Dastardly Airlines

 

Most #Contagious 2011 - Unquestionably Best Marketing/Innovation Restrospective of the Year

Without a doubt my most anticipated retrospective of the year - marketing, interactive, emerging technology executions over the year in an easy-to-read wrap up that is best consumed with a laptop and a glass of wine. 5 years in a row and running. Bravo Contagious!!

 

'Sell Simply' Wants You To Buy, Sell, And Donate Direct On Twitter (From Any Device) | TechCrunch
Screen shot 2011-11-14 at 11.02.11 AM

Brands are increasingly turning to Facebook both as a place to advertise and as a complementary platform by which to build their online presence — and begin conducting social commerce. There are a number of solutions, for example, that allow big and small operations alike to operate retail storefronts on Facebook, sell their wares, and, to a degree, manage their transactions.

But what about that other popular social network, Twitter? The “micro-blogging” platform has certainly become a vehicle for celebrities and brands looking to hawk their products, stir up brand awareness, and interact with their customers, so the question becomes: Why can’t Twitter, too, offer some of the same eCommerce functionality as Facebook?

There are a number of reasons for this, but for starters, Twitter has been largely focused on doing one thing well above all others: Building the best realtime communication platform the Internets has to offer. There’s also the fact that Twitter has privileged a “consistent user experience” and hasn’t always had the best relationship with third-party developers.

Thus, brands have typically used Twitter as a somewhat indirect broadcast platform, listing items for sale, but only doing so in a way that is intended to lure customers away from Twitter to their own eCommerce platforms. (Facebook has also struggled to keep commerce and transactions happening on its platform, rather than suffering from redirection to retailers’ homepages.)

But Chris Teso sees a big opportunity for direct eCommerce on Twitter, which is why, in July, he launched Sell Simply — a simple way to enable consumers and brands to buy, sell, and transact on Twitter. Essentially, Sell Simply turns Twitter into a eMarketplace, allowing users to buy and sell anything over Twitter by replying “buy” to any listing Tweet.

Users can list an item for sale on Sell Simply, or import their items from other commerce platforms, like Etsy, Ebay, Craigslist, ArtFire, or Bonanza, and automatically tweet those items out for sale. All users have to do is connect their Sell Simply accounts with Twitter and PayPal, so when someone responds to that tweet with “buy”, Sell Simply facilitates the transaction through PayPal, enabling users to buy and sell an item with one tweet. (Re-tweets, too, are transactionable.)

And, in terms of security, since all transactions take place through PayPal, customers have no liability for unauthorized purchases when they meet PayPal’s requirements, and, in turn, can take advantage of refunds for incorrect orders or items that never arrive.

Since launching in July, the platform has racked up over one thousand members listing over 10,000 items for sale on Twitter, and Teso says that 75 percent of Sell Simply’s members have connected their PayPal and Twitter accounts to the platform, which he sees as encouraging evidence that people are ready to take that leap of faith and begin using Twitter as a direct sales platform. So far, the average transaction price has been $35 and the most common items being sold are vintage clothing and photography, (as many users are coming from Etsy), but he expects the merchandise to diversify as more people begin connecting to the platform.

As for the road ahead, Teso plans to launch a “T-commerce” platform designed to expand Sell Simply’s possible uses for brands, with features that will include integration with back office e-commerce workflow, analytics, and a recommendation engine that will suggest items based on what a user Tweets about, for example. For brands interested in this kind of functionality, Teso said, there will be a licensing fee.

Obviously, for brands, the value proposition both for Sell Simply’s current offerings and the marketplace features that will be launching by the end of the year could be huge. If you’re a brand, Twitter is the perfect platform on which to broadcast flash sales and time-sensitive deals, and Sell Simply’s buy-with-one-tweet service will make that even easier.

And for non-profits, Sell Simply uses the same formula for transactions to turn Twitter into a donations platform as well, allowing people to donate their charities of choice with one tweet.

Just as brands hope that using Facebook as a social commerce platform can help create scale so that a larger audience will see cool products or sales because users post those items on their wall or share them with friends, Teso said that he sees a similar opportunity for eCommerce on Twitter.

If one happens to be selling their bike on Twitter through Sell Simply, there’s a good chance that a user’s friends will re-tweet the listing, and their followers may follow suit. If those people then, in turn, re-tweet to their followers, well, you get the point. Suddenly your listing might be reaching the eyeballs of someone in a fifth degree of separation, to which they can reply and instantaneously purchase the item. And with Chirp, that can all happen while you’re on the go.

It’s like Square, but you don’t need an extra device (a Square) — or a credit card. Pretty cool.

Check out Sell Simply at home here and let us know what you think.


