Food and Football

What's good peeps?

Just wanted to share three fun links:

For my football fans, you should head over to Football Stuff for the latest on the field. As the blogger says, "it's for all football lovers, critics, and followers alike." You're in for a treat--Football Stuff gives you up-to-the-match results as well as football-related happenings in various leagues. To top it all off, there are active discussions on every post from avid fans. Enjoy!



As many of you know, I love working out and my abs prove it :P

The second link is all about health and healthy lifestyles. Kevin Richardson is an amazing personal trainer based in NYC and he is a contributor in Food for Thought, a monthly e-newsletter I coordinate for Neuman's, a full-service catering company in Manhattan. Check Kevin's blog out, it's great...and while you're at it, subscribe to the newsletter if you're hungry and want some Food for Thought! It's free.

Let me know what you think about the links, and be sure to direct me to any sites you want featured!

PS. Don't think I forgot my boys! YEAH BRONCOS!!!

Season opener at Suncorp Stadium--Brisbane, Aus-- with Stew:

No Lights, No Camera, Plenty of Action!

Hey there! So, last March I did my part to mark Earth Hour by switching off my lights for 60 minutes. This year, it's being celebrated yet again!! On March 28, millions of people across the world will mark Earth Hour with the flick of a switch at 8.30pm in their respective time zones. You can participate too--tell your friends, neighbors, coworkers, or just tell them to check this out!

You know you wanna vacay!!

It's cold outside!! Who wants to go to a beach??? YEA!! That's what I said too...let's go!! My favorite spot to buy sunglasses, SunglassWarehouse.com, is giving you a chance to win a vacay in celebration of their 7th birthdaaaaay. So here's what you do:
1. Click on this link and enter your name and email addy
2. Wait till February 17 to see if you won.
3. That's it!

Here's what you get for all that hard work:
$2,500 for airfare and hotel, $200 spending money, and $300 in sunglasses and beachwear.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go sign up already!!!

The Fantastic Four

Over lunch, a friend and I were discussing life before Facebook and some other tools we take for granted these days. The world as we know it today is fast-paced, technology-driven, and digitized. A few years ago, there was no Facebook, Google, Wikipedia, or YouTube; all these new additions to our lives have made us more aware of not only those around us but have also provided a means by which anyone can find what they want, when they want it.


Before the advent of online social networks, there was no real "meeting place" in the virtual world for students. There was hardly any instantaneous, easy way (except AIM and MSN Messenger) to even keep in touch with your classmates once you left college. Online chatrooms were the next best thing, but Facebook and other social networking sites allowed users to communicate when they wanted, even if the person they were trying to reach wasn't there. To see a message in an online chatroom, for instance, required physical presence; compare that to the email and phone alert options that Facebook and other social networking sites provide to their members.


Google and Wikipedia have revolutionized the way in which current information is available to Internet users. In the days when Encarta sent out that CD filled with already outdated information, reliability was uncertain. Today, users can rest assured that the information on Wikipedia is up-to-date and (mostly) accurate. Searching has never been easier too, thanks to Google. Type in a word or phrase and fractions of a second later, thousands of hits are returned.



YouTube gave the people of the world a voice...and a face! Throughout my four years at college, YouTube has provided supporting evidence, visual aid, and entertainment for many presentations. As YouTube's positioning indicates, it truly is where you can "Broadcast Yourself" for the world to see. In this regard, marketing of self has never been easier but never so difficult in that there are so many messages cluttering the webwaves on the daily.


So, as you navigate through the pages of the Internet, just think of how mediocre your experience would have been had these innovations--the Fantastic Four--remained thoughts, and not products of a great idea!

Gratis anyone?

Ever heard that great song on the radio or on that iPod jog that you wish you could blast on the computer when you got home? Or what about songs by a particular artist or in a specific genre that you can't get enough of? Sure, iTunes can do all that, but there's a somewhat similar, web-based program for people who refuse to download iTunes or feel as though the "related music" in that program is blatantly out of sync with their musical tastes. In addition to all of this, it's free....yes f-r-e-e! The newest craze in the virtual music world is called Pandora.


Pandora is Internet radio from the Music Genome project. It was founded on the premise that each individual has a unique relationship with music; in essence, no one has identical musical tastes. In this regard, Pandora's sole mission is "to play music you'll love-and nothing else". The rating tool on Pandora allows users to take control of the music they hear in future sessions. With respect to free pricing strategies, Pandora has elements of "Freemium", "Advertising model", and "Zero marginal cost" pricing strategies.

Anyone can visit Pandora and listen to music for free, albeit for a limited amount of time. To take full advantage of the free service, users are encouraged to sign up and enjoy as much music as they want. The free version of Pandora includes advertisements, but these ads are visual in nature as compared to audio/sound ads on similar music sites like Yahoo! radio which actually cause a break in the music. In this regard, unless the user is glued to his/her computer and viewing the ads, there will be no indication that an ad is in progress. This is an example of the Advertising model pricing strategy, which is characterized by free content sponsored by advertisers.

