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Realizing that both existing and potential clients might appreciate a chat about a haircut before visiting their stylist, Plan B Salon in Cambridge, Massachusetts launched a new service offering 15-minute video consultations. Prior to their appointment, customers can get an idea of what their options are or how receptive the stylist is to their requests, without wasting time on a journey to the salon. It also lets clients to weigh various possibilities before going in for a cut. The consultations are set up over Skype. Customers request a date and time using a form on Plan B's website, which asks for their Skype call-back name/number. The salon offers appointments all day on Mondays—a smart way to fill up those quieter days—but will book consultations on other days of the week if time is available. The service is free, and clients are charged from USD 50 for a cut, style and finish. Costing only time, web-video consultations are a relatively easy way for hairdressers to add value to their customers' experience. If you're in the beauty business or any other service industry—this is something you could start offering next week. (Related: Clothes shopping for men, no store visits required — Pics of real haircuts help consumers find a salon.) Spotted by: Susan Johnston |
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Hotel group Sage Hospitality has come up with a novel idea to promote both their hotels and volunteerism: it’s offering half-price rooms for those who have completed a day of charity work. A limited number of free nights are also available at the group’s hotels, which include Marriott, Starwood and Hilton locations. At check-in, guests show a letter from a registered non-profit organisation that proves they’ve undertaken 8 hours of voluntary work. This entitles them to 50% off the published price of any night in the hotel. Sage's Give a Day, Get a Night promotion runs from July to December 2009, and the charity work needs to have been completed by December 18th. With occupancy rates tumbling at hotels around the world, this promotion is a Generation G(enerosity) alternative to slashing room rates, and one that businesses in many industry can follow to build good-will (and foot-traffic) in tough times. (Related: Free karaoke for worthy workers.) Website: www.sagehospitality.com/specials/giveadaygetanight.htm Spotted by: Raymond Kollau |
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German utility company Yello Strom is clearly into accessible tech: it manages its meters directly via households’ broadband connections, and offers access to Google's PowerMeter. Now, it's keeping its customers informed by enabling meters to tweet about energy use. Each "Yello Sparzähler" smart meter (designed by IDEO) is allocated its own Twitter account, which is automatically updated with energy consumption data. The owner can follow the account to receive regular updates, leading to greater awareness and hopefully lower energy use. DIY power monitors such as Tweet-a-Watt are also capable of tweeting, but Yello Strom seems to be the first utility company to offer the service as an integral part of their smart meters. While adding Twitter to their mix will undoubtedly give Yello Strom a PR-boost, the larger goal is to feed energy data into any tool customers may be using. As explained by Yello Executive Director Martin Vesper, "Our goal is to use as many different channels as possible to inform our customers about their energy consumption." (Related: Smart thermostat is always online — Home energy monitoring, delivered by Google.) Website: www.yellostrom.de Spotted by: Judy McRae |
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Hotels are an ideal setting for many tryvertising campaigns, approximating as they do consumers' domestic milieu. Much the way Starwood recently began giving its guests a free taste of Zinio's "digital newsstand," so Omni Hotels now offers patrons a free camcorder for the weekend. Through the Omni Flips for Summer campaign, which runs through Sept. 6, families staying at any of the chain's hotels and resorts in North America can borrow a pocket-sized video camcorder for free and use it to record their most memorable moments. The camcorder provided is the new Flip Ultra video camcorder, launched this spring by Pure Digital, and it's available to guests who purchase any "Omni Flips for Summer" weekend package. Along with the simple-to-use camcorders, families can also start their holiday with a complimentary breakfast for four featuring “Flip-jacks” on their first day. A “Summer Fun Counselor” will also be on hand with advice on local attractions. When their weekend filming is complete, guests can upload their video memories to their own laptop or use the Omni Hotels Business Center at no charge to transfer the footage to a thumb drive to take home. Guests are also encouraged to upload a three-minute video to Omni’s Local Scoop social networking website as part of the Omni Flips for Summer Video Contest, the winner of which—announced in September—will get a free trip for four to the Omni Bedford Springs Resort in Pennsylvania. There's no substitute for trying before you buy, and what better time to let consumers try a camcorder than when they'd most likely use it in real life, such as on vacation? Take note, purveyors of holiday-minded goods! (Related: Hotel offers each guest a favourite book, on Kindle — Free car for the weekend, no strings attached — Hotel as retail space.) Website: www.omnihotels.com/Home/SpecialsAndPackages/SpecialOffers/OmniFlips.aspx Spotted by: HotelChatter via Raymond Kollau
