Hey, Let's Go For a Joyride!
We're trying to cover a range of new business models as much as new rich media. So, here's some of both:
VOLKSWAGEN "GTI CONFIGURATOR" Oh, man! We can almost retire the online advertising trophy for 2006 and hand it to the people at Volkswagen!
Here they take the idea of a "virtual car configurator" and somehow inject it into interactive television commercials. You're the driver, you pick out your colors, motor, tranny and trims on your brand new WV GTI, and then, hold on as a wacky post-modern German Fraulein takes you for a joyride. The ride you see is different depending on all sorts of things: manual vs. automatic transmission, color of the car you choose, yikes! It's another example of the expanded set of tricks Flash 8 offers us.
We're busy down here in interactive trying to figure out how they did it: GTI Configurator
SITE PAL "MERCEDES BENZ STORE" Now you can add an animated character to your home page who can act like a virtual "host," interacting with customers. Site Pal is new product from Oddcast, which has been experimenting with interactive characters since 1999. (http://www.oddcast.com/sitepal/) Off the shelf characters cost $500 a year, which makes it attractive even for the small eBay store owner. Here's a more customized version, created for one of the larger MERCEDES BENZ dealerships on eBay Motors. The home page is hosted by a character (called an "avatar") who asks you your name, then addresses you personally as you walk through buying a new or pre-owned Benz. The avatar even remembers your name when you come back later: The Mercedes Benz Store
"PROSPER.COM" New business model of the week is called Prosper.com. The idea is a money-lending service focused on small loans---$25,000 or less. The trick is that Prosper.com doesn't lend the money--you post your loan request, and lenders of any type can make the loan to you, based on your credit-worthiness. You get a loan at a much lower interest rate than, say your MBNA Visa at 28% APR, and small banks, even private investors can make their money work harder in the marketplace. Here's an even better twist: you can band together with a group of friends, like say your PTA association, or your extended family, and form a virtual credit union, where you vouch for each other, earning an even better credit rating. It's yet another example of a "community" business model: Prosper.com
HONDA ELEMENT "MY SPACE.COM" From this week's Online Media Daily, a report on a speech by Shawn Gold, SVP of MySpace, on the first success stories for advertisers within the massive MySpace social network: "Gold mentioned MySpace programs with Aquafina and the Beastie Boys, as well as Wendy's, which has managed to rack up 94,000 friends on MySpace and boasts a variety of features on its page including downloads, wallpapers, screensavers, AIM icons, slides, audio, and video. Verizon Wireless, the Honda Element, and Toyota are among the marketers that are evolving profiles on MySpace." Here's a MySpace.com page for the Honda Element, featuring a "design your own wallpaper" contest: Honda Element
"PLUM" Hans Peter Brodmo was one of the pioneers in e-mail marketing in the halcyon days of San Francisco, and now he's launching a start-up called Plum. Brodmo's new idea is a (AJAX) software program that allows you to easily create a "collection" of information from the Web on any subject, using web pages, e-mails, links, blog entries, searches, RSS feeds---anything you can get to your computer desktop. So if you're interested in horses, or gardening, or automotive advertising, you can create a "collection" of information that is easily and clearly organized, without storing a huge amount of content on your computer. Plum is in beta testing, but this could be a big thing by summer: Plum.com
BONUS: "ALMOST ONE IN A MILLION" Like you, I joined an office pool on the NCAA basketball tournament and like you, I had no idea that UCLA, Florida, LSU and (for God's sake!) George Mason, would make it to the final four. ESPN had over 3 million entries in their online NCAA brackets contest this year----can you guess how many of those 3 million entries correctly picked the regional winners in this year's final four? Exactly *four* of them! My favorite quote from the winners was the guy inn Omaha who admitted that he picked George Mason by mistake, thinking it was George Washington . Here's your online laugh for the week: (NY Times, requires simple registration) NY Times
Better luck next year! --RJ
Hey, Let's Go For a Joyride!
