ETD: 897 Origin of "Keystone"; Google Wallet; Marketer
Captures Eyeballs with Screensavers
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Jun 21 11:53:15 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0897 June 21, 2005
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Origin of "Keystone"
[3] Google Wallet
[4] Marketer Captures Eyeballs with Screensavers
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Today we have some interesting news tidbits. And we have an answer to the
origin of "Keystone" - a term we all know, yet don't seem to know it's
origin (try researching it online). Thanks to list member Ronnie Gauthier.
We all have the issue of how to get more business. Spammers have destroyed
e-mail. One company is now using screensavers, and seems to be doing quite
well. Interesting to note that I was partner in an incubator in GA, and
one of the companies developed such a plan, which they were trying to
promote as viral marketing. They had many of the colleges lined up to have
their logos working in a screensaver. My question is, will people really
download and use them? The company claims to have millions of users and
major companies as clients.
It is rumored that Google will be introducing a wallet to allow people to
pay online, which is expected to compete with PayPal, and should be an
interesting battle. This will affect the many smaller payment options
online (including perhaps, one of our list members). What do you
think? Is it something you would use?
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Origin of "Keystone"
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In answer to the question from Alan Zell re: the origin of "Keystone," a
ski resort in Keystone, Colorado, had a standard 100% markup across all
items. It became know as a keystone.
I went to school for ski area management and it was one of the little
marketing tidbits we learned.
Ronnie Gauthier
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
I'm impressed. I couldn't find anything about this online in all the
trivia sites I know.
George
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[3] Google Wallet
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Google Inc. this year plans to offer an electronic-payment service that
could help the Internet-search company diversify its revenue and may put it
in competition with eBay Inc.'s PayPal unit, according to people familiar
with the matter.
Exact details of the search company's planned service aren't known. But the
people familiar with the matter say it could have similarities with PayPal,
which allows consumers to pay for purchases by funding electronic-payment
accounts from their credit cards or checking accounts.
Some consumers like PayPal for the security it offers, since it allows them
to share their banking or credit-card numbers only with PayPal without
having to divulge the information to merchants.
Officials of Google and PayPal declined to comment.
For Google, a payment service could represent a significant expansion
beyond online advertising, which generated 99% of its $3.2 billion in
revenue last year. Online-payment providers typically generate revenue by
taking a commission on each transaction.
EBay's PayPal service generated $233.1 million, or 23%, of eBay's revenue
in the first quarter. PayPal has been widely adopted by buyers and sellers
on eBay's auction marketplace as a way to pay for purchases. Recently, eBay
has been trying to expand PayPal's presence as a payment system for other
Web sites. In the first quarter, 71% of PayPal's revenue came from eBay
auctions, the company says.
"It could be a pretty big negative for eBay if it happens," says Safa
Rashtchy, Internet analyst at Piper Jaffray. Mr. Rashtchy said he believes
Google is also working on a classified listing service, which also would
compete with eBay, which is based in San Jose, Calif.
The moves would highlight the growing rivalry between the two Internet
companies, even while eBay itself is a big buyer of Google's online ads.
For example, many eBay sellers now also sell through their own Web sites,
to which they attract shoppers by buying search-related ads on Google.
The company on April 13 filed to incorporate an entity called Google
Payment Corp., according to an online California state business database,
though it isn't known whether that is linked to Google's payment-service
plans. Google itself has so far not provided any details of any
payment-service plans. Google currently accepts credit-card payments for
some services, including advertisements and customized research.
Details at...
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111905141149263168,00.html
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[4] Marketer Captures Eyeballs with Screensavers
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After the message is delivered to the user, the screensaver can report on
every customer's action, which allows a company to refine future marketing
messages even more. "We could send a TV commercial to someone's desktop,
know they saw it, see that
Online marketers are in a quandary. Their customers prefer e-mail as a
vehicle of communication, but spammers have poisoned that well, making it
very difficult for legitimate advertisers to deliver their messages to
their loyal customers.
However, Think360, a marketing firm in Austin, Texas, thinks it has a
solution to this problem: screensavers. The marketer is offering companies
a way to toss their pitches at consenting customers through customized
screensavers.
The screensavers are more than just branded slideshows. They act as a
conduit for all kinds of marketing goodies, from highly targeted video ads
to action reminders and free gifts.
Millions of Downloads
Think360 President and CEO Alan Elias explained that his firm hasn't
totally deserted e-mail and the telephone as marketing tools, but it has
found them inefficient.
"We have chosen screensavers because of the inefficiency and the negative
feelings associated with e-mail as a form of communication," he told CRMBuyer.
"We also wanted to take advantage of the fact that there's a tremendous
loyalty to screensavers," he noted, explaining that "4.8 million people
download screensavers every day."
High Retention Rate
Think360's screensaver marketing has been used by Microsoft, Oracle, Intel,
Calvin Klein, Ford Motor Company and others.
"We have close to 10 million users using the broadcast screensaver, and
because of the popularity of that as a communication tool, in the last two
years, we still have close to a 78 percent retention rate," Elias said.
An attractive aspect for businesses to the Think360's screensavers, which
incorporates technology developed by Active Response Media, of Fontana,
Calif., is their ability to collect information about their users.
Refining the Message
Consumers choose their screensavers based on their interests: travel,
science, sports, pets, family, art or automobiles. Based on those choices
and detailed registration information, a company can tailor its marketing
messages to the user.
After the message is delivered to the user, the screensaver can report on
every customer's action, which allows a company to refine future marketing
messages even more.
"We could send a TV commercial to someone's desktop, know they saw it, see
that they clicked an integrated link, and capture their actions after
clicking," Elias boasted. "And we can do all that for less than a nickel."
That compares, he said, to as much as 25 cents a message for an e-mail
campaign.
Garnering Eyeballs
"The bad thing about e-mail is you don't know if they saw it or not," he noted.
Although Think360 can't determine how many people might see a screensaver
when it's running -- after all, a screensaver appears only after there has
been no activity on a screen for a period of time -- it can calculate the
eyeball availability of its digital billboards.
For one of Think360's clients, United Blood Services, one of the largest
not-for-profit blood centers in the world headquartered in Scottsdale,
Ariz., total display time with their screensaver users, over a 10-month
period, has been 41 years, six months and 21 days, Elias said, with the
average user during the period displaying the screensaver 683 hours.
Drawing More Blood
United Blood Services has been a laboratory of sorts for Think360's
extension of its broadcast screensaver concept to loyalty programs.
According to Think360, since its "ThinkLoyalty" program was launched 10
months ago, some 30,000 people have committed to make more than 100,000
more blood donations.
Based on the success with United Blood, Think360 announced yesterday that
it would start actively marketing its ThinkLoyalty offering to others.
Channel Pollution
According Bob Hagnauer, marketing manager for Maritz Loyalty Marketing in
St. Louis, new approaches to online marketing, like screensavers, have
become necessary because of the pollution of the e-mail channel by outlaw
advertisers.
"Marketers are facing a terrible paradox," he told CRMBuyer. "Many
customers prefer to receive their communications via e-mail, but the e-mail
channel has been hijacked by the spammers."
Screensavers can be a way to skirt the e-mail paradox, he noted. "This type
of program does work around some of the e-mail problems because the
customer is getting the message through their screensaver so it's not
hitting the spam filters."
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/43881.html
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