The ERA Minute is a new feature where ERA members can film marketing tips that will be distributed throughout all of ERA’s channels and social networking outlets. If you’re interested in making the next ERA Minute, contact Tom Quash at tquash@retailing.org.
Inventions—they are a full-time job for a guy like me. I have been licensing inventions for the past eight and a half years. I’m a matchmaker, the e-Harmony of inventions. I try to make “love connections” between inventors and companies.
I will never say that I’ve seen it all. Every day I see something new and innovative. For instance, I have been presenting new product ideas to Allstar Marketing Group for several years. They are the team that brought you Aqua Globes and Cold Heat. And who can forget the direct-response monster, Smart Spin? Last year, I found an air freshener invention in our vast catalog of products. It was a small cartridge that affixes to the top of your ceiling fan. When the fan spins, the fresh smell of lavender fills the room. I had never seen anything on the market like it before. I checked the patent status, and it had been issued a utility patent.
I thought: This can’t be real. It’s so simple. It’s so inexpensive. Has this really never been done before? Let’s see what Allstar thinks. So, I presented it to Gary Sullivan, who is an “all star” himself and works as their new product scout. When he presented it to the gang, it was a hit and “Fan Fragrances” was born.
Allstar developed the product in China, and has just begun to market the product nationally and internationally. They do a great marketing job on their own; we assisted by using our own publicity department to get the word out there and help promote their new product.
Is your company looking for new inventions or products to sell on TV or into retail? Our service is free to qualified manufacturing companies, distributors and catalogers. Also, by checking out our online retail store, marketers can search through all of our products available for wholesale distribution. We have thousands of patented inventions with prototypes in most categories waiting to find your love.
Ronny Smith is responsible for innovation licensing at Intromark Incorporated.
Allowing colleagues and co-workers to view your Facebook and MySpace page has been a conflict my friends and I have struggled with since graduating from college. Is it appropriate to allow your workplace access to your college pictures? And more importantly, will we be judged based upon these pictures? This argument has plagued my generation. When the following question came across our ASAE listserv, I couldn’t wait to see what other people thought. The original post was from a communications company looking to hire an assistant. While the employer was browsing applicants’ Facebook pages, they found “stuff that was disturbing and raises questions about the suitability for a couple of the candidates.” The employer wanted to know if it was appropriate to mention/question an applicant about his or her Facebook profile, and was “looking for tips on how to navigate this situation.” The listserv took off like rapid fire as my inbox proceeded to be inundated with opinions and tips from all over the map!
Some people felt the candidates should have cleaned up their Facebook page and that my generation is too open with social networking. One woman stated, “Bottom line: I think job seekers should be savvy enough to know their stuff is out there and self-censor, or not, as they feel is appropriate. A friend of mine de-activated her totally tame profile for a while during a federal hiring process, and I think that’s wise in this climate.” This really made me think: De-activate my profile over a frat party in college? Get real?!?!
The beauty of Facebook is being able to keep in touch with numerous people, as you can send messages, write on their wall, and even tag pictures of events you have participated in. In a day and age where time is valuable, it makes keeping in touch easy. I immediately knew there would be one person who could relate to me on this issue. “Pat you have to come in here. I can’t believe this,” I yelled to Pat Cauley, whose office is across the hall from mine. He was in shock too, “Do they even know how Facebook started?” he asked. “Obviously not, we have to set the record straight.” Pat and I collaborated and came up with this Listserv response, “I joined Facebook in the fall of 2004 as a college junior. At the time you needed an .edu e-mail address to even join the site, as it was an online social diary/interactive yearbook. As the place where we like to connect with and keep in touch with college and high school friends, this should not represent a young professional’s work ethic or ability. Imagine if your employment qualifications were based upon your pictures from Woodstock that suddenly surfaced online.” Again, my inbox was like rapid fire—e-mail, e-mail, e-mail, I couldn’t believe how many responses. Some responses agreed with my view while others didn’t. However, I found the most surprising post came from a CAE (certified association executive). He has hired two people in the past six to eight months and actually passed on dozens of applicants who had no findable Internet content. Why? He felt just because questionable behavior wasn’t on Facebook, doesn’t mean the applicant didn’t partake. He decided he knew more about those applicants who were engaged on the social web than those who weren’t.
