MobiWERX Launches Location-Based Mobile Media Delivery Platform
MobiWERX, the latest tool from leading indoor location services provider WirelessWERX, incorporates a secure, opt-in content delivery and campaign management system for marketers seeking to reach consumers through location-based mobile ad campaigns. The MobiWERX system will launch during Ad:Tech San Francisco, April 20-21, 2010. Meetings are available by appointment in Moscone Meeting Room MR3, Hall D.
MobiWERX provides advertising agencies and marketing divisions with a secure, networked Bluetooth platform for location aware marketing campaigns. Campaign managers can set up and change mobile ad promotions on the fly and conduct multiple-location campaigns. Accurate, real-time reporting allows instant access to campaign results; maximizing dynamic content management features. A demonstration of the system will be running in Meeting Room MR3.
“MobiWERX will transform location-based mobile ad campaigns,” said Jim Ashley Jr, CTO of WirelessWERX, the creator of MobiWERX. “The end-user’s privacy is of paramount importance to us. Our platform offers multiple engagement models including campaign-specific branded handset apps to ensure contextual non-invasive opt-in participation.”
MobiWERX has three key components: a Bluetooth Node System for location-specific connectivity between the handset and Secure Data Server that receives and processes promotion requests from individual nodes; and a Web Console enabling real-time media management.
The MobiWERX system has customizable package options with configurations to suit campaigns of any size.
Read MoreWin a GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Mini from BenSpark.com
Drew has done a great job on his picture-a-day project at BenSpark.com. Friday marked day one of his 6th year on this project, which is amazing and quite a feat. If you go on over to BenSpark.com, you can enter to win a GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr Mini. The PhotoTrackr logs GPS coordinates and allows for extremely easy geo-tagging of your photos. This is a handy gizmo for any person who takes a large number of photos, whether at a conference or otherwise.
Right now you can enter to win one of 4 of these handy tracker’s here. Go congratulate Drew on 6 years of amazing blogging and enter to win!
Read MoreOne OPM Firm to Rule Them All
Okay, that’s not entirely accurate. But it’s close. Today, Schaaf Consulting announced their acquisition today of PartnerCentric, perhaps the first OPM firm launched in 2004. This merger will bring some of the top affiliate programs in the industry under the management of one roof. The press release is pretty cut and dry, but I have to give them a lot of credit for having fun with it and including this quote from Schaaf Co. client Moosejaw’s Kate Runyon:
“I have been working with Schaaf Consulting since 2007, and I haven’t been this impressed since my best friend’s boyfriend tried to kiss me at prom,” said Kate Runyon, Internet Marketing Coordinator at Moosejaw. “Maybe that didn’t come out right but you probably get it.”
Awesome.
Does this signal a new dawn in the affiliate industry of Super OPM firms akin to the mega marketing firms running traditional marketing? Perhaps, and it’s definitely an intriguing concept. Our industry is definitely big enough for this kind of expansion, but with the 21st century flexibility that affiliate marketing is known for. This is definitely a bonus for affiliates, giving them less people to have to contact when they need assistance.
The new company will be known as Schaaf-PartnerCentric and will be lead by Brook Schaaf. PartnerCentric president Linda Woods will stay on as a strategic adviser. Let me congratulate Brook & Forrest Schaaf on this venture and wish them the best of luck. Don’t worry fellas, For Me To Coupon is in good hands with me on board 🙂
Read MoreAffiliate Marketing Fanatics 20: Fly, Fat A**, Fly (But not on Southwest)
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Affiliate Marketing Fanatics – A couple of hyper-caffeinated affiliate marketers (Mike Buechele) and (Trisha Lyn Fawver) talk about all things Affiliate Marketing. From blogging to branding, social media to search, video and more!
We’re a little late this week but got going relatively quick. We chat a bit about social media and taxes in this episode, and have a good time doing it. I think we were keeping Mike warm with our banter! The episode comes in at a chunky, too-fat-to-fly 32:30. In in this episode we discuss:
- Google Buzz is a Buzz Kill
- Audience Conference 2010 is now open for registration. This year’s theme is Comedy.
- Kevin Smith’s Social Media battle with Southwest Airlines
- SModcast – Listen to 107: Go F— Yourself, Southwest Airlines and 106: Thinicism
- YouTube Videos of Kevin’s Final Words
- Southwest Airline’s Blog: Not So Silent Bob and My Conversation with Kevin Smith
- Follow hashtag #noadtax on Twitter for updates on the fights against the advertising tax in multiple states
- More information on the tax issues going on in various states can be found at:
- Performance Marketing Association: California Affiliates – It’s Time To Get Involved
- PMA: Vermont Affiliates – Your Urgent Help is Needed
- PMA: You Can Help Fight the Advertising Tax
- Affiliate Advocacy: Tension Mounts in Maryland
- AA: Illinois Internet Sales Tax Bill Surfaces
- AA: Virginia Gains Momentum and Double Threat
- Stephanie Lichtenstein’s blog: Top Ten Things On My Mind This Month
- EDIT: The Sacramento and San Diego trips we talk about were canceled late tonight. The CA bill will be heard in the morning and we may make a trip on Monday for the house hearing. Stay tuned!
Want to catch up with us & ask questions for the next show? Find us on Twitter: @MikeBuechele & @TrishaLyn. Or leave us a comment!
Read MoreAffiliate Marketing Fanatics 19: It’s a Search Tool!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Affiliate Marketing Fanatics – A couple of hyper-caffeinated affiliate marketers (Mike Buechele) and (Trisha Lyn Fawver) talk about all things Affiliate Marketing. From blogging to branding, social media to search, video and more!