Company: Sell Simply
Website: sellsimp.ly
Launch Date: January 6, 2011

Sell Simply enables commerce on Twitter. Sell Simply transforms Twitter into a marketplace, where businesses and consumers can buy, sell and transact all with one Tweet. Traditionally brands and consumers use Twitter as a broadcast platform, trying to lure customers away to their storefront to purchase. Sell Simply enables you to push commerce into the Twitter stream, allowing any person to purchase right from a Tweet simply by replying with the word “buy”.

Learn more
Company: Twitter
Website: twitter.com
Funding: $1.16B

Twitter, founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006 (launched publicly in July 2006), is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post their latest updates. An update is limited by 140 characters and can be posted through three methods: web form, text message, or instant message. The company has been busy adding features to the product like Gmail import and search. They recently launched a new site section called “Explore” for...

Learn more

via techcrunch.com

We predicted this one! Social commerce comes to Twitter: http://tcrn.ch/suxH70 #BFSocialLabs

 

The Rules of Gamification - Razorfish Outlook Report Vol 10 #gamification @twabbi

Human beings love games. If you look hard enough, you’ll find game dynamics in everything we do, from education to careers to relationships. We’re all about establishing rules, defining winners and losers, competing and cooperating. So while it’s no surprise we see all of these things in marketing campaigns, it’s also nothing new. For decades, loyalty campaigns that instill customer loyalty by awarding points and prizes have been a mainstay of establishing customer relationships. Now the rise of social media is bringing a different kind of gamesmanship to bear. Facebook is flooded with FarmVille and Mafia Wars achievement. Foursquare is turning everyone into the mayor of somewhere. And Twitter, though most are loath to admit it, is all about the accumulation of followers. Then there’s Klout, which has managed to make a game of all these games, awarding badges and small gifts to those who are best at playing the social game.

Brands want to play, too. And some are doing a good job of it. Pepsi, Starbucks, Hallmark and Nike are just a few examples of marketers who have gamified their customer experiences. “Gamification” — the application of gaming principles, mechanics or concepts to efforts that aren’t necessarily “games,” has everyone talking.

But games aren’t all fun and, um, games. While they might appear to be a safe way to earn engagement for your brand, they must be integrated in an authentic way in order for consumers to want to participate. When considering the prospect of a program using these principles, it’s important to focus on very human benefits that make games successful — challenge, recognition, tracking, competition and cooperation.

These five benefits are the lenses through which we’re approaching any gamification effort:

1. Challenge

As marketers, we’ve been taught to make communication frictionless, easy and direct. But for games, that’s a recipe for boring. The artful application of difficulty to games is what makes them fun, and there exists the same opportunity to create fun in marketing using this principle. Don’t be afraid to challenge your audience but, of course, that’s not the same as miring them in complexity.

2. Recognition

A lot of people go through life without being recognized very often — that’s one of the reasons we have birthdays and Facebook. Games can change that. They recognize achievement, scarcity and excellence in a context that matters to the player. Taking that understanding of context and what truly matters to a consumer creates a flood of creative marketing ideas. Badges, mayorships, little gifts — they can all go a long way to make your consumers feel special.

3. Tracking

The notion of the Quantified Self has taken deep root in our culture. We’re tracking more and more of our lives via sensors, apps and Web sites than ever before. Our workflows, diets and sleep schedules are all now quantifiable using the latest technology, but games have a long history of giving players feedback about their progress and when they’ll finally reach the end. It’s easier than ever before to harness data to enrich any experience and deepen the engagement one has with it, be it entertainment or marketing — or both. Using games can help you help your consumers better understand their performance and help them improve.

4. Competition

This is the most obvious lens to consider when applying game thinking, because games produce winners, losers and everything in between. The rub with marketing is making sure that the audience cares enough and that there are enough relevant rewards to warrant real competition.

5. Cooperation

Throw “teams” into a competition and all of a sudden everything is more intense. As much as people like to compete, they like to achieve things together even more, and social games have taught us lessons about that fact for several years now. Marketers offer things consumers want — making them participants in a gaming experience, and encouraging them to work together toward those wants can be a powerful motivator.

Together, these five lenses create some really interesting programs. We’re using them to bring lively connections to family dinners, create hunts across America for hidden prizes and power a Twitter-fueled race to the Super Bowl. Beyond marketing, businesses are using these lenses to aid them in everything from training to customer service to logistics.

Can gamification get in the way? Of course. But it can also be a profound tool in the marketer’s toolbox. Consider adding game design to the marketing skill set — and treat it like creativity, flexibility, tenacity and any other must-have in the marketing superpower set. Applying what we’ve learned from games to advertising creative, the tracking of marketing efforts and the brand itself is interesting. If it’s also fun, then it becomes very interesting.

via razorfishoutlook.razorfish.com

Link to the full article.

http://razorfishoutlook.razorfish.com/articles/gamification.aspx

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