Archive for April, 2010
Client News: WorldMate Teams with American Express Business Travel Services
If you know about the full-featured, premium service of Worldmate, you know that it is the go-to app for business travel. Automatic itinerary synchronization with a simple email, pop-up flight alerts, calendar sync, easy itinerary sharing with colleagues and friends (even on LinkedIn!), and a world of information about your destination to keep all of your business trips on track.
You know the American Express slogan “Don’t leave home without it”? well, that goes for Worldmate too. So, today’s big announcement that American Express Business Travel Service has chosen Worldmate to power their new mobile app becomes almost too perfect.
In addition to the suite of features already offered by Worldmate, this collaboration also gives users one-click access to American Express Business travel counselors. Check out the details of today’s announcement here, and take a look at the client coverage below:
Coverage so far:
Client News: VUDU has Avatar in HD, plus (exclusive) special features
VUDU, the bright and sunny folks in Santa Clara with the highest quality streaming movies in the entire world universe, have amazing new features to roll out today, as well as some exclusive content to offer their customers. For the first time, VUDU is offering promotional content for a new movie (pssst – it’s Avatar). This content includes special features and behind the scenes footage, including some exclusive content only available on VUDU.
What’s more, VUDU is the *only* streaming service out there that has Avatar for sale in HD. And with VUDU, even HDX streaming (1080p with Dolby 5.1 surround) starts instantly. (Playstation does have it for download, but not to stream.) That means you won’t find Avatar in HD on iTunes, CinemaNow, Netflix, Amazon, or anywhere else… except VUDU. Go team!
As usual, VUDU has the coolest new movies “day-and-date,” available to their customers to stream instantly into their home the same day the DVD goes on sale. So, as of 12:01 AM on Thursday, April 22nd, you can stream Avatar on VUDU in HD or HDX (1080p, and Dolby 5.1 surround sound), and see a bunch of special features. And the special promo content is free!
A few blogs have picked up the news. We’ll update the list below as we see more coverage appear. Nice work VUDU.
CLIENT NEWS: TuneUp Gives a Facelift to Windows Media Player and Rocks your Facebook off
We love music here at Stage Two. Like most of you, we all have huge libraries that we built up over years via downloads, mix CD’s, shared drives, etc. Problem is, so much of that music was messed up beyond recognition – missing cover art, mislabeled songs, artists, and tracks (who the heck are “the Betales”?). Thankfully, one of our coolest clients, TuneUp, came to the rescue back in 2008 with the release of their super cool, super fast iTunes music library fixer-upper. Since launch, more than 1 million people have signed up and, today, they are expanding on that universe with the release of some cool new social network features for iTunes and, the big enchilada, TuneUp for Windows Media Player. Some quick details on the release are below:
TuneUp for Windows Media Player:
- Brings all of the killer features from TuneUp out of iTunes and into Windows Media Player
- Just click and no more “Track 01”, “Unknown Artist”, etc. Tuneup automatically fills in all your missing metadata and automatically downloads missing cover art
- Hit “Play” to see artist information, on-demand videos from YouTube, find upcoming concerts, and even buy artist merchandise
Share your favorite Tracks on Facebook:
- TuneUp automatically analyzes your “Top 5” artists, albums, and songs and lets you instantly publish them to Facebook.
Tuniver.se – TuneUp on the web:
- All of TuneUp’s rich artist, song, concert, album information is now accessible through the web – just visit www.tuniver.se
Check out the coverage below:
Spot.Us Expands to Seattle, Plans World Domination (well, almost)
We at Stage Two have been proud to support Spot.Us, the pioneer in community funded journalism, since its very early days back in mid 2008. Stage Two founder Jeremy Toeman is an advisor to Spot.Us and we are all impressed by how quickly the site is growing! It launched in the Bay Area in November of 2008, expanded to Los Angeles in September of 2009, added new ways to participate in community journalism in February of this year and today announces it is expanding to Seattle.
Spot.Us launches today in Seattle with three stories for community members to support with talent or money. One story will investigate the progress and cost of the ten year King County Council program to end homelessness by 2015. Another story, working with Investigate West, will examine the amount of waste produced by cruise ships, which bring 800,000 tourists to Seattle a year. The third story will be a three month report on the Port of Seattle–the 5th largest port in the country and a cornerstone of the local economy. As awareness within Seattle communities grow, Spot.Us will host more stories for the community to support.
Known for its active civic spirit and with a strong community of independent journalists, Seattle was a clear choice for the third Spot.Us city, but expansion will not end with Seattle. Spot.Us founder, David Cohn is already talking with journalists and communities in Minneapolis and Austin and plans to expand to at least two more regions within the year–thus building a national network of community funded journalism. World domination? Not quite, but a sure sign of growth and success for this new media model that allows communities to get the journalism that matters the most to them.
Coverage so far:
5 essential questions when deciding to launch a new product
The most crucial decision you need to make when developing a new product, whether it is an iPhone app, website, gadget, or drink, is if there is a market for it. It’s one thing to have a great piece of technology, but it’s a radically different thing to perfectly understand the nuances of the market you intend to sell/distribute it into. Many great technologies have failed specifically due to a lack of well-defined market existence.
At Stage Two, we often go through a “is this market-ready” discussion when taking on a new client. We decided to share a bit of our process, hopefully to help you with your own venture or idea. Here are 5 essential questions to ask yourself in order to decide (note that there are always exceptions to some rules, but more often than not, the following will apply):
- Does the infrastructure already exist?
