Open Letter to Virtual currency companies: “universal” is not a feature

July 3rd, 2009

Interesting post from Lisa Rutherford about reaching for a universal currency and some discussion about some problems with that dream.

While the glories of a “universal” currency are appealing, I think this might be a “feature” that is in fact a negative.

First some questions:

  1. Don’t we already have a “universal” virtual currency called the US dollar (and the Euro)?
  2. Europe has been working very hard at the euro. Struggling with dissimilar economies that are only beginning to work together. Some countries had this tendency to spend to solve problems (Italy, Greece, Spain). Others were more conservative in their money printing philosophy (Germany). Working through these issues has been a constant source of tension. How will this be any easier between two different companies with different philosophies about how virtual currencies should be used?

Virtual currency companies should look at casinos and the collectible market instead.

Casinos issue casino chips for very good reasons. If gamblers use bank notes to place their bets then every bet becomes a purchasing decision: “I could place this $20 bill on Red 7, or I could buy a steak dinner”. Chips makes the purchasing decision happen only once. Redeeming chips has a “cost” — the gambler has to find the cashier. The cashier is not near an exit. The gambler then still has to escape the casino with the cash resisting temptation all the way.

Casinos also issue special chips that cannot be redeemed. These chips are billed as “Your first bet is free” chips.

Lastly, some casinos use chips as a branding, souvenir opportunity. A percentage of chips are never exchanged representing free money to the casinos.

Because casinos allow exchange out of their “virtual currency”, they have to spend a lot of time and effort on complying with money laundering regulations. By striving for universality, virtual currency companies will subject themselves to the same regulations.

Virtual currency companies should instead serve the same purpose as casino “first-bet” chips. Non-redeemable, can only be used to have fun, and to not make it obvious to the consumer that they are spending money.

A universal “Linden dollar” or “Lisa dollar” looks and feels too much like a “real” dollar to pay the real rent. The “currency” should stick to “toy/game-like” characteristics: “magic dust”, “gold”.

Virtual currency companies should steer away from “purchasing” words to “barter” words: “trade”, “exchange”, “collect”.

Additionally look at trading card companies like Topps, Upper Deck, and Magic: The Gathering. Very arguably these companies have been profitably exchanging unwanted dollars for valued cardboard for years. Trading cards were a virtual currency long before “virtual currency” was a buzz word. I do know that goplaynetwork.com is working on such a system.

Collectability is the direction that virtual currency companies should head toward — not universality.

Greg Berry also commented on Lisa’s Venture Beat virtual currency post. He touches some of the same themes as this post but he focuses more on the social aspects of virtual currency. He refers to : tuggl , twollars , openmoney and cyclos.

Greg Berry is correct. The social aspects of virtual currency need to be enhanced not the universalness

Posted in marketing, starting a company | No Comments »

Self-sacrifice does not always come from a bullet

June 26th, 2009

From an email:

On Tuesday at 8 a.m., I will stand trial for speaking three truthful words: “I am gay.”

On Tuesday, I will face a panel of colonels who will decide whether or not to fire me — to discharge me for “moral and professional dereliction” under the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

On Tuesday, I will try to prove that it’s not immoral to tell the truth.

As an infantry officer, an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic, I refuse to lie to my commanders. I refuse to lie to my peers. I refuse to lie to my subordinates.

My case requires that I provide personal testimony from people who can attest to my character. That’s why several members of my military unit have written letters of support and offered to testify on my behalf.

Now I need your help. ANYONE who believes the Army should not fire me can take a stand right now. I am bringing a statement of support to Tuesday’s trial and I need you to add your signature to it. Will you support me by signing this statement before Tuesday?

I want to thank the 141,262 people who have signed the “Don’t Fire Dan” letter launched a few weeks ago by the Courage Campaign and CREDO Mobile to President Obama, asking him to take leadership to bring this tragic policy to an end.

The momentum is building. This week, 77 members of Congress signed a letter to the President citing my service as an example of why DADT should be repealed. And a Gallup poll was recently released showing that 69 percent of Americans — including 58 percent of Republicans - favor allowing openly gay men and lesbian women to serve their country .

As I learned at West Point, deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force. That’s why more than 70 of my fellow West Point graduates have also come out of the closet to join Knights Out, the organization I co-founded to build support for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

The only way we will eventually overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is by speaking up together. You can help me fight back right now by adding your name to my statement of support. On Tuesday morning, I will bring your signature — and thousands of others — to my trial as a demonstration of your collective support:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/SupportDan

National security means many things, but the thing that makes us secure in our nation and homes is love. What makes me a better soldier, leader, Christian and human being is love. And I’m not going to hide my love.