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The global carbon trading market is projected to reach USD 669 billion by 2013, according to a recent report, so it's not too surprising to see intermediaries and consumer-focused services jumping into the game. Just last week we covered MyEex, which bills itself as a worldwide personal carbon exchange, and recently we learned of another like-minded contender: Earth Aid. Much like MyEex, Earth Aid aims to reward consumers for the energy they save at home. Now in beta, the free service begins by establishing a baseline for a consumer's household from its utility bills over the preceding 12 months—consumers give Earth Aid direct access to their utility accounts, so it can not only see their past usage data but also monitor their current usage over time. (It can't, however, see any sensitive payment information, it stresses.) Earth Aid then provides the consumer with customised energy-saving tips along with information about rebates, tax incentives and discounts that can help. It monitors that user's energy usage over one full year, and then compares it with the original baseline; if energy was saved, Earth Aid calculates the corresponding carbon credits and sells them in the voluntary carbon market, sending the user a check for the result. Its own revenue, meanwhile, comes in part from advertising from companies that sell energy-efficient products and in part from commissions for bundling and selling users' carbon credits. The carbon market has long focused primarily on businesses and large organizations, so it's exciting to see the same capabilities being brought to consumers—who, after all, have a big role to play in the fight against global warming too. Based in Washington, D.C., Earth Aid appears to be targeting US consumers with its service. Another one to partner with, emulate or be inspired by! Website: www.earthaid.net |
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Childhood obesity may be a problem of epidemic proportions in many parts of the world, but several games are doing their part to help keep kids moving. We've already covered LocoMatrix, Swinxs and The Hidden Park, and now a new contender launched last month takes kids on a wifi-based treasure hunt outside. Published by Aspyr Media, Treasure World is a game for the Nintendo DS that converts real-world wifi signals into online treasures. The story focuses on Starsweep, a space traveller who journeys through space in his ship called Haley. In the game, however, Haley has broken down and needs more stardust to get going again. A quirky robot named Wishfinder helps players find not just stardust but also treasure during their adventure by tapping the wealth of wifi hotspots available around the world. More than 2,500 in-game items and treasures such as trees, flowers, candy and clothes can be unlocked as players access the more than 200 million wifi treasure spots worldwide that are registered within the game, and those items can be used to decorate in-game environments. Some feature musical qualities; others can be used to dress up the player's unique character. Either way, the stardust uncovered helps move the spaceship along. Only some items are available at each hotspot, however, meaning that the more kids move around, the more they'll find. Players can also join Club Treasure World to chat, trade items and show off with other treasure hunters around the globe. Treasure World's list price is USD 29.99. Treasure World is not only another blow in the fight against obesity, it's also a nice illustration of what our sister site likes to call the OFF=ON trend, whereby the online and offline worlds are increasingly overlapping. Game developers around the world: keep the kids moving and the innovations coming! Website: www.nintendo.com/games |
