Press Release: United States Postal Service Ranked No. 1 in the World

The Best Among Top 20 Largest Global Economies

WASHINGTON — A review of the performance of universal postal service providers by the Oxford Strategic Consulting (OSC) firm ranks the U.S. Postal Service the best postal service within the world’s top 20 largest economies for access to services, resource efficiency and public trust.
“We’re proud to lead the world in postal services and we will continue to deliver superior performance for future generations,” said Postmaster General and CEO Patrick Donahoe. “Our best days are ahead of us. I have no doubt the Postal Service will overcome its current financial challenges and endure as the world’s leading postal service.”

QR Codes at the airport

For the last two years marketers have been pushing qr codes and even though a majority of the content stinks, there are some great applications for QR codes so I hope they do not go the way of the laserdisc.

Of all the places I see QR codes, I think America's airports have the highest concentration of QR codes. And what place better for QR codes. Everyone has a smartphone it seems, theres plenty of time to waste, and ads are a big part of airport decor.

Do you have a jailbroken iPhone?

Give it six minutes, it is worth it.

Unseen Apps is exactly what it sounds like. A bunch of apps running in the background.  For example, someone calls you and their number is not in your phone, it automatically searches and displays a name, picture, and whatever info it can scrape from online directories.  Pretty cool for $20.

Square places huge outdoor ad in downtown Columbus

www.squareup.com

I was downtown this Thursday and snapped a picture of this huge Square ad promoting their free card swiper. I know quite a few columbus merchants that use square. This is a pretty mainstream ad for a company like square. The mobile payment revolution is well underway, but how does Square plan to change once EMV (micro-chipped) cards become a standard.

BLACKOUT YOUR SITE AGAINST SOPA

Google, Wikipedia, and many major sites are joining together today to protest the SOPA act that congress will be voting on January 24th.

Visit http://sopastrike.com to join the protest.

Black out your blog, twitter page, linkedin.  Just make it known that you are against internet censorship.  What is deemed unlawful today may change tomorrow.  Keep the internet free, by the people, for the people, and keep the government out of our web.

2012 Predictions

I thought I would give it a week before jumping on to make my 2012 predictions for marketing, social, and startups.  There have been plenty of posts on predictions but I have tried to avoid them.  What I have gotten from the few that I have read is:

• google+ and how it is changing the way we search
• facebook, the timeline, and more legal stuff around privacy
• Mobile, Mobile, Mobile
• Is this the year bubble 2.0 bursts?

Of course there is alot more being discussed and I won't be talking about any of those things.  My prediction of 2012 is that this will be remembered as the year that the web breaks out of the computer and into our every day lives.  More than just  mobile and tablets.  I had an idea the other day after coming home a little later than usual and what I had in the crockpot had been slightly over cooked.  "What if I could control my crockpot with an app so that I didn't over cook my food?" And the iCrockPot was born! (The name is TBD).  I believe the internet will be integrated to more and more devices which will give manufacturers better feedback on problems with their products, allow for product updates, and more.  The crockpot is something only to be sold at The Sharper Image, but more internet enabled products will be on store shelves soon.

Did you see they are putting internet in cars now?  This is big stuff and it didn't make the front page of yahoo.  Even the commercials from Toyota and Chevy have barely bragged about the in-car internet.  The new Camry has apps.  This is Pandora's time to shine.  Replace my FM dial with a Pandora app in my dash and I am willing to pay for their service.  Will anyone pay $30+ a month for internet?  This will be the year that more car makers add internet to their vehicles and consumers will decide if they want it.  

QR Codes decline in volume, increase in Quality: This is a hopeful prediction.  2011 was a take-off year for QR Codes.  By the end of the year they were on everything.  But still. . . no one is scanning.  I don't see anyone scanning at least.  For me, I scan when I see an exceptional ad or want to find out what is on the other end of that code.  Most of the time, it is still disappointing content.  Because QR codes are easy and free to make, anyone can throw them on an ad or poster.  But this is a gift an a curse.  Where is the Microsoft Tag or that one shaped like an L with circles?  Those didn't take off because they were proprietary.  QR Code proliferation happened because they cost little to nothing to add on to your marketing campaign.  If QR Codes required some skill to create, fewer would be on the streets, but I think the quality of the landing page would be much greater.  Let's hope this is the year for some great QR Code campaigns.

Square goes mainstream:  It is already uncool to look at Square like a foreign object when it is handed to you at checkout.  I have had once for over a year, but never had a use for it.  Being sold in the Apple store was a big boost and their Christmas promotion made it a great add on to the many iPhones that were gifted).  I have seen several store front windows promoting Square among their accepted payment methods.  In the last week I have paid with Square twice.  (Shout out to Paul at Zeroz in Columbus, Ohio.  He took payment for my awesome new wallet with Square.  Da Levee on High Street also used Square for my etouffee)  Even though many small businesses are ditching their expensive POS systems for an iPod Touch and Square, a big name retailer will be necessary to push Square into the mainstream, but this could be their year.

iTV: Will consumers pay more for a TV from Apple?  Probably.  But with LCD and LED TV's priced so low you should put one in your bathroom, this TV better seriously improve my viewing experience and the way I interact with content.  I have an Apple TV and I don't use it because Apple video content is basically pay-per-view with a YouTube and Netflix player.  Once I dropped my Netflix subscription, I stopped using it all together.  iTV still interests me and I think this will be the year that we see Apple take its place in the living room.

Cable providers evolve or die: Hulu, Netflix, Crackle, Apple TV, Roku, YouTube (now that it has channels), JustinTV, and the list can go on.  With every viewer that chooses to view their entertainment online, cable is one customer closer extinction.  Why do I still have cable?  Probably because I want something to watch in any room and sometimes it is nice to just veg out and be entertained without the need to choose.  With my internet media, sometimes I need the freedom from choice.  That is why the new YouTube channels interest me so much.

Apps for the enterprise:  Big money apps made for the enterprise will start to play a bigger role in the way we work.  Since the advent of the App Store, there have been apps design for business.  Scan business cards, manage your calendar, bump contacts, and more.  But these are bought by me for me.  I predict that businesses will play a greater role in the content of the phones their employees use for work, starting with apps that they want you to use.  So delete Angry Birds from your company iPhone and make room for the next wave of apps for business.

My New Years Resolution is to blog more.  So here's to the start of a great 2012!

Sell Out to Up Sell

When I went back this morning to look at the picked over laptop selection, I found a Samsung that fit the bill. It was not until I got up to the register when I found out that the only $299 laptops that were left came with a $70 Geek Squad setup.

So instead of pay $70 to have someone go through the automated setup, I am holding out for a cyber Monday deal.

But what a great way to upsell earlier than ever, open at Midnight be sold out before the doors open, and only have premium options left. There were no other $300 or even $350 laptops left like there usually is on any given day.

After the earliest black Friday start ever, all that was let of the tents and the crowds was one left behind winter jacket crumpled up right of the entrance.