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Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’

The future of …. credit cards

20 Feb

Credit cards have been with us for decades now and we all know their deficiencies, such as losing one or having it stolen. But new technologies are offering alternatives.

Idea 1: “Computer on a card”. A company has put together a complete computer embedded in the card along with touch buttons on the surface. One card can act as a number of cards. You have to enter a pin every time you use it, so if it gets lost or stolen it is just a dead piece of plastic.

Idea 2: Smart phone adaptor. With this you plug in a small device into the smart phone that is able to act as a credit card.

Idea 3: Bling tag. This is an electronic tag with a social network aspect to it. Say a cafe is having a slow day and they want to attract some more custom. They go into their Bling facebook account and make a special offer active for the next two hours – say 50% off everything. Anyone linked to the facebook page will see the offer – customer wins with a bargain and the cafe wins by not having to advertise in the traditional way.

This could be used to prompt a discussion in the classroom about the future of banking, ecommerce and mobile payments or how social networking can be used to promote products.  Perhaps students could conduct their own research and find out how whether their friends and family would be prepared to use some of the new features.

 
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Posted in Banking, Impact of ICT, Mobile phones

 

Control a real 4×4 over the internet

08 Oct

This is quite a gimmick – Mitsubushi are rigging up an Outlander Sport with remote control kit then letting people loose on it over the Internet.

So from October 15th you will be able to log in to their microsite and take part in the first remote control 4×4 experience.

This shows the lengths companies are now willing to go to attract the Internet generation and also just how advanced our communication technologies have become.

Book soon though as this is no doubt going to be fairly short campaign.

This story is an excellent example of how companies make use of simulations.  Students could consider the benefits and disadvantages of getting people to ‘test drive’ using this method.  It would also fit in well with discussions about marketing and how companies are increasingly trying to use innovative technology to hook us into buying their products.

 
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Posted in Marketing, Models & simulations

 

New guidelines on behaviour ads

08 Mar

clickhide1There has been a huge amount of controversy over the past few months about Phorm and the use of behavioural advertising.

BT kicked of the debate by secretly collecting information about websites visited by its customers.  Since then, privacy advocates have had a field day warning us about our impending loss of privacy.

This week, the online advertising industry has launched a new set of guidelines which makes it look like behavioural advertising is here to stay.

Read the full news story here

Suggestions for use in class and questions for students (subscription only)

 
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Posted in Marketing

 

Spreading the message through viral advertising

20 Feb

cadburys_viral

Have you seen the latest advert from Cadburys?  If you somehow seem to have missed it, you really need to go and take a look.  I still giggle every single time I watch it.

Of late, Cadburys have come up with a range of hugely successful, award winning adverts which, on the surface, have absolutely nothing to do with chocolate.  It all started with the drumming gorilla – you can’t possibly have failed to have seen that particluar one.

So, if these adverts don’t mention or even show the actual product, how on earth have they been so successful?  Well the answer is viral marketing.

Read the full news story here

Suggestions for use in class and questions for students (subscription only)

 
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Posted in Internet, Marketing