|
Another week, another collection of interesting new business ideas from around the world: branding runners with temporary tattoos, quick loans by text message, a concierge service for students, fractional ownership of second homes, and more. Our next edition is due on 5 September 2007. In the meantime, check out our daily postings on www.springwise.com, send us your tips, and please don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about us. Much appreciated! |
|
|
||
|
We've covered alcoholic drinks for women before: beer from Germany (Karla) and Poland (Karmi), and wine from the Netherlands (Sophie & Sophie). Continuing the theme, Heineken is about to soft launch a sparkling cider brew for the fair sex. Christened Charli, the drink combines cider, barley malt and fruit flavours. Although barley malt is one of Heineken beer's main ingredients, Charli is marketed to the 63% of women who, according to Heineken, don't like its main product. The brew is also being presented as an alternative to white wine, the quality of which varies widely at Dutch bars. Charli contains 5% alcohol, has a fresh, fruity flavour and will be sold both bottled and on tap. Like its aforementioned sister sips, the drink is packaged in attractive bottles. Heineken has also gone one step further by creating a svelte and sexy tap for Charli, which should help draw attention to the new brand in bars. Charli will be trialled in 17 bars in Amsterdam and Deventer from this Friday until the end of October, followed by a nationwide launch next summer. For much, much more on marketing to women, check out trendwatching.com’s briefing on female fever. Website: www.charli.nl
|
|||
 |
|||
|
|
||
|
Washington, D.C.-based PaceTat offers on-skin advertising in the form of pacing guides. Pacing guides are used by runners in marathons and races to help them maintain the speed needed to finish a race within their goal time. Existing solutions include paper or plastic bracelets, which have a tendency to chafe and get in the way. PaceTat offers a comfortable and easy to read alternative: pacing guides transferred directly onto the skin of the forearm, like a temporary tattoo. What's interesting for marketers is the branding opportunity: PaceTat offers custom branded versions for advertisers. Priced from USD 0.39 each, depending on order quantity, PaceTat's pacing guides present marketers with a unique canvas for conveying a message that literally sticks with the consumer until it’s washed off. The company, which was founded earlier this year, has already sold over 30,000 branded pacing guides. (They picked a desirable audience, too. In the US, the running market is notable for its median household income of roughly USD 113,000, according to Runner's World.) PaceTat isn’t currently offering franchising or partnering arrangements, but the concept should inspire advertising mavens to find other methods of ‘skinvertising’. As a marketer, you know you're doing something right if consumers merge your brand with their own self-image. If they actually tattoo your logo directly onto their skin? Well, it doesn't get much better than that. ;-) Related: Advertising after dark—branded nightclub hand stamps. Website: www.pacetat.com Spotted by: Graham Henshaw
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
||
|
Nobody likes to see an empty storefront. If you’re a passerby or a nearby shop owner, the bare dark space could signal a neighbourhood in decline. And if you own the building, it means lost rental income. The folks at Motomedia have devised a way to help compensate for lost rent while brightening up neighbourhoods in the process. The young British company’s so-called streetlevelBILLBOARDS can be fitted into otherwise empty display windows. True enough, shopping malls and other retail outlets worldwide have long placed ads in vacant store windows. But Motomedia products go a step further by incorporating technological eye-candy. The billboards are rear-projection screens presenting animated visuals complete with sound. Videos can commence when someone walks by the window. And because the billboards are Bluetooth-enabled, additional information from the advertiser can be transmitted to a viewer’s cell phone. Some units will also allow users to arrange and move blocks of information with their hands, the same way Apple iPhone users manipulate their phone’s display with the tips of their fingers. Since Motomedia can provide clients with a network of storefronts, advertisers can broadcast their message via a single window or create campaigns to reach entire neighbourhoods or regions. Plus, sensors that form part of the billboard package can capture demographic information and reportedly even sense whether those watching are women or men, customizing their interactive programming accordingly. So far, Motomedia has set up campaigns in various UK locations for advertising clients that include recording artists, and has been approached by international brands including Baileys and Captain Morgan. Future locations for the billboards needn’t be just vacant storefronts. Airports, train stations, sports arenas, even hospitals and health clubs could benefit from the displays’ interactivity, and their ability to target up-to-the-minute content to specific groups. If you're in the media business, or would like to be, now's the time to contact Motomedia about distribution rights. Website: www.motomedia-uk.com
