Google BlogSearch handvertising

Handvertising is one of those brilliant "Duh!" moments. When I was very young and I tried to create an illusion of homework completion, my dad used to say Does it say Stupid across my forehead? I thought his forehead did say that of course. But what if it said Coca-Cola?

I can recall a promotional reception I attended at a computer conference in San Diego quite sometime ago. It was in the night-life district at a hip mexican bar - lots of fun; great food. But to gain access, I had to get my hand stamped at a trade show booth of the sponsoring company - the stamp said "DUMBO". I had to explain this hand stamp all day as I walked the show floor - some jokes just write themselves.

What if it said "Intel Inside" or "Lexus"? Much easier to explain and a lot less insulting. ;-) More important - thousands of brand impressions at near zero cost. Hmmm...

But they need to take this to the next level...

• Color (a must for brand savvy firms)
• Glow-in-the-dark inks
• Ultra-fast, Internet-based production process
• Web-based stamp printing (I have no clue how to do this, but imagine getting a stamp via your printer)
• Viral stamp sharing (for some events you want to spread the invitations - shake hands, pass the stamp?)

This reminds me of PaceTat which makes tatoo-like pacing guides for runners. But they have found a far more lucrative market. What's interesting for marketers is the branding opportunity: PaceTat offers custom branded versions for advertisers. Priced from USD 0.39 each, depending on order quantity, PaceTat's pacing guides present marketers with a unique canvas for conveying a message that literally sticks with the consumer until it’s washed off. The company, which was founded earlier this year, has already sold over 30,000 branded pacing guides. (They picked a desirable audience, too. In the US, the running market is notable for its median household income of roughly USD 113,000, according to Runner's World.)

Google BlogSearch KPI

I'm not very familiar with this [KPI] segment of services or solutions, but it looks really interesting.

"I founded myDIALS because as a senior executive at multiple companies, I struggled with getting the relevant information I needed to be successful in driving business," said Wayne Morris, CEO of myDIALS. "Although we had large volumes of data and reports, we did not have timely, relevant and actionable metrics to help us improve operational performance." - Wayne Morris, CEO myDIALS

We have similar processes and programs at MyST that combine various metrics from many aspects of our business, but I sense that we're only scratching the surface. We also have a client (Updata Capital) that suggests...

"If entrepreneurship is the intersection of ideas and execution, then metrics are the traffic light." - Jon Seeber

Must look into KPI a little deeper...