriends.be comes back online or when release future products: * indicates required Email Address * Close Thanks! The WhereMyFriends.Be Team Read more at wheremyfriends.be

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/brndj

The Latte Factor and 9 Other Signs the Economy is on Upswing

Baristas and marketers alike, rejoice!
As people start feeling better about the economy, they start purchasing lattes again. Even as I have been known to shun a $4 mocha for a dollar coffee at Mickey D's, I find this to be encouraging as a Marketeer.

This means that people will buy. This means that businesses will flourish. This means that jobs will be created.
All can be good again... at a cautionary pace.
Even in the best of times, businesses need good marketing strategy to engage loyal customers.
Got Latte?
Got Good Marketing?
Let's put 2011 into high gear.

Amplify’d from finance.yahoo.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/brdg2

With recent Super Bowl ad fail about Tibet, Groupon is about to expand into China

As Groupon expands into China, I wonder if that SuperBowl Tibetan restaurant ad will bite them in the butt. It was supposed to be funny, but it came across as a disconnect, at a minimum.



Here's the video as posted on the Wall Street Journal POnline:



http://on.wsj.com/gbGp4A

Amplify’d from www.wallstreetjournal.com

Groupon Gears Up to Expand Into China

By LORETTA CHAO

BEIJING—Deals website Groupon Inc. appears to be making preparations to start operations in China, a move that could shake up the market for group buying, even though challenges lie ahead for the young U.S. company.

Chicago-based Groupon, which opened in 2008 selling discounted products and services from local merchants such as restaurants and nail salons, faces a huge Internet market that has confounded some of the world's biggest players.

Top: Loretta Chao for The Wall Street Journal. Bottom: Getty Images

Groupon may face a crowded race for Web group discounts. Groupon's Beijing office, top, and its Chicago headquarters

China has more than 450 million Internet users, more than any other country.

In a Beijing office adorned with a large Groupon sign, staff are conducting job interviews. A person in the office on Saturday said the company operates Gaopeng.com.

The website, which appears to come from a Chinese phrase meaning "cherished friend sitting around the table," is listed as registered by someone at Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., of Shenzhen, China, a 10% stakeholder in Russian Internet firm Digital Sky Technologies, one of Groupon's backers.

Groupon would be entering a market as hundreds of other domestically run websites are racing to take advantage of the growing popularity of group discounts on the Internet.

One China-based group-buying search engine, Tuan800.com, estimates transactions on such websites will surpass 16 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) this year.

Though well-established U.S. companies including Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc. have opened sites here, Chinese companies such as Alibaba Group and Baidu Inc., with their limited international reach, dominate the market, which is fast-growing but tightly regulated.

Meanwhile, job listings for sales, marketing, finance, customer service and other staff for Groupon have been posted by headhunters on Chinese job and university sites in recent weeks. "The largest group-buying site is hiring in Shanghai!" the ads say. "Groupon is the fastest-growing company in history… and it's now starting its Chinese company."

Ye Hongna, a Groupon spokeswoman based in Beijing, declined to comment. Tencent couldn't be reached.

Groupon raised eyebrows with its controversial Super Bowl commercials this year, particularly one that poked fun at the political situation in Tibet. The ad features actor Timothy Hutton narrating a mock public-service announcement about Tibetans being "in trouble, their very culture in jeopardy," that becomes an ad for a Groupon deal on Tibetan food. Copies of the commercial quickly appeared on Chinese websites with subtitles, drawing criticism from Internet users who said it was offensive and showed the company's ignorance about China.

Meanwhile, references to the social situation in Tibet are considered taboo in China, where regulators often require discussions of Tibetan independence to be removed from domestically operated websites. If Groupon opens a Chinese site, it will need regulator approval. Read more at www.wallstreetjournal.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/brd38

Billboard Ads Get Interactive with Mobile Phones with Free Games, Entertainment

Mobile is here to stay. Why not use billboards and posters to generate interactive advertising to generate traffic, convert sales and create awareness through entertaining, informative and innovative methods?



Technology is changing the marketing model quicker than ever before in our history. Marketers and business owners need to keep an eye on the emerging trends. The pace will only get better, faster and stronger, requiring more creative!

Amplify’d from www.wallstreetjournal.com

The Wall Street Journal Media & Marketing

Billboards Join Wired Age

Billboards and posters are one of world's oldest forms of advertising. Now, some marketers and start-ups say wireless technology could revamp outdoor advertising by bringing interactivity and pay-for-performance models.

Over the last few months, Google Inc., Nokia Corp. and France Telecom SA's Orange have run pilot advertising campaigns that let a person interact with posters in bus stops, phone booths, train stations and airports in cites including New York and London.

An interactive ad for Nokia in a London phone booth urges passers-by to download an app on the spot.