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
||
|
In 2008, Liverpool will be showcasing its cultural life as Europe's Capital of Culture. While the city is spending GBP 3 billion on a 'culture led transformation', some believe Liverpool 08 would benefit from a community led alternative. Which prompted Mark Bowness, who previously founded crowdfunded ventures Tribe Wanted and vipbandmanager.com, to start the Liverpool Cultural Cafe. Bowness, a Merseyside native, explains: "After learning about the cultures of Fiji, after bringing employment and investment to that area, I became passionate about doing the same in my home city." His latest project aims to get 25,000 people to pledge a donation of GBP 20. The pooled amount of GBP 500,000 will be used to launch a platform for local talent—musicians, comedians and other artists. A bistro by day and bar by night, the Liverpool Cultural Cafe will be staffed by 12 trainees from low opportunity backgrounds, who will be trained by local businesses. Liverpool Cultural Cafe's 25,000 investors will be able to influence the venture's development through an online community developed for the project. If the initiative doesn't work out, not much is lost, since investors don't hand over their twenty quid until 24,999 others have agreed to do the same. If it does work, this could be a model for other civic groups to follow to get ventures off the ground without relying on government subsidies. One to watch in 2008! Website: www.liverpoolculturecafe.com
|
|||
 |
|||
|
|
||
|
There are close to 40 million runners in the United States alone, according to Running USA, and it's a pretty safe bet than nearly all of them travel at least once in a while. When they do, City Running Tours can show them the sights while helping them get in their running time. City Running Tours was founded last year by Michael Gazaleh, a fitness enthusiast who wanted to share his love of running and passion for his native city with visitors to New York. Soon afterwards the company expanded to Chicago and Washington D.C. City Running Tours provides both set tours and customized runs for any schedule, ability, regimen or desired route. During the exercise, running guides share insights into local history, landmarks and other attractions. The cost is USD 60 for the first six miles, and USD 6 per mile after that. In addition to an entertaining workout—the very definition of experience as product—customers get a City Running Tours t-shirt and a souvenir photo. City Running Tours plans to start up in additional US locations soon, including a San Diego operation slated for debut next month, and is seeking individuals to partner with. Obviously, the concept is one that could be launched in cities across the world. After all, who wants to suffer through the hotel treadmill when they could take a brisk run in the city and see the sights at the same time? (Related: Workouts for body and mind.) Website: www.cityrunningtours.com Spotted by: Willem Bonneux
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
||
|
A while back, we featured a theme park that focused on giving children a taste of various careers by putting them to work for a day. While Kidzania is firmly grounded in the realms of make-believe, elementary schoolers in Tokyo had a more realistic option this summer. For a few weeks in July and August, the Rihga Royal Hotel Tokyo ran a program for guests aged 3–12, employing them for a day. Children picked one of five different types of work: housekeeping, doorman, front desk, floor service and kitchen, with 72 different tasks to tackle. At the end of the day, the young staffers were allowed to choose their preferred form of remuneration: a gift certificate for books, or a passport for free ice cream every year. Rihga Royal's informal work experience program was open to children accompanied by an adult staying at the hotel. For an extra JPY 24,150 (USD 210 / EUR 155), parents had the option of hiring a professional photographer to snap shots of their industrious offspring greeting guests or making an omelette. With dual aims of keeping children entertained and encouraging them to consider a future career in hospitality, this seems like a fun program for hotels, restaurants and other industries to try out for size. Just make sure to abide by locally applicable child labour laws ;-) (Related: Dream job holidays.) Website: www.rihga-tokyo.co.jp/stay/kids Spotted by: Mio Yamada
