Pizza Hut iPhone app generates an extra $1m sales
Another example of the potential of mobile commerce comes from Pizza Hut, with its iPhone app generating $1m in sales in the three months since launch.
The app, which allows customers to order food on the move, is approaching the figure of 1m downloads. It is only available in the US at the moment.
Wine.com gets an API
Wine.com has joined the growing list of online retailers that have decided to offer an API to developers.
The new Wine.com API provides developers with access to detailed information on more than 40,000 of Wine.com's products, including customer reviews, professional ratings, bottle labels and flavor profiles. Wine.com is also giving developers access to content related to wine regions and grape varietals.
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This article covers what I've learned from working with hundreds of customers on improving the results that they get from email marketing by optimising the subject line.
Whatever software you use for your email campaigns, these tips are worth reading...
The workaround: technology strikes back
People have been finding workarounds for poorly designed systems for many years. Although both the technology and the workarounds have become more sophisticated, the problem, and its solution, remains the same.
Many years ago, before web-based interfaces, we were asked to investigate why an online ordering system wasn’t delivering the promised productivity benefits. Our research, which involved videoing staff dealing with telephone orders and then interviewing them about the process, soon revealed the problem.
Q&A: Unilever's Noam Buchalter on crowdsourcing Peperami ads
As reported yesterday on this blog, Unilever has decided to crowdsource the next Peperami TV ads via Idea Bounty, with a prize of $10,000 up for grabs.
I've been talking to Noam Buchalter, Marketing Manager for Unilever's Marmite, Bovril, Pot Noodle, and Peperami brands. about the reasons behind the decision to crowdsource the new Peperami ads, and the effect this will have on agencies.
Unilever drops agency, crowdsources TV ad
Unilever has waved goodbye to longstanding creative agency Lowe and decided to ask the public to help create a new TV ad for its Peperami brand.
Campaign reports that the firm is using crowdsourcing site Idea Bounty to attract ideas for a new Peperami ad, offering $10,000 to the winner of the contest. The brief will be published on Friday, and the contest runs until late-October.
Smart or foolish? McDonald's builds sites for different ethnic groups
Many brands engage in ethnic marketing and for good reason: it can be an effective marketing strategy. But can ethnic marketing go too far? That's a question that could be asked when it comes to something McDonald's is doing: building websites for different ethnic groups.
The fast food giant has built two websites, one targeting African-Americans and another targeting Asian-Americans. Both seek to highlight the ways in which McDonald's is working to serve the African-American and Asian-American communities.
The vending cart wars: A lesson on the limits of social media
Many new business owners looking to break into the market have made fast friends with social media options, especially Twitter. But a smart, quirky Twitter strategy can't erase the barriers to entry that have crippled many small business owners in the past.
For instance, Twitter has eradicated the old problem of foot traffic for many street vendors, by letting foodies tweet their whereabouts to potential (and loyal) custoemrs. In the past year, street vending has become something of a phenomenon. New vendors have learned quickly: If you’ve got quality food and a cellphone, you can send out a Twitter and tell your customers where to find you.
But social media can’t solve all the problems for new owners in what was once a very downmarket business demographic. For starters, not everyone is a fan of upwardly mobile trucks.
This is something that the owner of the Schnitzel & Things truck learned recently in New York when he parked his truck near a longtime vending stalwart on a Midtown Manhattan block.
Southern Comfort goes all in on web advertising
What difference do relaxed advertising policies online offer for liquor brands? A lot. Online, alcohol companies can attach themselves to content and audiences that have been elusive in traditional spaces. And for a company like Southern Comfort, that means getting rid of traditional ad spend entirely.
Relaxed search policies and new ad formats are helping liquor brands move beyond display advertising online. And it also helps that spending online is proving to be a cost cutting method.
Thinking outside the box and other bad advice
Earlier this month I opened CREATE 2009, a forum for academics and practitioners to share creative and innovative ideas for human computer interaction (HCI).
The conference's theme was ‘Creative inventions and innovations for everyday HCI’ so to start things off I outlined my four step approach to help designers find more creative solutions to their problems.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