So, I guess you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t? I welcome you to check out my page and let me know what you think. Or better yet, why doesn’t everyone relax and enjoy this humorous infomercial parody video of Facebook.
Katie White is ERA’s retailer relations manager.
As advocates for choice, competition and innovation on the Net, we’re troubled to read about a ludicrous court ruling against online commerce. The French Tribunal de Commerce in Paris ordered eBay to pay 39 million Euros to French luxury goods maker LVMH. Mike Masnick of Techdirt shares our outrage here.
Judging by media coverage of this ruling, one would think it’s all about preventing sales of counterfeit goods. But it’s actually much farther-reaching than that, in a way that’s incredibly damaging to the growth of e-commerce, small business and consumer choice in Europe. The French Court ruled that eBay must halt the sale of legitimate, genuine LVMH perfumes on the eBay site. Essentially, the Court held that a big business like LVMH could stop customers and owners of its products from re-selling them to someone else. This is blatant discrimination by French authorities against the e-commerce channel. eBay is appealing the ruling (read their take on the ruling on their company blog, eBay Ink). The outcome of this appeal could impact the future of e-commerce around the world.
Imagine if efficient online marketplaces like eBay, Overstock, Amazon and others had to pull the plug on entire categories of items, preventing perfectly legal sales of authentic items. Millions of shoppers use these sites to find great deals on things they want or need. During tough economic times, many people look to the web to help stretch a household budget. And millions of people around the world use the web as a tool for running their small businesses. And if you think that this is just another example of “France being France,” think again. This backward, anti-competitive perspective may be coming to a court near you. Any day now, the Federal District Court in New York will rule on Tiffany’s lawsuit against eBay. Again, Tiffany is crying counterfeits, and trotting out dubious data on online sales. But we believe Tiffany’s real interest here is to shut down any distribution of Tiffany products that isn’t completely controlled by Tiffany. Got a gift of earrings that just aren’t your style? If the New York court rules the wrong way, you may no longer have the option of selling them online.
Of course, counterfeits are a scourge to any marketplace. They undermine brand integrity and cheat buyers. And counterfeits have been a problem long before the Internet existed. eBay and others have worked hard to stem the sale of fake items. But go to any urban sidewalk, bazaar or back alley, and you’ll likely find the counterfeit trade still thriving. So when manufacturers and retailers cry “counterfeit” and point fingers at the e-commerce channel, their true motives are exposed. They’re calling for competition prevention—not consumer protection. And when courts agree with them, we all lose.
Steve DelBianco is executive director of NetChoice.
According to a New York Times article, viewers are shown programs—and ads—they can respond to by using remote controls to click on icons they see on their screens. Each click sends a signal to the viewer’s personal portal—basically, a site where everything the person has expressed interest in is aggregated. Then, the viewer can look up more information there the next time he or she goes online.
For example, someone who clicks on an icon embedded in a spot for a local car dealer can send to a personal portal a link to the dealer’s website or to the site of the car brand. Backchannel Media—which hosts the portals on its server—refers to these response opportunities as “clickable moments.” Linking TV and the Internet can be “a game-changing technology,” says Michael Kokernak, who shares the title of chief executive at Backchannel with Daniel Hassan, because it represents “a huge shift from how stations operate today.” The Backchannel system is one of several experiments with interactive television, which seeks to blend the ubiquity and convenience of traditional TV with the interactive qualities of personal computers.
Here’s a recent newscast that discusses the program:
Do you think this program has the potential for national success?
If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you already know how important it is for consumers to be able to view videos online. Online videos help sell products because they let consumers have a “virtual test drive” of a product before they buy it. These videos get consumers excited about new products and make them want to learn more about emerging trends. Today, the same is increasingly true of political candidates and issues. Long before votes are cast in November, millions of Americans will participate in the political process by watching videos on the Internet. According to a recent Pew poll, as many as a quarter of adults have already watched political videos online. That number is expected to grow. Perhaps the more exciting news is that the Internet appears to be getting more people involved and informed. The United States has historically had some of lowest voter turnout among developed democracies, and much of this apathy occurs when voters do not feel informed about the issues. It is difficult to “accidentally” read a newspaper or tune into the evening news, but it is quite easy to come across political information online by mistake. More than half of those who reported viewing political videos online said they did not go on the Internet for the purpose of learning about politics. That means the availability of videos online is helping to strengthen participation in the political process.
