The site offers registered users all sorts of artificial pet functions, where you can build a house for the pet, add it to your other pets, take it out, and even join up with others who give you their pet's name. The site itself wasn't amazing, but the fact that the subscription involves a physical animal was.
Getting parents to purchase a one year subscription (planned obsolence) to a site with no educational value would be a tough sell. Getting parents to buy a cute stuffed animal for ten bucks that included access to that site is pure brilliance. The parent company, Ganz, knows how to create and sell stuffed animals, what they did was make this more than just another stuffed animal. They sold a subscription to a web site.
When you try to figure out how to make money on the web, get creative. Hell, get a Webkinz.
01/26/06: What a night!
The team joined forces with two other top companies on the Riverfront, Radius Audio Visual and Riverfront Audio Visual for an invite only casino night at the lovely Conley Wards Steakhouse.
While I had to leave for South Africa just before the festivities got started, the team took pictures of the great night. Thanks to all who came and enjoyed themselves. Special thanks to Kelly-Ayn McKay who pulled everything together. I hope my poker and blackjack tips came in handy, and if not, the drinks were free.
01/22/06: Online Gaming - A Casino's New Love
The early days of online gaming had the casinos all worried. My good friend Steve Wynn confided in me a few years back that he thought people would stay home and play on 'my' internet unless he did something crazy. (I told him that he should top his other casinos with one that was all Steve Wynn. Did I get any credit?)
When VCR's came out, the National Association of Broadcasters went crazy, claiming that these monsters with their flashing '12:00's would spell the end of TV as we know it. Same with DVDs and the movie industry.
There never was a doomsday. In fact, DVD box sets of TV shows dominate the aisles. The movie industry is now making movies with DVD extras that they know will drive purchases at the store.
I'm sitting in my hotel suite here in AC (at the Borgata of course) after a night of cards. While I didn't really have the time for it, I needed to brush up on it prior to our company casino night. I think I was the oldest person at my table, and probably older than many of the 'kids' parents. These kids cut their teeth on these online games and got the poker bug. Their practice online fed their urge to play in person. I've got to tell you, there is nothing like playing in person, especially when you get pretty good at reading people.
Casinos have been reporting record traffic, especially to their poker rooms. The rise in online gaming exposed a whole new audience to poker. The Internet was able to market gaming better than any brochure would have been able to. The interactivity of the medium got people hooked.
When you look at the Internet, don't think of it as simply another flat canvas on which to advertise. Think of how the online gaming experience sold the in person experience. What can you do on your site that gets people hooked on your real world offering?
Once you think of it, grab your chips and go 'all in'!
When VCR's came out, the National Association of Broadcasters went crazy, claiming that these monsters with their flashing '12:00's would spell the end of TV as we know it. Same with DVDs and the movie industry.
There never was a doomsday. In fact, DVD box sets of TV shows dominate the aisles. The movie industry is now making movies with DVD extras that they know will drive purchases at the store.
I'm sitting in my hotel suite here in AC (at the Borgata of course) after a night of cards. While I didn't really have the time for it, I needed to brush up on it prior to our company casino night. I think I was the oldest person at my table, and probably older than many of the 'kids' parents. These kids cut their teeth on these online games and got the poker bug. Their practice online fed their urge to play in person. I've got to tell you, there is nothing like playing in person, especially when you get pretty good at reading people.
Casinos have been reporting record traffic, especially to their poker rooms. The rise in online gaming exposed a whole new audience to poker. The Internet was able to market gaming better than any brochure would have been able to. The interactivity of the medium got people hooked.
When you look at the Internet, don't think of it as simply another flat canvas on which to advertise. Think of how the online gaming experience sold the in person experience. What can you do on your site that gets people hooked on your real world offering?
Once you think of it, grab your chips and go 'all in'!
01/19/06: The Internet is going away...Seriously
No I didn’t fall on my head. I mean that the Internet has become as common as electricity. When was the last time you asked someone what type of electricity someone had or who their provider was? The Internet delivers bits and bytes just as electricity delivers electrons. The Internet has become a utility that we rely on like electricity.
On-Star advertises that you can get an email note from your car when it has a problem. No mention of the Internet, no mention of electricity, just that the message goes from the computer under the hood to the computer on the desk. Or better yet, your phone.
What does this mean for all of us? Less time on the techno mumbo jumbo needed to make something happen and more on the value delivered. Exciting things are happening all around us as the Internet becomes a standard and disappears behind the wall outlet…just like its friend electricity.
