The first feature article on my company went to

[M3ed]

[Schadenfreude]

...how a 'portal' or a microsoft tag will ever be considered 'cool' or fun to use by anyone that's young and social network savvy - aka the target of the advertising message.

Again...I get all the social media strategy...

I just don't see how these portals and tags in print publications will ever be an enticement for the kind of social network-savvy consumer you are targeting to go to an advertiser's site. Hell, cb3, you're a droidtard... Do you actually make use of these things yourself?

And I'm not trying to be a d!ck for once - its just that I've used these tags before and I don't 'get' them.

When I read magazines on my iPad, however, i have no problem using a link if I'm interested... But then there's no comparison between touching the hyperlinked text on the screen and holding my phone over a printed page and trying to get it to focus on a symbol...

whatamimissing?

[@ badhabits]

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"Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."

Adlai E. Stevenson

[snook....]

[bamnetwork]

to the web. Whenever there is an option on a blog to download an app by using a Portal I use it.

Are you telling me its easier to open your contacts list, hit add new contact and then type the information in line by line than to hit a button on your screen and hold the phone over the Portal to transfer contact info straight to your phone? Every single person with a business card should at least have one of these on the back.



These T Shirt ideas are some of the ways we are going to get college aged kids excited about scanning Portals. You dont think every sorority girl is going to want one of these?





Here is a valentines day card I made that shows some of the creative potential of Portals. Imagine if we could sell these with a way to log onto our website, choose what songs you want your Portal Card to link to and essentially create a mix tape...with the option to purchase and download each song after like 3 plays.








The Japanese have them on every single product, billboard and advertisement

I don't think every single person in the world is going to schit their pants and rush to scan every Portal they see, but consider Direct mail marketing campaigns expect like a 2% success rate on mail outs.

Advertisers have dumped money into services that allow users to send a text message to them, and receive info back. I would never do that schit. THAT is asking the user to go out of the way to see your promotion.

There are a lot of marketing concepts that have been used and found to be valuable even with a small rate of success.

The success of Groupon shows people want to see deals, this is a way for advertisers to deliver those deals in a new way that saves their coupons in the users phone so it can be used whenever they need it.

For the amount of money we are asking to participate its really a no brainer, even with a small rate of success. The value of our company is in building a Small Business network as large as we can to peddle future technology as it comes along. This is a cheap, interesting way to build that network.

How often to do actually read every single magazine advertisement? Most of them get flipped through and it never even registers to the reader who or what the ad was about. Businesses still spend $500-1500/month on local magazine ads. For the people who do actually stop to look at an ad, the Portal is a way to give them something different and reach them further. A link to your website? Meh. A link to free coffee on Tuesday? Maybe I go get coffee Tuesday and keep coming back. And tell some friends. Or "like" the free coffee coupon on facebook so all of my friends see free coffee on Tuesday.

[ghollis_1]

lol j/k man. congrats!!

[bamnetwork]

[Schadenfreude]

...you'd give to a friend in a card. That's a 'trusted' source. As a business card it's cool - but I find myself just c-n-p'ing from email sigs most of the time to add contacts...when I'm at my desktop.

If I see an ad in a magazine that interests me enough to snap a pic of a tag, I'd rather control my own experience and just go to the advertisers website directly. I don't want them to tell me what to look at on their site...I'll go where I want to go.

Of course, if the tag takes me to a free coffee coupon, that's probably different - but most of the tags I've seen and used in magazines just take me to their site or some video.


As for Facebook? IMO we are seeing the Golden Age of FB right now. I can't believe how much information people are willing to post about themselves for marketers to chew on... As soon as it becomes clear that 'liking' Pearl Jam means I get hit up by those fukkin' sissy boys in Good Charlotte to buy their craptastic new album I wager most people will stop liking...anything. Mark my words...the age of internet privacy (surfing with no cookies) is coming, and it will be driven by consumers tired of being hit up by advertisers based on their social networking and surfing habits.

[bamnetwork]

We are really focusing on trying to get businesses to use this technology beyond just linking to their website.

We have something much bigger in store for a social/business network once we attract a larger investor.

This isn't going to be for everyone. Maybe you're one of the people it isn't for. I don't know anyone else who would rather type in a URL themselves on a phone than just scan and be linked. Maybe the scanner apps youve used previously were more of a PITA than they are now, I don't know.

If someone doesn't want to use them, no one is saying they have to. Almost every advertisement has a website url of some sort written somewhere, this is just a way to link people to that URL faster.

Advertisers obviously see a use in driving consumers to digital media, this makes it much easier to do so.

As a consumer, if you see one of these taking up an inch of space on an ad, are you going to be upset with the company? Is it going to make you like their ad less? You can still do everything the way you currently do. Some people are going to like it and use it. Do you think there will be a negative connotation to including Portals?

I don't see why there would.

Doesn't seem like theres any drawback to using them. As a business, if you can't afford what we are charging you probably aren't advertising anyway.

Its an inexpensive enhancement for those who are already spending a lot.

[acvegas]

[Schadenfreude]

...it doesn't hurt the ad to have a tag on it - even if you aren't going to scan it. Agreed.

IMO advertisers will no longer buy print ads on a wing and a prayer. They demand proof that someone looked at the fukkin' thing...and your portal tag will given them SOME feedback.

I just don't like using them...

[MarkG]

I hope it takes off.



2008 BMW X5 4.8i Space gray/black
2007 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Supercharged Onyx Black/Black
2001 BMW M3 Imola red/black

[dragoncoupe]

I still don't understand what it's all about but good luck to you.

[tenaciousE]

keep em indians working!