Love is worth it.

Thank you for your support.

Daniel W. Choi
1LT, IN
New York Army National Guard

And my response:

We should treat honorably servicing members of the military with honor.

Court martialing Lt. Choi is dishonoring his service. Court martialing Lt. Choi will stain the Army not Lt. Choi.

Court martialing Lt. Choi clearly indicates that for the U.S military, the words “honor” and “dignity” should be prefaced with “mostly” and “while convenient”.

Being willing to face a court martial in order to do the honorable action is the highest indicator of honor that any service member could demonstrate. This willingness to sacrifice oneself is what the military demands. Self-sacrifice doesn’t always come in the form of a bullet.

The hardest form of self-sacrifice is willingness to be subject to societal rejection.

Lt. Choi should be promoted not court martialed.

Posted in political | No Comments »

Open Message to the anti-tax crowd: move

June 17th, 2009

Amazon’s definition of “unconstitutional” :

“We don’t like it”

I love all these people who whine about taxes.

Don’t like taxes? Move to Ethiopia. No functioning government since Bush the First a libertarian paradise.

The anti-tax people complain about taxes but want the benefits of:

  • a functioning University system so that there are high-quality people to work at your cool start-up
  • a public school system that at the very least keeps kids off the street. (50% of california’s budget)
  • roads
  • police
  • prisons ( 10% of California’s budget )
  • state parks
  • a functioning emergency system for the next airline crash or the next earthquake
  • airports
  • Caltrain
  • weights and measures people to make sure that when you buy a gallon of gas you get your full gallon
  • code enforcement to make sure a restaurant is not serving 3 month-old rotten meat and the kitchen is not infested with cockroaches
  • zoning enforcement that stops your neighbor from running a chicken farm
  • labor laws that stop child labor and insist that your employer actually has to *pay* you
  • SEC laws that require that companies follow GAAP
  • laws that allow lawsuits and action against companies when they pollute the water you drink

Next time you think that the government does nothing for you. Spend some time finding out how badly mainland China, Dubai, or Yemen allows the powerful to abuse everyone else.

I can go on and on.

But seriously, grow up. You want to live in a civilized society? expect to pay for it — it does not come for free.

Oh sure, it isn’t perfect — fine make it better.

As for me, I am happy to pay taxes and enjoy the best state (California) in the US. There is no way I would move to another state that has worse laws.

Update 1:

A few other “unnecessary services” from the government:

Move to Ethiopia. Avoid these annoying bureaucrats!

Meanwhile think about this:

  1. In the 70’s corporations paid 2/3 of the taxes, today after a full generation of the rich whining about taxes corporations pay 1/3 of the taxes.
  2. 30 years after Prop 13, the biggest beneficiaries of Prop 13 are corporations because they never, never sell property ( 99-year leases anyone? ).

All this anti-tax rhetoric has allowed corporations to shift the tax purden to the individuals.

Maybe it is time to wake-up about this scam and stop buying into the anti-tax rhetoric so blindly.

Update 2:
More from TechCrunch:

State governments assess “emergency” tax measures to get quick money because they can’t bear the thought of making the tough choices necessary to cut spending

Hmmm… so in hard economic times, when a social safety net is that much more important you want states to cut funding.

So from your perspective:

  • Unemployment insurance
  • Job retraining programs
  • Community Colleges
  • 4-year public universities
  • subsidized day care
  • subsidized elder care
  • Section 8 housing assistance
  • School lunch programs
  • morning/afternoon pre-/post- school day programs
  • community grants for starting a new business

Should all be cut.

Someone who has just been laid off can try to job hunt and compete with 500 applicants hoping they can keep their head above water economically;

Or

they can return to school and complete their AA degree or the BS, or get their MBA using the above listed services to make it economically possible.

By providing these services, a state enables their citizens to be more valuable and more productive when the economy turns around.

The single mom ( or dad ) may start the downturn with no college education. Through the services listed above, this single parent could end up with a degree that will enable them to double their income. Or give them the skills to start their own business.

Yet you make the interesting choice that states should remove this opportunity to turn economic lemons into lemonade.

Interesting. I am curious why you think that a less-educated workforce is a good choice?

I should add that Herbert Hoover was wildly successful at cutting government spending in the Great Depression. I am curious do you think this was successful for him? If not how is the same approach going to be successful today?