Aside from political videos, the Internet is also ripe with funny videos we share with our family and friends.
Then you see this charming cartoon you half remember from elementary school, and you learn about a threat to the freedom of the Internet.
Click here to learn more about the threat to the Internet’s viability and freedom.
Tomi Turner works in ERA’s government affairs department
ERA and Electronic Retailer were on the road last week attending Internet Retailer, DM Days, Mobile Marketing Forum and the INPEX show. We also managed to have an awesome reception in Times Square at the offices of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. ERA would like to thank its reception sponsors: Manatt, Litle & Co., O’Currance Teleservices, Dream Team Direct Inc. and Media Funding Corporation. Below are some photos from the various events. Enjoy!
ERA’s Katie White awaits the guests…
InfoTech’s Cole Van Heel, Dream Team’s Mike Moreau and SF Video’s Steve Feinberg
The goods…
ERA’s Robin Greenspan with Andrea Rose
Networking…
Power Direct’s Bret Butterfield, Liquid Focus’ Ken Osborn and MFLS’s Scott Swanson
INPEX took place at Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center- the largest green building in the world.
Inventors were able to pitch their products for possible inclusion on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”
Electronic Retailer’s Pat Cauley with PurBlu’s Eva Lorini
C Spot Run Productions’ Wendi Cooper with Product Strategies’ Michael Planit
Save the date: ERA Santa Monica reception on July 16th! Email Katie White at kwhite@retailing.org for more information!
June 18th was a big day. Mozilla Firefox (the open-source web browser which has been gradually stealing market share from Internet Explorer) launched their 3.0 browser as well as its Guinness Book of World Records attempt for the most downloads in a 24-hour period. Yes, you may laugh off the attempt at claiming a spot in the GBWR (after all, they’ll be right up there with the man with the longest ear hair), but the greater subtext to this story is really the broader reach of Firefox and other movements to change the Internet.
Over the past few years the Internet has become more open, more accessible and more robust. Small start-up companies have been able to take a concept and reach millions of people with minimal barriers; programmers have been able to deploy their web-based apps across multiple browsers and operating systems through a seamless and consistent user experience; and ultimately, end users have benefited tremendously. It’s often overlooked or misunderstood by the average consumer, but a main reason that this has been possible is because of standards. Organizations like the W3C have essentially laid out the frameworks that have made many of these cross-browser, cross-platform communications possible. Companies can choose to ignore those standards (which players like Microsoft have at times tried), but oftentimes market forces will come to bear and even the big guys will be coaxed into support of the standards. In Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat,” he talks about one the ten “flatteners” (or economic game-changers) of the 21st century being the shift from proprietary closed systems, to open and inter-operable systems that can freely communicate with other systems. All of this can happen because of standards.
So what does this have to do with electronic retailing? A lot, actually. If you’ve been a marketer or service provider in this space you know the pains of trying to pass files between fulfillment houses, call centers, web providers and media agencies. If you’ve been around long enough you probably also remember the times when getting YOUR data out of YOUR fulfillment provider was more difficult than getting a penny out of Fort Knox. Fortunately, good things are on the horizon. The ERA Technology Council has been steadily at work and over the next several months we hope to release some standards documentation for e-retailing marketers and service providers in our space. We’ve already begun forming a committee of big and small players in the space and first up on the docket is a fulfillment transmission standard. What does this mean for you? Well, if you are a marketer, web provider, call center or fulfillment provider that supports the standard spec, it means quicker integrations, lower costs, fewer mistakes and hopefully more opportunities for everyone to compete. That’s right, LOWER COSTS AND MORE BUSINESS—kind of makes you want to go out and download Firefox doesn’t it?
If you have in interest in participating in the standards formation process please contact Tom Quash at tquash@retailing.org.
Joel Iverson heads up the Technology Practice at KPI Direct—an outsourced strategy and management firm serving the direct-to-consumer industry. He is also a member of the ERA Technology Council.
