COD: Qwiki and the “information experience”

Thanks to the ad:tech blog for publishing this first.

Few would doubt that as consumers’ options for consuming content grow, more organizations are rethinking the way they portray information. That is the idea of Qwiki, a start-up focused on what they call “information experiences.”

Qwikis, as they are called, are machine assembled collections of audio and visual content collected from APIs across the web. The Qwiki can assemble any type of content, and display them in an attractive and addicting format that essentially makes a cohesive show out of previously disjointed and unconnected components. The platform automatically identifies great source material, curates it, and delivers it in an interactive format that can be watched from start to finish or clicked on to explore individual components and subthemes.

Qwiki provides a text to voice narration of the text, and accompanies it with photos, graphics, and videos as the content unfolds. Probably the best way for me to clarify what this is is to let you watch their Tech Crunch Disrupt pitch, which appears below. It’s a couple minutes long but worth it for the real time demo at the end.

Qwiki at TechCrunch Disrupt from Qwiki on Vimeo.

Oooo. Ahhhhh.

For example, imagine querying Jennifer Aniston. You get a show of audio and photos of her entire career, including classic images from “Friends.” Click on a Friends image and you can review it statically and/or click further onto suggested topics to view Qwikis about the show and its characters. The level of depth you pursue is entirely up to you. The site reports that more than 2 million Qwikis already assembled, on topics common and obscure. Even though the product is only in alpha at this point, I was impressed by the verbal visual synch it generally pulled off. Bravo. I am very much looking forward to future versions, when the offering will be even stronger.

The Qwiki team views this new platform as a fusion of art and science, and that’s a very challenging assertion to dispute. The visual portrayal of information is stunning, but extremely advanced technology identifies, curates, and assembles the information that makes it so valuable. Chicken? Egg? Let’s have both. I don’t mean to make light of what must have gone into creating this. But one of the key strengths of Qwiki is that it hides all that science in a beautiful interactive wrapper. Me likey shiny wrappers.

Why is Qwiki so significant, and especially for brands? Well, Qwikis are both authoritative enough to appeal to experts and superfans, and eyecandyish enough to appeal to most anyone. Imagine how you could portray your brand using a platform like this. Imagine the lifestyle content Qwiki can create so simply and easily. Currently the platform has millions of topics assembled, but they will soon unveil a platform for publishers – professional, brands, amateurs – to create their own Qwikis. I can hear the dribbles of saliva on more than one marketer’s chin right now. This page of the website offers six examples of such publisher created Qwikis.

Thus far, Qwiki has gotten great reviews in the tech trades, as in this Tech Crunch piece.

This is the part of these pieces where I usually try to sum up why I think something is likely to be important. The fascinating thing about Qwiki is that its importance is clear, even if its implications and impacts can only be guessed at now. This “works” on so darned many levels. For consumers, for pubs, and for brands.

COD: Textaurant – out to end in-person restaurant table waits

Thanks to the ad:tech blog for publishing this first.

If you are a frequent restaurant goer, chances are you spend more than a few minutes a week waiting for a table in one or more locations. I suppose if you are a glass half-full person, you can look at these times as moments for contemplation, or even a way to grow more excited with anticipation about the taste treats you will eventually enjoy.

But for most of us, these times are just annoying.

They’re bad for the consumer, and bad for the restaurant if people arrive, find out there’s a wait, and head down the street to a less popular venue. If one hundred tables worth of people show up at the same time, and 20 walk away, that’s a lot of lost revenue.

Especially since if there had been a way to wait where you want, instead of in the restaurant lobby, you might well have been content to be seated half an hour later for your meal.

For you You YOU there is now Textaurant. With Textaurant, you can see wait times online or on your celly and get in line without actually getting in a line. You simply go about your business until you get a text telling you your table is ready.