Imagine trying to launch the iPhone before cell phones became mainstream; it would have been a flop because iPhone deals a lot with the connectivity of people to their technology. Facebook didn’t enable third-party apps, like Farmville, until after they opened the site to everyone online. Without the high volume of users, the success of apps wouldn’t have been possible and South Park wouldn’t have been able to make fun of them. If the infrastructure required for widespread success is simply not there, you may want to shelve your idea/product until it’s ready. - Does the product tie into a rising trend? VCRs are still in most homes, but less and less people are using them (not even my uncle John). Introducing a product that uses a VCR in today’s world isn’t really a viable option because it’s a fading trend, they’re only being used to watch old Matlock tapes. On the other hand, when digital readers were released, they picked up on the new trends of personal technology, mobile technology, and instant information. Some other current trends to consider are sustainability, personal and preventative healthcare, and individualization/personalization. There are a ton of trends out there, find a rising one (or preferably several) that ties to your product.
- Is there already an “acceptable” solution to the problem? If something already exists that solves the problem in a decent way, people won’t buy a new technology. I use Pandora all the time and I think it’s a great service that solves one of my needs: on-demand free music. If someone came up with a new free music service, it would have to include significantly more features than Pandora currently does in order to get me to switch. For most consumers, the switching costs of signing up for and learning how to use a new service are generally fairly significant. The new product has to have enough extra’s to be worth the switching costs. If the new music listening service could import all of my information from Pandora and use it with the stereo in my car, for example, I would probably switch. But if all it did was organize my stations better with more songs, I wouldn’t switch, even if the new music player was “great.” There’s a saying that the biggest enemy of “Great” is “Good Enough” – don’t forget it.
Is there a perceived need? The WikiReader is an example of a product that we don’t seem to have a need for; people can get the same information on their smart phones, iPads, etc. Yet, maybe there is a specific market for it. There is a group of people who don’t have smart phones, who could use an instant encyclopedia. Traveling sales people for office printers, a very specific niche, are a perfect target market for the WikiReader – they need to be able to access lots of information immediately. But the immediate followup question has to be: is that market big enough? You aren’t going to create a gadget for rice farmers in the U.S. if there are only 3 rice farmers in the country (a piece of information I probably could have gotten from a WikiReader, but then again, I have the entire Internet here with me right now). First ensure there *is* a market, then confirm it is large enough to warrant the development of a new product.
- Is there a want for the product? The only thing that can trump a “need” is a “want”. If the product can evoke an emotion or cultural desire for purchasing the product, there may be a viable market. In France, for example, the iPhone is a huge success, not just because of the product, but because it is a status symbol. Being up-to-date on current technologies is important in French society and the iPhone is a symbol of that. In the U.S., some people spend $500+ on a pair of jeans because the brand and the ideals associated with those certain brands (note to these people: I will take your castoffs!). If you can tie an ideal or an image or something emotionally/culturally desirable to your product that people want to be associated with, you can sometimes fabricate a new market for your product. On this topic, we recommend reading “trading up” for more examples and thoughts.
Once you and other people on your team have asked and answered these questions, you can better articulate the market for your product and the the need or want it fulfills. Also, don’t forget to be really honest with yourself when going through this exercise – this is not the time to drink the Kool-Aid or reinforce your own inner love with your idea!
Stage Two Is Supplementing Its Staff (we're hiring)
We are looking to add an Account Supervisor with at least six years of media-relations experience to be responsible for the overall management of account teams on day-to-day activities for multiple accounts. The Account Supervisor is the primary contact for strategic initiatives and is responsible for overseeing the management of all account activities, including (but not limited to): media relations and social media, launch campaigns, media tours, special events, trade shows, speaking engagements etc. The Account Supervisor will oversee monthly activity reports and ultimately, performance will be judged based on the success of outlined goals and metrics agreed to with each specific client.
The ideal candidate will know both traditional press and bloggers in the consumer electronics and consumer Web space – gadget junkies, please apply. This is an exciting industry, and represents a chance to get involved with exhilarating projects and exciting brands in the consumer tech space! We are industry-insiders, wizened tech masters and pop-culture junkies who know how to maintain a proper work/life balance – whether it’s ending the day early to catch the hottest blockbuster, or drinking scotch with a client at one of our many local watering holes.
Qualifications:
- Able to work within dynamic start-up environment
- Can manage and prioritize the needs of multiple client relationships simultaneously
- Extremely strong organizational and communications skills
- Good understanding of consumer technology (video, mobile, etc) with a genuine interest in new trends in tech, media, and culture
- Active social networking (you tweet, you blog, you generally have too many methods to communicate with your peeps, and of course, you know that people don’t say “peeps” any more)
- Confident and articulate, yet brilliantly creative
- Brownie points to gamers, bloggers, pop culture geeks (extra credit given for the subtle use of Arrested Development quotes)
Responsibilities:
- Supervise activities and keep direction and focus of PR programs on track
- Manage and mentor junior account team members
- Supervise creation of PR programs, press related materials, press kits, pitch letters, briefing documents and other materials as necessary for client programs
- Serve as client contact for high-level strategic counsel
- Report all client activity and summaries to the partners and oversee content, accuracy and timeliness of reports and develop mechanisms for client reporting on a weekly basis
- Oversee workload and manage account teams appropriately
- Attend weekly manager’s meeting with executive staff
- Participate in new business presentations
Our office is in North Beach, close to several MUNI stops, great restaurants/bars, and fine entertainment establishments. If you’re interested, email us:
- A resume (preferably link to an online one)
- A short bio
- Why you think this is a perfect fit for you
- Which of our clients excites you the most, and why
Any emails without all 4 of the above will be ignored, and probably marked as spam (this includes the salary question). Feel free to let us know if you have any questions. Otherwise, we look forward to hearing from you.