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
||
|
Consumers who want the luxury of having a second home at the beach or in the mountains, but don't have the money to plunk down on the choicest properties, now have an appealing alternative: half ownership. Like other shared ownership ventures, Halfshare.com gives customers the chance to get a piece of the good life, but at a much lower cost. Unlike traditional timeshares, which pioneered the concept of fractional ownership, Halfshare.com buyers aren't purchasing time in a hotel or resort, but an actual home—and all the benefits that go with owning it. Along with sharing costs, buyers share profits if the value goes up. And depending on the terms both owners agree to, the property may generate rental income, too. Getting started is as easy as logging onto Halfshare.com, where members can browse listings of available properties throughout North America. Halfshare.com can match them with other prospective buyers based on tastes, backgrounds, interests, hobbies and lifestyles through the Buyer Match Plan. Potential co-owners can arrange to meet one another online, by phone or in person to determine if they’d make a good match. Once buyers select a property, Halfshare.com's Tenants-in-Common Agreement takes care of all the details, formalizing legal concerns and each owner’s rights. “It spells out what is expected in terms of financial arrangements, seasonal time sharing, rental revenues, re-sale, property maintenance and repair, among other pertinent details.” Although the real estate market is currently in a bit of a slump, demand for sandy beaches, mountain air, cultural attractions and picturesque scenery isn’t likely to wane any time soon. Which means that making vacation homes affordable, fraction by fraction, could be a worthwhile start-up in almost any region frequented by tourists looking to make themselves at home. (Related: One-stop shop for transumers and Fractional supercar ownership.) Website: www.halfshare.com Spotted by: Susanna Haynie
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
||
|
Dutch consumers have a new way to take out loans: by SMS. Finnish Ferratum just launched its short-loan service in the Netherlands. Customers can borrow EUR 100, 200 or 300 for a term of 15 days, by texting Ferratum their name, date of birth, bank account and address. If they've pre-registered, the money is in their bank account within 10 minutes. First-time customers have to wait 24 hours. Speedy loans come at a cost: Ferratum charges a hefty 25% processing fee. Which means that consumers who borrow EUR 300 today, owe the company EUR 375 in 15 days time. In Sweden, Estonia and Finland, where a handful of companies have started offering similar services over the past year, ombudsmen have been pushing for regulation. While critics claim that it's unwise to offer people such effortless methods of sinking (further) into debt, one could also argue that consumers should be able to choose whichever form of credit works best for them. Though the rates smell of shark, the concept is definitely quick and easy ;-) One to look into if you're in financial services or telecom. And for those of you seeking an antidote to fast credit: layaway is back. Website: www.ferratum.nl
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
||
|
Forget the age-old tales of having to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get to class—college students at Syracuse University in New York don't even have to coordinate their own grocery shopping, laundry or cleaning, thanks to a concierge service that aims to motivate them by giving them a taste of the good life. Student-owned and operated Precious Time is a personal assistant, errand and concierge service just for college students. Students can become members by charging pre-paid accounts with a minimum of USD 50, and money is drawn from the account to pay for services as needed, plus a percentage for Precious Time's own profit. Services include placement and delivery of take-out orders from local restaurants, grocery shopping, house cleaning, flower delivery and booking tutors. While a concierge service for college students may seem over the top, education at top colleges comes with a high price tag. So it’s not surprising that some students are willing to buy extra time by outsourcing domestic chores, so that they can fully focus on their studies. The concept could also do well on other campuses, and Precious Time hints at franchise opportunities on their website. What about concierge services tailored to other busy demographics who struggle to find the time for all the items on their ‘to do’ lists, like working parents or small business owners? Website: www.precioustimeny.com Spotted by: Susanna Haynie
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
| |||
 |
|||
|
|
|
[ Home | Idea Database | Become a spotter | Tell a friend | Contact | Subscribe for free | Download PDF ]
|