Posted in political, rants | 3 Comments »

Stations do NOT affect train speed

June 15th, 2009

Bullshit from an email thread and repeated constantly by the California High-Speed Rail Authority:

“Other potential benefits are also intriguing: a probable economic windfall for several cities along the route . . .”
and
“There will be as many as 24 passenger stations along the way . . .”

The train could more easily meet speed requirements if it stopped less. CA should do some land use planning first, then plan the train.

How would a station affect speed? Every train has to slow down to say “Hi”?

Stations have nothing to do with speed. Stations are INFRASTRUCTURE.

Station STOPS affect speed. Station STOPS are an OPERATIONAL decision and can be solved with a schedule change.

How come no one talks about having fewer freeway exits as a way to make freeways go faster? Because its stupid, drivers don’t get on and off at every freeway ramp. Yet somehow people think that a train has to behave like a stupid driver who takes every freeway exit! How come people think a train has to stop at every station?

News flash!

Trains can skip stations! If a train doesn’t stop a station the existence or (non-existence) of a station is irrelevant!

California High-Speed Rail Authority puts out this BULLSHIT as an excuse to avoid building a system that could actually serve dual purposes as both a long-distance system and a higher-speed adjunct to commuter rail.

“We can’t build more stations because that would slow down the train!”

This shinkansen train doesn’t look to be at all affected by the station:

Update 1:

Questions and astonishment from the email thread:

I’m not a train engineer, but I imagine money is spent on building a station with the expectation that some of the trains stop – because people live or work there.

I would hope so myself!

If there are stations for which trains stop infrequently, is that good planning?

Yes it is good planning. Stations can be built at relatively low cost. At the lowest end just a long enough siding, a asphalt boarding area, a parking lot and a place for taxis/buses. Even for HSR there is no reason a low frequency stop has to have even a building. Sure the HSR trains might require a high platform but that can be easily handled with a portable “step-up” carried on the train.

If I lived, or had a business near that station, I sure would want as many stops as possible.

well of course you would — and I want a pony. Wishes don’t mean you get.

Communities around those stations will use the existence of the station as marketing to attract development, but should it be happening at all 24 stops?

How is this a bad thing? Communities promoting passenger rail is bad?

Might there be some type of express/local arrangement, where a slower local (on a separate track) can feed the HSR? That doesn’t come through on the article.

You don’t need a separate track for anything except the station area. The station siding just needs to be long enough to allow for acceleration/deacceleration off of the main line. ( about 9 miles on the acceleration, less on the deacceleration ) Unless we are talking very impacted ROW the extra track is minor. The siding track is only necessary when the OPERATIONAL issues dictate that a train stopped at a station needs to be passed.

It probably doesn’t come through in the article because this is another operational issue that is decided after system is built. Running a train slower that system maximum because it is a “local” only matters when a higher speed express wants to pass. If there is nothing coming up behind it, a train can run at 40mph on the main high-speed line or it can stay stopped for 10 minutes blocking the main-line track.

How many stops do you think a typical train will make?

The system being proposed can run a train every 3 minutes / direction. 20 trains per hour going the direction you want as a passenger. If a passenger is going from one low traffic station to another they might have to transfer but at least they get service from a station close to their house. Why are we going to make them drive a long distance when the tracks are next to them. So what if only one train stops per day? This is just like Amtrak today!

Just make sure that the entire end-to-end trip time does not exceed a policy maximum.

How is it decided which stations to stop at?

By the people setting the schedule — same as today. Don’t get this question at all.

you’ve GOT to be kidding! Train Stations & Bus Stops have EVERYTHING to do with speed! Did you see: Muni floats plan to pull hundreds of S.F. stops

Really?
So the VTA 522 Rapid is slowed down by the existence of a bus stop on a curb? Did not notice that at all! Better go out and remove all those sign posts along El Camino Real for Route 22. That will definitely make the 522 go faster.

Update 2:

that bus is the transit agency’s version of BRT.
Not only have they eliminated stops (one mile length between most stop), it doesn’t even have a schedule after it leaves its origin at set time, meaning it doesn’t have to ‘wait’….

Amtrak buses doing something similar - on many runs, they will only stop if a passenger gets off, but not to pick up.

I think it important to recognize the differences between bus types - local, inter-city, BRT, and train types: commuter rail, heavy rail, LRT….speed is always an important factor - to some types more than others. Intercity trains are expected to go faster than commuter rail; commuter rail faster than heavy rail (though there can be express and local subway lines, of course), all both faster than LRT.