Yes yes, some restaurants have those vibrator hand helds that they can give you when you see the host/hostess. But consider what those — and the system to activate them — must cost. As Textaurant points out on their website, you already have something in your pocket that vibrates, so why make restaurants and people deal with a second such system?

And is it just me, or does it also seem to you like when you get handed one of those vibrators, it is sticky with Tuberculosis virus from the previous holder?

For the patron, the Textaurant solution can mean significantly greater convenience, and the platform also gives participating restaurants the opportunity to push promotional offers to opters in.

The restaurants benefit from more patrons over the course of a night/week/month, no need to pay for a buzzer system, and more evenly distributed customers which can lead to better customer experiences and more rational hiring and staffing schedules.

This Boston-based company is just getting started, but has already attracted the attention of the investor and restaurateur communities. It works with most any phone. A simple idea solving a seemingly complex problem.

COD: Aisle Buyer drives info and sales into the aisle

Thanks to the ad:tech blog for publishing this first.

The brick and mortar retail world is beginning to embrace digital in a much larger way, and a Boston start-up called Aisle Buyer has a fascinating platform worth discussion.

Essentially, Aisle Buyer is a mobile phone app that enhances brick and mortar retail experience by:

-Providing valuable product information on demand at point of shelf
-Communicating specific retailer or brand driven offers in the aisles
-Enabling immediate purchase in the aisle (need need for the check out line)

The user interacts with Aisle Buyer by scanning a UPC in a participating store. The upc call delivers additional product information and features as well as any item-level offers the retailer or manufacturer wish to communicate.

And here’s their explanatory vid:



Mobile is one of the hottest topics in retail. Clearly, major chains as well as smaller outfits recognize that consumers are accessing information on their mobiles from the aisles already. In steadily growing numbers. Just a few weeks ago, NPR did a report on how comparison shopping via mobile had improved digital Christmas sales at the expense of brick and mortar. Obviously the impact hasn’t been massive thus far — ecommerce still only accounts for 6-8% of total retail spend. But can there be any doubt that those numbers are going to crank in the next couple of years?

For the retailer, the offering can:

-Increase sales
-Lower labor costs
-Provide a better retail experience
-Be a paperless “green” initiative

Currently available in Boston, the offering also enables the retailer to deliver a sort of digital alternative to ROP, with targeted and segmented offers based upon locations, demos, etc. A recent Boston Globe article reported that they are in negotations with chains representing 8000 stores for expansion.

Stuff like this is absolutely the future of in store retail.

COD: Fiverr – Oh, the things people will do for a finspot

One of the wonderful things about democratized media is that it gives a voice and platform to more than a billion people. And while an agency on Mad Ave might not touch an account with less than $5MM in spend, there are bazillions of people aching to do things for your brand for just $5.

How do I know this? Because I just visited Fiverr.com, a magically bizarre community where people tell you what they are willing to do for just $5.

These people have an awesome PR person/agency in that they have stories in all the major media outlets.

The activities people are willing to perform fall into a really broad range of categories:

Graphics
Video
Social Marketing
Travel
Writing
Postcards
Advertising
Music & Audio
Fun & Bizarre
Tips & Advice
Business
Technology
Programming
and more.

Make no mistake, this would definitely fall into the guerrilla marketing category, and some of the suggestions cross the spam/PPP line. But others offer interesting ideas on how to do some grass roots community marketing. It’s an anything goes community, so you will have to pick and choose.

But isn’t it worth $5 to see if someone can write you an awesome radio spot?

Now naturally a lot of these people are hoping you will love their five dollar service so much that you will give them a proper engagement. And how great is that for all parties involved.

To participate, you accept sellers’ offer, pay them with credit card or Paypal, and then see the results of their efforts. You then get two days to ask the person to make any changes.

As I said earlier, marketing offers are just a small part of this quirky community. Check out some of the other areas on offer. Here are some examples of the programming services on offer.

Not much ventured…is there a lot to be gained? I don’t know, but I think it’s worth a flutter — err, fiver to find out.