Monthly Archives: July 2009

Prototype Experience – a real interactive experience!

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This is probably old news right now, but check out the prototype experience a new site for the Prototype game that came out in June.  WHAT A COOL FRIGGIN WEBSITE!

Generally I find ‘interactive’ experiences, not that interactive. It’s usually a site that you can click around on to do stuff, but nothing that really envelops me, the viewer into what’s happening.  This is the first site that actually identifies me and things about me, and wraps it into the story line.  Granted, it’s a little creepy the way the storyline talks about taking over an identity, but shit, it’s so cool!!!

Check it out!  If you have a facebook account that you really use, man is it realllllly cool.  Can’t say enough about this site.  Hopefully more sites in the future will blend you into the storyline, making a truely interactive experience!

absolut iphone app (drinkspiration) review – hot!

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Just saw the new absolut iphone app, drinkspiration, and i think it’s a great addition to anyone’s iPhone!  It’s hot!   I would say it’s definitely worth the download (free, uhh yeah…. ).

Quick overview:

- Get a recommended drink by time of day, by the weather, by location, by popularity, by taste, by color, by glass type, by bar vibe, by bar volume, by absolut flavor, by spirit

- by bar volume is REALLY cool – measures sound in the area to pick a drink!!!!

- Hot drink that ppl are choosing now

- Classic drink, chic drink, edge-y drinks, non-alcoholic, and quick drink recommendation

- Drink History is kinda cool – tracks the drinks you’ve picked over time

- World – great feature that shows what everyone in the world is drinking!!!!

Some features that I think would be really cool:

- Feature where you can see what your friends on twitter/facebook have drank

- Bar locator!!!!

- Map of where drinks are popping up!

The Freemium 'marketing' model

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There was a recent great post that I read on techcrunch from the CEO of box.net:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/12/guest-post-is-free-the-future-of-enterprise-software-yes-and-no/

I’ve always totally agreed that “free” is not a business model.  How can it be when you dont make any money from it :) .  However, it is a great marketing tool that allows you to penetrate the market and possibly take market share.

The article had several these great takeaway points:

* Free is not a business model, it’s a marketing and distribution tactic. Don’t forget this, and don’t get distracted into thinking otherwise.
* Free is not an excuse to make a lesser product, in fact it forces you to make a better product or no one will ever pay.
* Free will expand your market size and scope instantly; make sure you’re prepared, and make sure you can survive and thrive if only a subset ultimately pay you.
* Freemium works when you know who will want to pay for the service and what extra bells they will pay for. This can be based on usage thresholds, ROI achieved, more features, better support, etc.
* Freemium also works because larger businesses have specialized requirements that they’ll pay for: more security, more users, better management, etc.
* Treat free as an advantage – learn from all those new potential customers of your product, pay attention and allow niches to emerge that you can sell to.
* Lose customers to yourself, not your competitors

One thing that i’d like to add is if you can figure out how to make money off of the by product of having free users, even better.  A very simple model would be selling advertising inventory that is generated from the traffic that is generated from the traffic.  Aside from this model, I’m sure there are more clever ways that can be thought up for everyone’s individual business model.