In this all-too-RARE episode, we reunite and make lots of fun of ourselves for being inconsistent in our scheduling and shows. We discuss some things that are kind of old and some things that are brand-spanking new. It happens. Incidentally, I realize I said the name Richard Attenborough when we were joking around and I was trying to reference those classic nature shows from our childhood with the stoic British actor describing gazelles running across the Serengeti. Not sure what the actor’s name actually was, but I know now that it wasn’t Sir Attenborough. Oh well, despite that, episode 19 comes in at a cheetah like speed of 39 minutes.
Also, I just fixed the audio problem where it cut off about 33 minutes in. Sorry, should be all good now! In this episode we discuss:
- My new gig with For Me To Coupon.
- The Advertising Tax hits Colorado. Read more about it here:
- Fox 31 KDVR News: Online sales tax bill moves through House
- Examiner.com: Are state representatives going to put work-at-home moms out of business overnight? (by Jen Goode!)
- Performance Marketing Association: Colorado House Passes Bill that Threatens to Devastate Affiliates (by Lisa Picarille!)
- The launch of Impact Radius – more of an exchange than a network.
- Seesmic Look. Seriously, what is this? We decided – it’s a search tool!
- 1938 Media starts 1938 Business & teams up with some heavy hitters to produce this year’s Audience Conference.
- Loren Feldman and Affiliate Summit Team Up
- Shout outs went to the losers of the Affiliate of the Year Pinnacle Award, Kim Rowley and Eric Nagel!
Want to catch up with us & ask questions for the next show? Find us on Twitter: @MikeBuechele & @TrishaLyn. Or leave us a comment!
Read MoreInterview with Lisa Riolo of Impact Radius
A new kind of affiliate network was launched just a couple weeks ago – Impact Radius. They boast themselves as the first multi-channel performance marketing platform. Impact Radius links performance advertising to TV, radio, print and online distribution channels—delivering to advertisers and media partners opportunities for growth and profit. I’m happy to present you with an interview with one of the founders, Lisa Riolo.
What is the Twitter (~140 Character) Definition of Impact Radius?
Well, I’m going to cheat a little and send back-to-back tweets from @impactradius
- We’re the first multi-channel performance advertising platform. Emphasis on multi-channel.
- We feature an open directory for discovering partners, electronic insertion orders, comprehensive tracking, reporting and payout processing.
Are all the founders of Impact Radius from your days at Commission Junction?
Yes, we all met there in the early days. We’ve all worked for other companies or pursued other ventures in-between then and now.
Those other experiences apart provided tremendous value because it gave us all expanded perspectives. It’s like when everyone in a band goes off and does solo projects and experiments with new rhythms and different instruments. Later, the band reunites with transformed creativity and a familiar, but fresh sound.
How do you feel this will impact the industry in the short term? Long term?
We see the convergence of traditional and online media as a huge opportunity. Almost immediately, new partnerships that bridge traditional channels to online and vice-versa started forming. Relationships like these, before Impact Radius, were challenging. This makes us a catalyst for growth for the industry as a whole.
Do you foresee any hurdles since the nomenclature of performance marketing terms usually mean different things in different aspects of marketing?
One of the greatest opportunities about building this business was the chance to start with a completely clean slate. We re-visited everything about performance advertising. We asked questions like: What is fundamental to the relationships and what could benefit from a new approach? What business processes are counter to the way people actually work together? And even—is this the best descriptor to use?
So, yes, with respect to nomenclature, we have introduced changes that should minimize confusion and help bridge the differences in a way that creates opportunity. Let me give you an example: We don’t call “affiliates” Affiliates. We don’t call “affiliates” Publishers either. We say: Media Partners—which works for Internet marketers, broadcast TV networks, print publications etc.
Who do you feel this is a sure sell to? (i.e. Who are your primary demographic?)
The performance advertising industry, meaning the advertisers, the media partners, the agencies and services, and even the networks.
I know that answer sounds like we’re flying in the face of conventional wisdom—trying to do ‘everything’ for ‘everybody.’ We’re not, though, doing everything for everybody. We are a technology platform designed specifically for performance advertising. But we’re not also an agency and also a broker and also direct response product owners. We designed Impact Radius to serve the needs of many business models, including the one’s I just listed, as they manage their performance advertising efforts.
How does this integrate with the existing affiliate technologies out there?
Technology companies and solution providers alike can promote their services in our directory and interface with our technology platform through Web Services.
What are the questions you get asked the most about Impact Radius from affiliates? From merchants? From agencies?
How do I sign-up? Seriously.
There really isn’t a strong argument against doing some level of business with us. Even if it’s just to manage a few relationships on the platform or promote your services in the directory…
How about questions from the networks?
The initial response is congratulatory and supportive. Then comes the question: Should I consider you a competitor?
Our answer is: Not necessarily. Aspects of our functionality may overlap—but aspects may also be complementary. For example, a CPA network could promote their offers in our directory and use platform features like the electronic insertion orders or payout systems to efficiently manage certain relationships. Or, an affiliate network could refer one of their customers to Impact Radius to start managing their “offline” advertising on a performance basis.
The idea is to fuel performance advertising growth exponentially.
Lisa Riolo is an active, dedicated member of the performance advertising community and remains committed to its further growth and achievement. Prior to co-founding Impact Radius, Lisa consulted with high-growth businesses to develop online marketing programs and scale operations. Lisa’s previous experience includes serving as senior vice president of business development at Commission Junction, where she played an instrumental role in growing company revenue, and managerial roles at Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Bank of America.
Lisa holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Claremont McKenna College.
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