On-Star advertises that you can get an email note from your car when it has a problem. No mention of the Internet, no mention of electricity, just that the message goes from the computer under the hood to the computer on the desk. Or better yet, your phone.
What does this mean for all of us? Less time on the techno mumbo jumbo needed to make something happen and more on the value delivered. Exciting things are happening all around us as the Internet becomes a standard and disappears behind the wall outlet…just like its friend electricity.
One thing that I am most proud of from my team is the fact that we aren’t a bunch of yes men (and yes women). The Yessers simply do what they are told. You want a website with spinning logos, flash intros and graphics for text, Yessers will take your money and code away, leaving you with what you might have asked for, but maybe not what you need.
The opposite of a Yesser isn’t a, well, No-er. Its someone who can sit on the same side of the table as you and jointly arrive at the right decision, understanding the details of your business and the internet space. When we start a project, we work to understand why you want a web site and what you want to do with it. Then we understand what your customers want to do with it and what your competitors are trying to do with theirs. For some industries, we also have to make sure everyone is on the same page with what we are allowed to do. For example, did you know that it’s a US federal law of sorts which requires banking websites to reflect diversity in the images of people that they use?
All of this background allows us to understand your objectives and combine that with our knowledge of what is happening on the web to create a solid solution that makes sense. This may not be exactly what you had in mind at the beginning of the project, but hopefully we can convince you that it is what you need.
Yessers tell you what you want to hear, but is that really what you want?
The opposite of a Yesser isn’t a, well, No-er. Its someone who can sit on the same side of the table as you and jointly arrive at the right decision, understanding the details of your business and the internet space. When we start a project, we work to understand why you want a web site and what you want to do with it. Then we understand what your customers want to do with it and what your competitors are trying to do with theirs. For some industries, we also have to make sure everyone is on the same page with what we are allowed to do. For example, did you know that it’s a US federal law of sorts which requires banking websites to reflect diversity in the images of people that they use?
All of this background allows us to understand your objectives and combine that with our knowledge of what is happening on the web to create a solid solution that makes sense. This may not be exactly what you had in mind at the beginning of the project, but hopefully we can convince you that it is what you need.
Yessers tell you what you want to hear, but is that really what you want?
01/05/06: Ajax looks to spiff up sites
While most Parisians are friendly, I have run into a few who give me the sour puss when I start the conversation with a "Hello" rather than "Bonjour". Desperate to re-find the art gallery that the misses loved, I had to brush up on my French in a hurry. Ajax to the rescue.
Now I know a lot of you are saying 'Bob, what does a kitchen cleaner have to do with learning the language of love?' I'm not talking about that Ajax. I'm talking about Ajax on the web. Just as we no longer think of canned meat when someone says Spam, I think the power of Ajax on the Internet may have us soon thinking about that word differently.
Not to get technical, but the Internet's version of Ajax offers the ability to create interactive experiences without the normal 'submit and reload' frustration associated with the web. Anyone who has crusied around on Google's Maps has experienced Ajax.
How could Ajax work for your site? Well, imagine integrating a dynamic Google map with all your office locations for your customers. Customers can zoom in, get directions, see satellite photos and more without leaving your site. Imagine creating forms that only show the fields needed for that person, based on information they entered earlier in the form. Ajax can certianly clean up the user experience on your site.
So back to Paris. I head to a trusty Ajax language translator that Bart Hook pointed me to and "savez-vous où le peu de studio d'art est avec le toit rouge à côté du magasin de lingere est?" has me in the gallery in no time!
Now I know a lot of you are saying 'Bob, what does a kitchen cleaner have to do with learning the language of love?' I'm not talking about that Ajax. I'm talking about Ajax on the web. Just as we no longer think of canned meat when someone says Spam, I think the power of Ajax on the Internet may have us soon thinking about that word differently.
Not to get technical, but the Internet's version of Ajax offers the ability to create interactive experiences without the normal 'submit and reload' frustration associated with the web. Anyone who has crusied around on Google's Maps has experienced Ajax.
How could Ajax work for your site? Well, imagine integrating a dynamic Google map with all your office locations for your customers. Customers can zoom in, get directions, see satellite photos and more without leaving your site. Imagine creating forms that only show the fields needed for that person, based on information they entered earlier in the form. Ajax can certianly clean up the user experience on your site.
So back to Paris. I head to a trusty Ajax language translator that Bart Hook pointed me to and "savez-vous où le peu de studio d'art est avec le toit rouge à côté du magasin de lingere est?" has me in the gallery in no time!
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