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Creative agencies seem to have embraced corporate generosity with open arms, if a few recent initiatives are anything to go by. Much the way Bushfire Housing and SmallCanBeBig were donated by the Sputnik Agency and the Boathouse Group, respectively, so a new, guerrilla ad campaign for the Salvation Army was donated by an agency with the help of more than 50 local businesses. Known as the "This Ad Cost Nothing" campaign, the three-week initiative was designed primarily to raise awareness for the Salvation Army's Northern New England division. It was conceived and created in Portland, Maine, by local agency VIA Group, which turned to area businesses for help carrying it out. Part of the campaign included broadcast time and print ad space donated by traditional media; the majority, however, employed less conventional tactics. Pizza boxes and coffee sleeves were transformed into ad space for displaying the Salvation Army's logo and URL, for example, as were bathroom mirrors at local restaurants—with the help of a little grease paint. VIA employees and willing friends parked their intentionally dusty cars in downtown Portland, with the logo and slogans written on their back windshields, while dozens of shops sported the logo on their own windows as well. Painted rocks, tarps and tennis court floors were also among the more than 5,000 "creative units" included in the campaign. Besides getting the word out about the Salvation Army and no doubt updating its image, the "This Ad Cost Nothing" campaign is also yet another nice example of the types of efforts increasingly being expected of companies by Generation G. As the saying goes, 'tis better to give than to receive—and that's never been more true than it is today! ;-) Website: www.salvationarmydonate.org Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann |
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Food trucks such as Kogi Korean BBQ and Coolhaus have been claiming an increasing proportion of our virtual ink lately, fueled not just by their use of social media like Twitter but also no doubt by economic conditions, which clearly favour low-cost fare. Now aiming to review, highlight and uncover the best of such curbside cuisine nationwide comes VendrTV, a video podcast that profiles a different street vendor each week. Hosted by twenty-something foodie Daniel Delaney, VendrTV consists of episodes seven to 10 minutes long, each highlighting an individual vendor along with its food and locale. The premiere episode covered the Treats Truck in New York City, for example—a name regular Springwise readers may remember; others have included The Magic Carpet in Philadelphia, Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco and The Brunch Box in Portland, Oregon. Each episode airs on Wednesday, viewable both online and as an iTunes podcast. Ad-supported VendrTV also maintains a Facebook community and a presence on Twitter. Coming soon, according to the site, is an online "schwag shop" with apparel and "gear to help you eat the street." VendrTV also recently signed a deal with Next New Networks, which will distribute episodes beginning later this year. Between curbside cuisine and "anti-restaurants" such as BookOfCooks and Charlie's Burgers, there's clearly growing demand for lower-priced (and more unusual) alternatives to the traditional, sit-down, full-service meal. Now it's time for the reviews, guides and profiles such as those that have been bringing transparency (and new patrons) to restaurants for years. VendrTV is ambitious to include the whole nation in its domain; one to adapt or emulate with a localized or niche approach? Website: www.vendr.tv |
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Some 6 million people visit Twitter each month, so it's no wonder applications for the platform are coming fast and furious. Not only can consumers use Twitter to track their favourite taco truck, file civic complaints and apply for jobs, but they can now track their packages as well thanks to a new application from North Carolina-based Signal Engine. Users with packages to track begin by following PackageTrack on Twitter (@packagetrack), causing the free application to follow them in return. They can then direct message PackageTrack with the nickname of a package they'd like to track along with its tracking number, separated by a colon—"Red Dress: 23345631243," for example. PackageTrack then notifies them by Twitter each time the package's status changes, including a Google Map illustrating its route. Launched earlier this year, PackageTrack currently tracks only UPS, USPS and FedEx packages, but it says it will be adding more carriers soon. All the world may have once been a stage, but today one might say it's a microblogging platform; no longer merely players, all the men and women now tweet and follow. What is *your* brand doing to reach customers on Twitter...? (Related: Helping consumers track shipped packages.) Website: www.packagetrackapp.com Spotted by: Roberta Steinberg |
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Launched earlier this month, Creative Caravan is a property listing service for people working in the creative industries, devised to help film directors, make-up artists, painters, photographers, etc find a place to (sub)let or swap. The Australian service aims to make it easier for people who are constantly on the move find short-let properties at short notice, anywhere from Northamptonshire in the UK to Sydney in Australia. How it works? Registration is free for anyone wishing to browse or list a housing ad. Will the niche service be able to compete with established behemoths like Craigslist? Creative Caravan feels there's a degree of trust in sub-letting to someone from the same industry, making both parties feel more comfortable with having a stranger inhabit their home. Network-building and a shared focus on aesthetics could be added benefits. One to set up for other groups or categories? Website: www.creativecaravan.net |