So far, companies are using the posters as a way to distribute wireless applications or ringtones for smartphones. But outdoor advertisers and marketers say the ads could also be used to distribute games, video ads, coupons and even as a way to sell physical or digital goods and services.

"You have to wait here. You don't have to be bored," read the poster for a Google campaign, which ran in Boston-area bus stops. The poster let a person download Google's mobile app through a free Wi-Fi router installed in the location.

"It's an old-school media that has been around for hundreds of years but we've dressed it up and made it fresh," said Zohar Levkovitz, chief executive and co-founder of Amobee, Inc., a start-up based in Redwood City, Calif., that has developed the technology and begun selling it to advertisers.

The billboard also gives users free Internet access at the bus stop. People can download the advertised app through their cellular connection as well, but Amobee says using the Wi-Fi connection allows people to avoid any data charges.

Interactive outdoor advertising is still unproven on a large scale and the business model is in an early stage of development, but Amobee says it is in discussions with other large multinational companies to roll out new campaigns.

Starting March 1, European wireless operator Orange will spend several hundred thousand dollars to run an advertising campaign across 300 sites in London and New York City for its ON wireless application that runs on Google's Android wireless operating system. A consumer waiting at a bus stop can hold his or her smartphone near the poster and download the app over Wi-Fi technology or by sending a text message to the company.

The interactive ads have allowed the company "to more accurately measure the effectiveness of our marketing spend" and made the "campaign experience more personal and engaging for our customers," said Jean Donadieu de Lavit, chief marketing officer of an Orange subsidiary that develops wireless hardware and software.

Nigel Emery, director of marketing and business development for Cemusa North America, a large outdoor advertising company that has worked with Amobee to place ads in New York City bus stops, said traditionally outdoor ads are sold for a lump sum covering a certain time frame. In New York City, Mr. Emery said the company charges $5,000 to $8,000 per bus shelter for a month.

The interactive ads, however, are built around a performance-based model. Advertisers pay only when a customer interacts with the ad, much like Internet search advertising works. The cost per download can range from $1 to $3 depending on the client, the budget, the offer and the location of the posters, said Harry Dewhirst, an advertising executive at Amobee. The ads run until a set number of downloads are reached.

Cemusa has yet to fully embrace the model, however. Instead it sold the outdoor ad spaces to Amobee, which is reselling them in a performance-based model to advertisers. But Mr. Emery said the idea holds a lot of promise."If advertisers have positive results they will do more of it," said Mr. Emery. "I love the idea and think it will attract more money into the outdoor medium."

Over the last few months, Nokia said it got a good return on its $1 million interactive poster campaign that ran in the U.S., U.K., South Africa and Australia promoting the app for its Ovi app store.

"Get apps and much more for your Nokia, turn on your Bluetooth now," read the poster, which displayed a Nokia smartphone and icons of apps for Facebook, Foursquare, Angry Birds and other programs.

A consumer could download the app through Bluetooth technology or by sending a text message. During the 10 weeks that the campaign ran, Craig Hepburn, global director of digital for Nokia, said 1.5 million people interacted with the poster and tens of millions of people saw it.

Mr. Hepburn said the campaign helped drive registrations for the Nokia Ovi app store and was relatively cheap compared with the cost of display and search ads on the Internet. And in an age when advertisers are facing tight ad budgets, the campaign was welcomed because it helped him show that Nokia was getting results for its money.

"We've been really impressed with the kind of performance and the engagement," said Mr. Hepburn. As a result, he is already mulling new campaigns and plans to move more of his ad budget into this area. Read more at www.wallstreetjournal.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/apc35

Foursquare Users to "Check In" to Super Bowl and Get Special Badge

Sounds like fun. Perhaps I can get a Crunked badge, too! (C-R-U-N-K in the U-S-A.)

Amplify’d from venturebeat.com

Foursquare reveals new “promoted” check-in for Super Bowl Sunday

Tech companies have long glommed on to the Super Bowl to promote their services. Remember how TiVo touted the number of people who replayed Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction in 2004? Now Foursquare, the hot New York-based location service, has revealed an alluring offer you’ll want to check out — or rather, check in.

Normally, Foursquare lets you announce where you are to your friends. But it’s waiving that restriction with the launch of a new advertising format — a “promoted venue” for the event to which anyone can check in, even if they don’t have coveted tickets to the real thing, in partnership with the National Football League. Any user will be able to check in to the Super Bowl, wherever they are, and receive a special badge as well as a discount code for NFLShop.com.

According a Foursquare spokesperson, “Super Bowl Sunday” will appear in the mobile app’s “Trending Now” section, which normally shows popular locations near the user. Once checked in, the user will have to “shout” which team they are rooting for and then receive that team’s badge — either one for the Steelers or  the Packers. (If a user is actually at the Super Bowl in real life — something Foursquare’s app detects using a smartphone’s GPS data — they will receive their own badge.)

