Yaffe Tidbits

Geolocation knows where you've been.

Imagine walking into the Ace Hardware in Atlanta and a clerk greets you saying “Hello Ms. Smith. Denver sure is a long way to drive to get to our store”. You’d be really amazed that they knew you had come from Denver. In the real world that generally couldn’t happen unless the clerk was psychic. In the online world it can happen all the time with geolocation software.

Geolocation software utilizes a computer’s IP address to determine the visitor’s location. IP (Internet Protocol) is a computer’s version of the city/state of your home address. In other words, it can tell what city/state you’re from but not what street you live on. Ace Hardware can tell that you’re from Denver and they can serve you a completely different landing page than someone say, from Atlanta. This is a win-win for everybody involved. Visitors can get much more relevant information and websites can much better segment those visitors.

The software isn’t 100% accurate. Some Internet Service Providers, like AOL, use the location of their headquarters for all users IP addresses. Some users mask their own addresses. Even considering this, the accuracy is still in the low 90% range.

Mike Morawski, Chief Development Officer

Perspectives on our changing world

After watching the the United States of America come away from the Olympics with the most metals, we should feel proud of how our young athletes have competed physically.

After watching the video “Shift happens/Did you know 2.0”  recently on the web...all those lingering feelings of pride may be set aside to consider how our young students are doing.

Watch the video then join the conversation. Or just post your comment here.

Satchimo the A.D.

A new meaning to the phrase, “Let your fingers do the walking”.

I’m not a big time shopper. In fact I’m probably like most guys. Get in, get it and get out of there. However, there have been times when the anal retentive part of me needs to research a purchase endlessly and then meticulously go about finding the best price. Since Al Gore invented the Internet that has become remarkably easier. But what happens when you are standing in your nearest Best Buy or Circuit City looking to buy that new 42 inch Plasma with the 50 watt per channel baby cakes sound system. Do you get cold feet? Do you worry that maybe you’re not getting the best price? My gosh, what if it’s on sale cheaper somewhere else? What is a shopper to do?

Enter Slifter, a new service being provided thru Sprint.  For the mere pittance of a $1.99/month you get a service that culls through more than 85 million products at some 30,000 retail stores nationally that sign up for the service. This includes some of the nation’s leading chains, Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples, Sports Authority and even smaller local stores have signed up.

Getting competitive prices is obviously not new. What is new is being able to get real-time pricing at other stores, with locations and address/phone information.  Oh yes, I forgot, you also get a GPS map that tells you how to get from the store your in to the store with the cheaper price. Imagine, all of that, while you are standing in front of that refrigerator, still trying to decide whether you want to buy it.

Wowee Maui…this could really be the Mother Lode. It just seems to me that this is a no-brainer service that everyone who has a passing interest in good deals will want. I can only hope that it becomes available on Cingular, err, the New ATT.

Mike Morawski

The i(want)phone

How awesome is this going to be? It looks very impressive. But, how revolutionary is it actually going to be? Will it drastically change the way people operate as a whole, or is it just a very evolved blackberry with a more appealing user interface, full or bright shiny graphics and interesting hands-on functionality - available to those with enough money to buy them. Being a Cingular/ATT customer I am seriously considering this purchase. Well.... I was seriously considering it, before I read this link.

Signed Satch

Drastic Measures

I was catching up on my reading with the August issue of the Big Idea when I came across an interesting article. Titled, “Drastic Measures: Gauging the Impact of Advertising,” the article focuses on new technologies for tracking and measuring the effectiveness of advertising. With every new way for consumers to view media, comes a more complicated way to track how and what consumers are viewing. 

                        So how do advertisers know if you saw their banner ad on your favorite website? Eyetracking Eyetools Inc. uses “eye-tracking heatmaps” to help companies see exactly what is catching your eye as you browse their site. Data is complied from focus groups that use special computers to view client websites. Clients can see if there are problems with visibility, copy or design and then make changes based on the feedback.

            Now they can tell what you’re seeing on their website, but what messages are actually making their way into your brain? The lab at Neurofocus in Berkley, CA can give you an idea. Volunteers wear an electrode-covered cap that actually maps the responses of their brains to stimuli. Their brain mapping software can actually show if an ad’s information was transferred into the long-term memory portion of the brain. For participating, volunteers are given a t-shirt with a map of their own brain on it as a “thank-you." 

            Will these technologies replace the traditional focus group? Probably not, but they certainly can provide us with helpful insight to complement current methods of research.

            Click here for more information on Eyetracking Eyetools and their eye-tracking heatmaps. To learn more about mapping brainwaves or to find out how to get your brain mapped on a t-shirt, visit Neurofocus. We’ll be watching!

Sara Wojdacki

Account Executive