Can you imagine a ’smoke break’ for HSR???

And ?

Once again — how is the *existence* of a bus stop going to affect a bus’s schedule if the bus doesn’t stop at the stop?

How is the existence of a train station going to affect a given train’s speed and schedule if the train doesn’t stop?

I am completely baffled.

I am completely astonished that the NYC subway routes are impacted by stations where the train doesn’t stop.

I really do not understand how the “6-express” subway runs slower because of the existence of the “Elder Ave” stop ( which the 6-Express skips ). Perhaps someone else can help explain this?

I have no idea what a “smoke stop” has to do with station planning. Maybe you can enlighten me?

Update 3 [ 15 June 2009 23:13:00 ]:

An intelligent question from twitter:

Is there a (federal) law requiring trains to slow below a certain speed in stations irrespective of stopping?

No Federal Law. A train can go through at whatever speed it wants to. Certainly, some sort of warning system may desirable. The only exception is “holdout” stations. Holdout stations are stations where passengers cross active tracks to board. California Ave USED in Palo Alto, Ca to be holdout station.

Posted in environment, high-speed-rail, political, random silliness, rants, transportation | No Comments »

VCs: stop the false dichotomies

May 27th, 2009

What is with VCs and their false dichotomy when giving feedback about a company asking for funding:

  • Say nothing about the team
  • Be an asshole about how worthless the team is and their mothers should have had an abortion.

VCs seem to be a sound system with two settings for volume: “mute” or “max (a-hole)”. We live in an analog world. Lets try a little moderation.

How about this VCs? If you perceive the problem as the team, give feedback that is:

  • specific
  • actionable
  • non-personal (not impersonal)

Example dialog:

VC:

I like the concept. However, I don’t have confidence that the team as it exists can execute successful. My reasons are because:

  1. executing requires a deeper knowledge of neurosurgery. I need founders or a board of advisers with this expertise
  2. the team seems to be overweighted with business-types and underweighted in technology
  3. in order to sell into the companies you are targeting you will need a C-level person with the needed credibility
  4. you were disorganized for this meeting which makes me question your ability to manage a company.

If these barriers change, we may be interested in this company.

Possible response from the entrepreneur:

Thank you for this feedback.

  1. We have felt that is gap in neurosurgery is not as significant as you apparently do because we have 20 surgeons in other specialities. Perhaps if we refocused our product away from the neurosurgery aspects, it would be a better match to our skills? Perhaps you have some suggestion about who we should approach?
  2. We agree. Joe and Paul are helping us get started but they plan on returning to school once their time is no longer needed. Currently we are using all the help we can get.
  3. Perhaps. Right now, we have not yet found that person. My goal is to grow with the company. I have discussed this with the team. The agreement we have is that if I cannot get 1 customer within 6 months, the CEO role will be transitioned to another. Currently we are actively looking for advisers and a COO person that could act as a potential replacement support for me. However, who could imagine that Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerburg could manage the responsibilities that they now have?
  4. Thank you for that feedback. I did not realize that I gave that impression. If you talk to the rest of the team I think you would find that their opinion is different. Would be willing to do that?

Notice that the entrepreneur is not just agreeing with the VC. And the VC may be unsatisfied with the entrepreneur’s response. The VC may not wish to proceed further no matter what. But at least the feedback is out there in a cordial matter.

Posted in amplafi, rants, starting a company | No Comments »

Stop the privatization of social safety net!

May 27th, 2009

Can we stop the bleeding heart liberal who sees the symptom but the wrong solution?

Problem:

In the Great Depression unemployment in the U.S. peaked at 24.9% in 1933. Imperial County today has an unemployment rate of 26.9% closely followed by counties like Merced and Yuba at 18% - you can see the sobering Central Valley stats here and a map of California’s unemployment rate by county here.

Solution??:

When you are approached by a friend to give to the non-profits trying to help please give.

NO!

It is time to stop with the privatization of the social safety net.

When approached by that friend, demand as a condition of giving that *both* you and that friend write to your congress critter.

Demand that health care reform be passed. ( See earlier post )

Demand that unemployment benefits be modified so that the newly employed who are now newly unemployed are covered. Right now you have to be employed for a majority of the past 18 months to get any benefits.

Demand that the Employee Free Choice Act be passed. (EFCA makes it easier for employees to for unions, and stops companies from retaliating against employees.)