Users will also receive a code for a 20 percent discount on merchandise at NFLShop.com, the league’s online store. While Foursquare has allowed businesses like Starbucks to issue their own promotional badges and separately offer discounts, this is the first time it’s combined the two rewards. With 6 million users, up 3,400 percent in 2010, it’s not surprising that Foursquare is experimenting more aggressively with new advertising formats.

Foursquare, based in New York City and founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding to date, with reports of possible additional fundraising on the horizon. It currently has more than 40 employees in its hometown and an engineering office in San Francisco. Read more at venturebeat.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/aoi10

9 out of 10 will view the Super Bowl from home (Neilsen)

I guess I'm cheap. Chips, drink and good food are less expensive in the comfort of my home. To liven it up, we'll even have people over. Sure beats struggling to see a TV in a sports bar. Can't wait for the big game!

Amplify’d from blog.nielsen.com

Home is Where the Super Bowl Is

February 3, 2011

When it comes to watching the Super Bowl, there’s no place like home. The great majority of U.S. households – 9 out of 10 – tell Nielsen they will be watching Super Bowl XLV at home or at a friend or relative’s house instead of watching it from a restaurant or bar. And while watching the game at home, only five percent of households expect to spend more than last year on food and beverages for the event, consistent with Nielsen’s findings in 2010.

“Consumers adjusted their behavior during the recession, and we see that trend playing out with the Super Bowl,” said James Russo, vice president, Global Consumer Insights at Nielsen. “Still very concerned about jobs and rising gas prices, consumers remain pragmatic with their spending. They are reducing their spending on entertainment and take-out, spending less on clothes and cutting back on expenses where they can, especially in mid to lower income households. That said consumers overall are cautiously optimistic so we don’t expect to see consumers cutting back as dramatically as they did last year.”

Nielsen’s survey of more than 60,000 U.S. households shows that 85 percent of Super Bowl viewers plan to spend the same amount or less on food and beverages for the Super Bowl this year, while only five percent plan to spend more.

The Most Popular Holiday for Beer Sales?  Not the Super Bowl. While beer and football may seem like a perfect combination, the Super Bowl is not the most popular beer holiday in the U.S. Nielsen’s research shows that the Super Bowl ranks relatively low among holiday beer sales, after Labor Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

Snacks, Get Your Snacks Super Bowl viewers stock their at-home parties with snacks, nearly 177 million pounds of snacks. The potato chip is the Super Bowl king of snacks, with nearly 46 million pounds sold.

“At-home Super Bowl viewing is an opportunity for grocery stores, mass merchandisers and other retailers selling food and beverage items,” said Russo. “The consumer is in control, now more than ever, and how food and beverage retailers demonstrate value and innovation to capture consumer spending, for big at-home viewing events like the Super Bowl or the Oscars is critical.” Read more at blog.nielsen.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/aohyu

Are You Mullin’ for a Mulligan on this Groundhog Day?

Amplify’d from johnweeden.wordpress.com

Are You Mullin’ for a Mulligan on this Groundhog Day?

I can’t help but associate the observation of Groundhog Day with the Bill Murray movie of the same title. With no disrespect to fuzzy Phil from Punxsutawney who forecasts the winter weather based upon the visibility of his shadow, I always break a smile when thinking about this movie.

Most of us are aware of Murray’s character Phil Conners reliving February 2nd over and over in a endless loop. With the exception of him and his actions, the townspeople do the same thing over and over with predictability—after all, it’s the same day. However it’s not the day’s events that the movie is focused upon; it’s the redemption of Phil Conners to become a better person.

Phil Conners gets a do-over—many in fact, until he gets it right.

Fortunately, life in the real world does not allow us to be trapped in a feedback loop. The mental torture would be overwhelming as demonstrated by Murray’s character attempting suicide on several occasions, only to wake up again on, yes, February 2nd. But we do get a chance to “get it right.” A mulligan, if you will.

So on this Groundhog Day, consider a do-over for yourself. What would you like to change in your life? Do you need to reaffirm your New Year’s resolution? Are you looking to rebuild damaged relationships or improve yourself as a person? Are you mullin’ for a mulligan?

Spend a few minutes today to look inside yourself to assess these questions. Take a coffee break in solitude or take a brisk walk. Turn off the iPod and reflect in the splendor of silence. Take some notes or journal your thoughts. And then, as in the golfing term “mulligan,” take a do-over.

Links Read more at johnweeden.wordpress.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/ao8ck

I love Volkwagens; I love The Beetle; I love advertising -- especially Super Bowl advertising. Well, it turns out that Volkswagen has a redesigned Beetle coming out soon and will be "teasing" it during the Super Bowl. Here's a glimpse http://amplify.com/u/bo6kx http://amplify.com/u/ao6ky