Going to Vegas, baby!

I always hated that phrase...and set of ad messages. But, I guess it was effective enough to stick in my brain.

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.

vyrlmkt Unleashes Real Coupon Virus

As a member of the ACP and co-chair of the Digital Coupon Taskforce, I just received the attached news release from the ACP. This is the first I had heard of the vyrlmkt "flap," and it would appear that vyrlmkt pretty much violated every aspect of the industry's guidelines.

Doing a quick search, there are various articles floating around the Internet, chronicling the release of their Facebook application that produced untold thousands of fraudulent, high-value coupons.

The CIC and ACP as coupon industry standard bearers are damning in their assessment of vyrlmkt's conduct. Here are a few excerpts:

great disappointment at vyrl mkt, Inc.'s recent creation of unauthorized coupons bearing the registered trademarks of respected consumer products companies...

It appears that the management of vyrl mkt, Inc. has disregarded U.S. intellectual property laws, ethical business practices, and basic internet security procedures...

failure to issue a formal, complete public explanation, and apparently has made no attempt to inform retailers and consumers about the proper handling of the unauthorized and invalid coupons.

None of our Members provided vyrl mkt, Inc. with permission to create or to release these coupons or to use our Members’ copyrighted or trademarked images.

Ouch. And, since the members of these two organizations include some of the largest brands on the planet, I think you can kiss vyrlmkt's business goodbye.

If anything, this emphasizes the importance of developing and promoting standards and the need for a disciplined approach to new product development. Whoever vyrlmkt is, I doubt it was their intent to find themselves in this mess. However, for any of the other start-ups out there who think that their particular tech niche in web 2.0, mobile, etc. is going to turn an established industry upside down overnight and make millions in the process...there are reasons that standards and processes have been established. Some can be "bent" or challenged with new business models, but you had better do your homework first.

CIC ACP Joint Press Release on vyrl mkt

Update on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 11:24AM by Laird

Supermarket news has some follow up details related to the controversy:

Vyrlmkt, the marketing company at the center of an Internet coupon controversy, will stay out of the couponing business for a while, but possibly not forever, its president told SN. “We’re committed to the idea of building a business in which commerce can take place in a viral networking environment,” Harry Soza said. However, if the company does get involved in Internet couponing again, it won’t be anything like the test it ran Aug. 15

“What we did was wrong, and we will never do it again,” Soza said. “We understand that our tiny experiment was out of line, but it was supposed to be contained.”

ACP executive director John Morgan told SN a consumer sent him 24 high-value coupons, including $16 off an eight-pack of razors and $8 off a six-pack of water. Several of the coupons even had face values that exceeded the product’s retail price. ACP guidelines say no offer should exceed $5. The ACP said the coupons lacked controls to prevent multiple copies and counterfeiting. ACP also blasted Vyrlmkt for not getting permission from the CPG companies to use their trademarks.

Full article: http://supermarketnews.com/news/internet_coupons_0904/

Update on Monday, September 29, 2008 at 10:40PM by Laird

Coupons Associated with vyrl mkt, Inc.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) September 25, 2008 -- The Coupon Information Corporation (CIC) and The Association of Coupon Professionals (ACP) express great disappointment at vyrl mkt, Inc.'s recent creation of unauthorized coupons bearing the registered trademarks of respected consumer products companies, and its apparent negligence or recklessness in distributing or allowing the coupons to be manipulated and distributed by third parties.

It appears that the management of vyrl mkt, Inc. has disregarded U.S. intellectual property laws, ethical business practices, and basic internet security procedures and, in doing so, has caused substantial confusion among reputable retailers and consumers and harm to the manufacturers whose trademarks were misappropriated.

Vyrl mkt, Inc. has increased the confusion with its failure to issue a formal, complete public explanation, and apparently has made no attempt to inform retailers and consumers about the proper handling of the unauthorized and invalid coupons.

The Members of CIC and the ACP were unaware of vyrl mkt, Inc.’s intention to create and release coupons as it did prior to the coupons appearance on Facebook.

None of our Members provided vyrl mkt, Inc. with permission to create or to release these coupons or to use our Members’ copyrighted or trademarked images.

Vyrl mkt, Inc. and the individuals personally responsible for its unauthorized acts should take all appropriate actions to ensure that these unfortunate events are not repeated and take all necessary steps to minimize any additional damage to consumers, retailers, manufacturers, and the overall industry.