Stop buying into the idea that a few pennies thrown into a bucket will somehow replace a legitimate social safety net provided by the government.

Posted in political, rants | No Comments »

a national health care system: good for business

May 20th, 2009

What I told Obama about health care reform. Add your voice to mine please!

I have been working for 2 years on my own business. During this time frame my wife and I have had to pay for our own health care through COBRA. This expense is the second most expensive item in our budget ( our mortgage is our first ). These costs have significantly increased the chance that my business will fail and I will have to return join the ranks of the unemployed.

In my profession (internet software development) and the location (San Francisco Bay Area) being able to offer health care is mandatory. Because we do not have the budget to pay for health care, it is close to impossible to find anyone to help in the Bay Area. As a result, we have turned to overseas developers.

A quality national health care system will free up more people to explore starting their own business and building the U.S. economy. A national health care system is simply good business.

Posted in social commentary | 1 Comment »

Email/Calendar : Missing features

May 17th, 2009

Continuing my “broken” series of things that everyone uses but no one fixes. Many of these missing features are email and calendar integration.

Email. Much maligned. These are the key “broken”/ missing features. For some reason, not one major email provider nor any mail program ( that I know of ) has provided these missing features. Without these features, email is “broken”.

This list is in ranked preference.

  1. Easy calendar linking
  2. Deadline handling
  3. Delayed processing
  4. Notes
  5. Emphasis
  6. Quote management
  7. Cross linking
  8. Task integration
  9. Countdown

Easy calendar linking

Gmail makes a half-ass attempt at this but it has never worked for me.

Furthermore it looks like Gmail is only expecting 1 event per message. Most email newsletters have multiple events announced.

Properly done, this feature would allow users to select from the email body:

  • date/time information
  • location information
  • registration urls
  • deadline (early bird for example)

A floating, AJAX-y div that would allow users to select each bit of information separately until all needed information has been submitted.

Furthermore, the user should be able to create multiple events from a single email.

All created events are linked to the original email.

Deadline handling

This would support GTD methodology. An email comes in referencing an event (see above) or a request (”I need the financials by Thursday for the Friday morning C-level meeting” ). The recipient does not want to act on this request right away but they certainly don’t want to forget either.

Deadline handling makes sure the deadline is not forgotten and the email is removed (optionally) from the visible inbox( Inbox is distracting, “did I open this email .. oh yeah I did”).

With deadline handling, the user selects a series of dates that would trigger reminder notes to the user as the deadline approaches. The user also may create a task that indicates how much time the task will take. The deadline reminders would be increasingly color-coded based on how much time remains from the end of the task to the calendar item (”green”, “yellow”, “red” ).

Using the request example,

I need the financials by Thursday for the Friday morning C-level meeting

The user would create a deadline for Thursday 5pm. The task will take 2 hours and the user wants alarms on Thursday. The “red” alarm would be at 3pm on Thursday ( because the financials take 2 hours and must be done by 5pm ).

The email would then be archived so it is not there to distract the user. And the user will not accidentally forget the request because it got buried in the inbox.

Since one email may contain multiple requests, this feature would need to support multiple requests.

Delayed processing

This extends deadline processing to some degree, but is used more for the “softer” deadlines. Many messages have an implicit “sell-by” date. For example, emails about organizing or announcing an event. Once the event has happened, the back-and-forth messages can be deleted/archived. But until the event happens the messages should not be touched.

This allows easy handling of messages where the user doesn’t want to instantly delete the message but wants the message gone after a delay.

This feature would be immensely valuable to me personally. My inbox is cluttered with email chains planning events in 2004. Being able to attach a self-destruct would clean over 50% of my email.

[enhancement: if I don't open this email again in the next 30 days, delete it - kind of like spam processing for non-spam messages.]

Notes

What it says. I want to be able to attach a private note to an email. If I forward or reply to the email, the note is not included.

Some use cases: The email results in a phone conversation or chat. I want to be able to attach the phone notes or chat log to the email.

Why is this missing???

Emphasis

A big email, with lots of “stuff” that is not important. But one set of information that I do care about. I want to be able to select that text for special emphasis. Conversely, I want to selectively diminish other parts of the email.

This would allow the important data to easily be re-found and for unimportant parts to be collapse from view.

Quote management

In a long email back and forth, I want to be able to collapse levels of the quoted previous messages in the thread.