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Few in the Western world have ever heard of yak down, a cashmere-like fiber that is hand-combed once a year from the rugged animals dwelling in the mountainous Himalayan regions of Western China. Yaks have provided a livelihood for generations of Tibetan herders, and now a new effort aims to preserve that tradition by creating a market for yak down in the rest of the world. The brainchild of two Chinese women who were classmates at Harvard's JFK School of Government, Shokay is an initiative to address the poverty of Tibetan herders in China by creating new markets for the raw fiber they can produce. Conceived in 2006 as part of a Harvard business-plan competition—which it ultimately won, according to China International Business—the effort now works with some 2,600 herders from the Hei Ma He Village of Qinghai Province in Western China through a series of fiber cooperatives that provide a sustainable source of employment and income. A single village can generate 10 tons of fiber in a year, CIB reported. Once it's harvested, that fiber gets sent to Shokay's team of about 40 hand knitters in Chong Ming Island off of Shanghai, who then use it to produce Shokay's collection of home items and accessories. Shokay helps build the knitters' skills in a safe and healthy work environment, rewarding them fairly for their knitting talents. It also makes sure to include personalized nametags with each item that gets produced, showing the name and signature of the knitter who made it. Prices range from about USD 25 to 330 for accessories such as hats and shawls and from roughly USD 20 to 950 for home items including pillows and throws. Shokay's finished goods and knitting yarns are available for sale online, in its own flagship shop in the Tai Kang Road district of Shanghai, and in a variety of retail shops around the world. Forty percent of Shokay's profits go back to the herders, another 40 percent go to the knitters, and the rest get reinvested in the business, CIB reported. Combining social entrepreneurship with product life stories and (still) made here appeal, Shokay reminds us of the efforts of Crop to Cup in the world of coffee and Naked Wines for small, independent vintners. Next, we wouldn't be surprised to see Shokay adding a digital element with some traceability to spread its stories further and in more detail, much the way those (and other) contenders have. A personalized nametag is a good start, but if Icebreaker customers can find out which of many sheep stations produced the wool in their sweater, why not give Shokay customers a chance to meet the herder, yaks and knitters behind their new shawl? That's the beauty of transparency, and it can do wonders for creating an up-close-and-personal feel. One to partner with, support, or otherwise get involved in...? (Related: Tracking & tracing fashion brands' product stories — Design your own hat & choose your own knitting granny.) Website: www.shokay.com |
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They say the best things in life are free, and McDonald's appears to be taking that maxim to heart. No sooner did we post our story about the free car charging available at the new McDonald's restaurant in North Carolina than we saw the chain launch yet another free love initiative: Free Mocha Mondays. As part of a campaign to promote its new McCafé line, McDonald's is now offering US consumers the chance to sample a free Hot Mocha or Iced Mocha at any participating McDonald's restaurant. The offer is available on any Monday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Aug. 3, and the complimentary drinks come in special, promotional sizes: 7 oz. for the iced version, or 8 oz. for the hot variety. (Normally, a small McDonald's McCafé beverage is 12 oz.) McCafé espresso-based drinks are made with Arabica coffee beans—harvested by hand in Central America, South America and Indonesia—along with real milk, rich chocolate syrup and fresh whipped cream. All are fully customizable, the company says. McDonald's anticipates that it will likely give away some 10 million samples during its Free Mocha Mondays campaign, making it "one of the largest sampling initiatives we've taken on as a company," said Neil Golden, chief marketing officer for McDonald's USA. Whether it's coffee, ice cream or charged batteries, there's nothing like letting consumers try before they buy, and it's almost impossible to go wrong with free love. (Related: Free Obama-themed coffee love for UK consumers — Free Starbucks ice cream for Facebook users.) Website: www.mcdonalds.com/mccafe |
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