Tracking retail customers while shopping in-store.
Brickstream is a funky-cool tool that allows retailers to track the physical path of multiple customers through their retail stores. Analyzing these browsing/buying paths (much like a click-stream analysis on a Web site) then gives retailers the ability to find out what parts of their stores are least (or most) frequented. They also get information about where gridlock seems to most happen, or customers happen to linger the most.
According to a trusted source, the company plans to add biometric recognition, that in theory, could be tied to a credit card or loyalty card transaction. This in turn will allow the retailer to track the browsing patterns of in-store buyers, and allow for more targeted offers through direct mail or e-mail.
This all sound a bit too big-brotherish? Watch Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report for a visual depiction of such technology.
Remember SixDegrees.com? Here’s the second coming.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Several years ago, there was a fantastic social networking tool called SixDegrees (who claim, on their Web site to be relaunching soon) that allowed you to connect with people you knew, and then search for other members with similar interests, and see how close you were in degrees of separation from them.
A new networking tool called LinkedIn allows marketers and business development professionals to do exactly that—create their own networks, and then “join” them with other trusted people’s networks.
Then, say you’re looking for someone to connect with at Best Buy, in the marketing department. You can search for a contact, and find out what path, through your contacts, you need to take to get to them.
Spam Begone: A Marketer’s Dream (and Nightmare)
Monday, June 21, 2004
I know I don’t know you, but I share a pet peeve with you. Really, I do. I hate spam. So much of it fills my inbox, that I sometimes have to scream. They’ve gotten clever enough that they now set up hundreds of shell organizations so that if you unsubscribe from one sub-org, they’ll spam you from another. The more you unsub, the more they spam, because they know you’re reading the damn email.
Well, no more. I have seen our saviour, and its name is Qurb. Qurb is simply the most elegant, intuitive and error-free spam-dominating kick-ass piece of software I have ever seen, or used in my life.
It works on a “white-list” basis—essentially, only allows mail from known parties; but it makes the process of adding to the white-list so easy, that its almost transparent.
Can you tell I like this thing?
Commercial Watch
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Ever wonder what happened to that amazing commercial by that company? Ever wonder who produced it, or wrote it? Ever wonder if it was part of a series?
Well, AdCritic has the answer. Log on to watch hundreds of commercials, see related awards, and credits. There are some classics on there, especially from Weiden & Kennedy, for Nike.
Seth Godin’s Purple Cow Chews New Cud
Saturday, June 19, 2004
Seth Godin, that bald-headed marketing fella from Yahoo!, has made quite name for himself with his previous books, Permission Marketing and Unleashing the Idea Virus. His new book Purple Cow, is a brilliant, pithy take on the concept of brutal clarity in marketing. It talks about how companies that use non-traditional mechanisms, and non-intuitive marketing methods to drive sales and tranform themselves.