Cross linking

2+ emails are related (for me) I want to connect two messages with no obvious connection. These messages are not in teh same email thread and have no obvious computable connection. Different senders, different email threads but the content happens to be related.

Task integration

A bunch of messages are all related to a certain task. Allow the user to connect those emails to a task. When the task is completed, the messages are archived (or deleted). Since a single email may relate to multiple tasks, the email is only deleted/archived when all the tasks have been completed.

The text corresponding to completed tasks is “deemphasized” ( see “Emphasis” missing feature )

Countdown

Reminders are transitory alarms. For some reminders, a countdown clock to the event is better.
This avoids the need to set multiple reminder alarms.
This wouldn’t work for SMS reminders but would work if it was part of the calendar / email display.

Posted in broken, rants, starting a company | No Comments »

Question :How to get and manage non-strategic multiple customer investment?

May 16th, 2009

I am looking for people who have had success in converting customers into angel investors. I am *not* referring to strategic investors like Cisco.

Background:
I have a pitch that works very well when talking to customers. Prospects get and understand Amplafi and can’t wait to use it. VCs and other techno-philes types (who are *not* our target customers) hear the same pitch, their eyes glaze over and they tune out. Clearly a bad match if the investor does not understanding the customers!

I am seeking angel level investment ( > $1M ) and would really like to turn a set of happy customers into investors.

My ideal situation would be 20 customers investing $10K each. So a customer council with skin in the game. These customers would be non-traditional angel investors. ( not the Ron Conways of the world )

Obviously, I would be then taking on a investor expectations management project. But compared to managing a traditional investor’s lack of understanding of my target market, how can it be any worse — at least they are customers!

[Update: also posted to LinkedIn]

Posted in amplafi, starting a company | No Comments »

Ad networks: missing features

May 16th, 2009

Ad networks missing features:

  1. Interconnection with bookmarking services
  2. Browser back button support
  3. Rich interaction
  4. Selective Memory
  5. Show different video ads
  6. Limit the ad selection

Interconnection with bookmarking services

You’ve interrupted me. The ad is interesting. Well-targeted. Good job. I am interested. But not right now. Right now I want to finish reading page 2 of this article.

Why are you demanding that I follow the ad link now? Interact with delicious.com, xmarks.com or simply my browser bookmark ability. Let me bookmark the ad link as a private bookmark for later. Bookmarking services have simple APIs. Spend the 13 seconds. Do the integration.

In the “old” print advertising medium. A prospect could tear out the ad from the magazine or newspaper for later. Why can’t the “new” media do this?

Browser back button support

You wanted to sell to me. I am ignoring your ad. I click on a link, not your ad. I then notice your ad. Mission accomplished…. too late. The page refreshes. The ad is gone.

I click the browser back button. The browser shows the previous page.

Except for the ad I wanted to read. Your ad. No clicks for you!

In the “old” print medium, the ad on page A3 does not change and disappear just because I have flipped the page. I can go back to not just the article, but to the ads!

Rich interaction

Hat-tip to meebo.com for breaking the old model. But for everyone else, why is the only interaction with the ad, a link?

  • If the ad is related to an event? Make it so someone can put the event on their calendar. Generate the ical file
  • provide sales contact information as a vcard that reminds the user of when and where they saw the ad. Maybe even a link to the ad itself!
  • Add the ability to email /forward the ad!

Get creative with the interaction!

In the “old” print medium, ads have a phone number and a physical address. How is this any different than a link?

Selective Memory

Consumers know that ad networks track them. Acknowledge this. Let the consumers edit your memory. The user’s only alternative is deleting cookies so the ad network know nothing. Allowing consumers a choice, gives the ad networks a chance remember something.

In old print media, there is an advertisers index on the magazine back cover. How come websites don’t have the same functionality? Maybe not all advertisers, only the premium advertisers get listed in the advertisers index.

Show different video ads

For christ’s sakes guys, how come consumers have to suffer from watching the same pre-roll 10 second ad repeatedly. I hate CNN, FOX, etc. Every 5 video clips I get shown the same pre-roll ad for the same product. My ears bleed. Even if I am interested in watching more videos, I run away! Fast!

Limit the ad selection

It is well known that it takes multiple impressions to reach the consumer. For the time the visitor is on a website, increase the number of ad impressions. Make it so that a visitor sees the IBM ads 8 times rather than showing 8 different ads for 8 different companies.

Hopefully someone like Frank will do something about this!

Posted in amplafi, broken, marketing, rants, starting a company | No Comments »

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