We're trying to cover a range of new business models as much as new rich media. So, here's some of both:
VOLKSWAGEN "GTI CONFIGURATOR" Oh, man! We can almost retire the online advertising trophy for 2006 and hand it to the people at Volkswagen!
Here they take the idea of a "virtual car configurator" and somehow inject it into interactive television commercials. You're the driver, you pick out your colors, motor, tranny and trims on your brand new WV GTI, and then, hold on as a wacky post-modern German Fraulein takes you for a joyride. The ride you see is different depending on all sorts of things: manual vs. automatic transmission, color of the car you choose, yikes! It's another example of the expanded set of tricks Flash 8 offers us.
We're busy down here in interactive trying to figure out how they did it: GTI Configurator
SITE PAL "MERCEDES BENZ STORE" Now you can add an animated character to your home page who can act like a virtual "host," interacting with customers. Site Pal is new product from Oddcast, which has been experimenting with interactive characters since 1999. (http://www.oddcast.com/sitepal/) Off the shelf characters cost $500 a year, which makes it attractive even for the small eBay store owner. Here's a more customized version, created for one of the larger MERCEDES BENZ dealerships on eBay Motors. The home page is hosted by a character (called an "avatar") who asks you your name, then addresses you personally as you walk through buying a new or pre-owned Benz. The avatar even remembers your name when you come back later: The Mercedes Benz Store
"PROSPER.COM" New business model of the week is called Prosper.com. The idea is a money-lending service focused on small loans---$25,000 or less. The trick is that Prosper.com doesn't lend the money--you post your loan request, and lenders of any type can make the loan to you, based on your credit-worthiness. You get a loan at a much lower interest rate than, say your MBNA Visa at 28% APR, and small banks, even private investors can make their money work harder in the marketplace. Here's an even better twist: you can band together with a group of friends, like say your PTA association, or your extended family, and form a virtual credit union, where you vouch for each other, earning an even better credit rating. It's yet another example of a "community" business model: Prosper.com
HONDA ELEMENT "MY SPACE.COM" From this week's Online Media Daily, a report on a speech by Shawn Gold, SVP of MySpace, on the first success stories for advertisers within the massive MySpace social network: "Gold mentioned MySpace programs with Aquafina and the Beastie Boys, as well as Wendy's, which has managed to rack up 94,000 friends on MySpace and boasts a variety of features on its page including downloads, wallpapers, screensavers, AIM icons, slides, audio, and video. Verizon Wireless, the Honda Element, and Toyota are among the marketers that are evolving profiles on MySpace." Here's a MySpace.com page for the Honda Element, featuring a "design your own wallpaper" contest: Honda Element
"PLUM" Hans Peter Brodmo was one of the pioneers in e-mail marketing in the halcyon days of San Francisco, and now he's launching a start-up called Plum. Brodmo's new idea is a (AJAX) software program that allows you to easily create a "collection" of information from the Web on any subject, using web pages, e-mails, links, blog entries, searches, RSS feeds---anything you can get to your computer desktop. So if you're interested in horses, or gardening, or automotive advertising, you can create a "collection" of information that is easily and clearly organized, without storing a huge amount of content on your computer. Plum is in beta testing, but this could be a big thing by summer: Plum.com
BONUS: "ALMOST ONE IN A MILLION" Like you, I joined an office pool on the NCAA basketball tournament and like you, I had no idea that UCLA, Florida, LSU and (for God's sake!) George Mason, would make it to the final four. ESPN had over 3 million entries in their online NCAA brackets contest this year----can you guess how many of those 3 million entries correctly picked the regional winners in this year's final four? Exactly *four* of them! My favorite quote from the winners was the guy inn Omaha who admitted that he picked George Mason by mistake, thinking it was George Washington . Here's your online laugh for the week: (NY Times, requires simple registration) NY Times
Better luck next year! --RJ
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