Mayor Bloomberg on Zumbox in New York

NY City joined Newark and San Francisco as planned government customers of Zumbox.  Mayor Bloomberg sited in his speech that a motivating factor for adopting Zumbox was that the public has "become technologically comfortable" and the benefit of waste reduction.

Subliminal Advertising (sort of) on GrooveShark

Web on-demand-radio service GrooveShark has added another space for advertising, and this is a first.  Not a pop-up ad or a banner, but a full page flashing ad that shows up when you are listening to certain songs and scrolling.  I am not judging it good or bad, just identifying a new way to present ads.  I definitely paid attention, but grooveshark needs a method of convincing me to buy music.  I can listen to deadmau5 for free and if he is getting significant royalties for the airplay, maybe it is worth the advertising.  Watch the video and take the poll on the right asking if you think subliminal web ads are creative or annoying.

GroupMe Connects Web and Mobile with QR Code

www.groupme.com/android

The new year's hottest start-up, GroupMe, shows off a QR code on-site to promote its new Android app and connect web to mobile.  This is a perfect application for QR codes that makes sense and makes it very easy to find the .  The story from December on Groupme's blog promoting free stickers for guerilla promotion begs the question if GroupMe will distribute QR code stickers anytime soon.

Started in the summer of 2010, the company is based on a simple concept of chat rooms for texting.  After a few rounds of financing, the start-up has secured over $20 million in VC money.  They are focused on creating awareness for the FREE service, further developing the user experience, and solidify a profitable business model. My personal experience with groupme was positive.  I found a bug in group setup, sent an email to support@groupme.com, got a response within a few hours, and the bug was fixed.  Check out this new mobile application and see how the text service can change the way you communicate. www.groupme.com 

Free Market Research for Your Website

I frequently get calls from a local market research firm to participate in product trials and discussion panels, mostly consisting of consumer goods or food. This past week I took callson four separate evenings to clarify my history and awareness of a specific brand and product. It seemed like they were trying to squeeze as much information out of me without paying, and they couldn't tell me how much the study paid. I still don't know if I qualify. But the process got me thinking about the cost of Market research. I spent about 30 minutes total on the phone over 4 calls discussing my knowledge of a product. Even conservatively, the brand would pay at least $30 an hour for the research study. They need at least 100 participants for a statistically significant survey, and if they are treating my like a murder trial juror, let's say they pick 25% of the people they contact. $15 x 200 = $3000 before the study even starts. I've been paid anywhere from $30 to $75 for a market research study. Say the study pays $50, there's another $5000. Plus whatever the research firm charges to consolidate the study data. At a minimum, that single study could cost a brand upwards of $10,000. And they perform similar studies in cities across the country to understand regional differences in opinion. That was along way of saying that no start-up brand or small business could afford that type of elaborate market research. So what is a blogger or web entrepreneur to do?

Fivesecondtest.com is an awesome site for web designers, graphic artists, and product designers to get their products reviewed for free.

Sign up for an account and you get initial free credits to have your material reviewed. 1 credit equals 1 review. They consist of an introduction, a quick 5 second view of the site, then a few questions that ask you to recall what you saw. Questions like "what was the point of the site?" "what service did the site offer? "what's the name of the site?"

If you are short on time, there is a pay option for the site. This is great because it gives a value to the market research and if you are billing a customer, you can offer the service as a pass-through cost. Here is the secret, invest some time helping your fellow marketers and earn "karma" points for reviewing their site.

To have your site reviewed, just upload screenshots of your site and ask some good questions that will help you improve your site. Fivesecondtest.com is also great for gathering evidence of why a site needs redesigned. Take your opinion out of your pitch and rely on the research when presenting your ideas to your customer.

Fivesecondtest.com is also great for having your mobile app reviewed. Even your product package or print ad can be posted for research. I have received some great data and advice on my websites from fivesecondtest.com and I have never paid for reviews because I enjoy checking out other sites and getting ideas from the questions that are being asked.

If you want to know the name of the mark research firm and get a link to sign up for real paid market research studies, just email me or subscribe to the blog.

Google Zeitgeist 2010 - From Bieber to Dodson

Corporate Graffiti: Art, Vandalism, or Advertising

A new trend by some, but companies have been using graffiti as a guerilla marketing tactic.  While many have termed this type of guerilla marketing, "environmental" advertising, rebel advertising agencies are acting without explicit permission. This video from WSJ.com  references Attack! Marketing as a company that has been doing this for years.  This new road for street marketing will continue to grow as companies look for new, more effective channels that are less expensive.  Just drive through any college campus and the prevelance of stop signs with bumper stickers will show you this is nothing new.

Don't fight it - Social Media's Impact on the World

With all the negative press that social media gets (how it shorts children's attention-spans, how it deteriorates physical social skills, how it is an invasion of your privacy, how your information is not safe. . .), this video takes a look at the impact of social media on the world with some astonishing statistics.  Some of the numbers will make your head spin.  The video is part of Erik Qualman's promotion for his new book Socialnomics, so tweet about this or post it on your facebook wall )because that seems like the social thing to do).  check out @equalman on twitter.  Good tip not to post on Saturday.