"There is all the difference in the world between paying and being paid. The act of paying is perhaps the most uncomfortable infliction that the two orchard thieves entailed upon us. But _being paid_-- what will compare with it? The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvelous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. Ah! how cheerfully we consign ourselves to perdition!"

Herman Melville, Moby Dick

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

"... the digital pace of change has proven to be even quicker than anticipated with consumers embracing new media... and digital downloads at often-unexpected speeds..."

When people are given a choice between more control or less control over their media consumption, they always opt for more control. Even if it means a little less quality, a little less "flash" and polish. This should not be surprising.

A few more key points from the article:

• Multi-function, mobile devices will continue to dominate growth rates - 96+ million Americans will be mobile Internet subscribers by 2014.
• Consumers will expect all forms of media to embed the interactivity of the Internet.
• Local relevance, flexible use, and personalization will drive consumer willingness to pay for content.

All of these taken together should motivate companies to re-evaluate, test, and deploy new business models, immediately, to stay ahead of these rapidly changing consumer expectations.



Brand marketers take note: The mobile-digital paradigm requires more integration, relevance and consistency than ever before. It is not about repurposing the same old campaigns through a different channel like you were flipping between TV networks.
You will have to work harder, do more research, and "connect the dots" between technological capabilities and consumer expectations. This ain't easy...and blowing it is also much more difficult to hide.

This is a good review and reminder from MediaPost as they disect the recent Foursquare/Starbucks campaign.

"...the companies may want to consider lessons learned from this initial rewards offer, which ends June 28, before jumping into the next one. The Frappuccino promotion has come under criticism on various counts, laid out in a recent post by Forrester analyst Augie Ray.

"For one thing, he points out that becoming mayor of a Starbucks location isn't so easy -- he estimates it may take 30 check-ins or more during a two-month period to gain that honor just to get $1 off a $4 Frappuccino. Woohoo. That's not even on par with an old-fashioned punch card offering a free java after 10 trips."

"[Foursquare and Starbucks] would be wise to heed such suggestions to provide more diverse and worthwhile offers. "If Foursquare and other geo-location platforms (are you listening Facebook and Yelp?) want to build long-term success, it's going to take unique, customized and relevant offers, and not the same 'Please check in here a lot and we'll give you 100 pennies' offer," wrote Ray."



Text summary and key slide/screen shots on TechCrunch.

More importantly, I was just invited to speak at the "Industry Coupon Conference" being hosted by the Association of Coupon Professionals in, of course, Las Vegas (April 27-29, 2010). I will update them on the latest things happening with the mobile Internet - mobile shopping phenomenon, and how digital incentives are shifting the marketing promotions landscape.

The press release and more info is over at the diji site.