Pandora's free and paid versions have different service options for subscribers. For instance, once a user signs up, his/her Pandora account will also allow them access to the basic version (with visual ads), Pandora on the Web (ad free version), and Pandora on the Go (for mobile phones). Pandora subscriptions are $36 for a one-year subscription while Pandora on the Go subscription costs vary depending on the user's mobile phone carrier. The subscription version of Pandora, unlike the basic offering, removes all external advertisements. These two options exemplify the Freemium pricing strategy as described by Chris Anderson. A Freemium pricing strategy has different tiers of content ranging from free to paid versions of the product.

One downside to Pandora's service is that despite the user's subscription level (paid or free), the company's licensing restrictions do not allow users to skip songs (or places a cap on allowed skips), do not permit rewinding or replaying, and require periodic interaction with the Pandora Tuner (time-out function). The time-out function is activated after 2 hours of inactivity with the site.

Pandora on a whole is a great tool for users and is changing the way music is distributed and how people listen to music online. The free version differs minimally from the paid version on many facets but the site demonstrates how pricing strategies are influencing the movement from paid to free versions of programs. The service itself illustrates the zero marginal cost pricing strategy, which is based on the premise that digital content like music can be distributed at virtually no cost to large audiences (such as Pandora subscribers). The licensing restriction is the major hurdle for users as it doesn't allow replaying or rewinding but apart from this, the service is great in terms of customizing playlists for specific tastes and interests.

Kudos to the World!

My daily trek to Google was marked by surprise today, for lo and behold, there was darkness! At first, I thought I had misspelled it, but no, the page had the familiar logo, the empty search bar, and of course, I saw that magical button that answered my queries on the daily.

Turn your lights down low, Google

So, what happened then? Well, for starters, Google just went up a notch in my Corporate Social Responsibility book, but that's not the point. Secondly, for those of you that don't know, March 29, 2008 is truly special because for an hour today, people from all over the world have been encouraged to flip the switch, conserve energy, keep it off...do the right thing if you may. Ah yes, it's Earth Hour!

A little history:

• The first Earth Hour was held in Sydney, Australia on March 31, 2007 between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm
• Estimated to have cut Sydney's electricity consumption by up to 10%
  
• As many as 2.2 million people participated
  

And here's the deal for 2008:

• Same idea, but with international flair
• 8pm-9pm in local time zones
  
• Some partner cities include New Delhi, Singapore, Christchurch, Trondheim, and Miami
  

So, to wrap up, the idea here is for everyone--households, businesses, and the like--to turn off non-essential electrical appliances between 8pm and 9pm today to promote electricity conservation and help our planet out by lowering our carbon emissions. In the words of the late, great Reggae icon Bob Marley,"Turn your lights down low!" I think he was on to something....

Nabisco

Nabisco, formerly called the National Biscuit Company, is a well known brand consisting of a wide range of cookies and snacks such as Oreos, Ritz Crackers, Wheat Thins, Ginger Snaps, and many others. As with any company showcasing their products online, Nabisco employs several strategies to direct traffic to their webisite.

One can see that the site is flash dependent and designed primarily for experiential users, specifically gamers. However, there are some aspects of the site geared toward task oriented users. Users can, for example, get nutrition information on every Nabisco product as well as sensible snacking tips, including great recipes which incorporate many of the company's offerings. The homepage contains links to create a profile for new users as well as one for returners to sign-in; this strategy is very effective at both generating new users for the database and ensuring that users return to the site. Once users register at the site, they can enter promotions, post their high scores, and also receive news and promotions from Nabisco.


There are several types of games to appeal to a wide spectrum of gamers- arcade, puzzle and cards, sports, and multi-player. One interesting finding on the site is that many of Nabisco's products are integrated into the actual games. For instance, users can play Toasted Chips Poker Macthup, or Wheat Thins Sudoku. Not only does this provide entertainment for users but also promotes the company's products during play. Multi-player games are great for driving many people to the site at one time since friends can meet online and participate in a virtual tournament. On a side note, Nabisco must be given kudos for warning gamers, specifically children, of 'ad breaks', which are commercial messages seeking a purchase from the user. The warning reminds underage users to get a parent's permission before submitting personal information.

Nabisco does not sponsor any links at major search engines like Google or Yahoo! A keyword search for Nabisco will reveal in excess of 20 pages for the company and its branding names in other countries. One example of this is the Christie brand in Canada or Kraft foods in other parts of the world. Meta-tags on the homepage attest to the gaming nature of the site and the integration of the brands into these games. One such meta- tag reads: "Free web games and online sweepstakes at NabiscoWorld. Try the many varieties of Nabisco cookies and crackers." Title tags change slightly with navigation to the various pages of the site, but always contain some portion of the brand name.



In conclusion, the company is not conventional in its approach to driving traffic to its site but users return to play games, check out recipes and promotions, and subconsciously view Nabisco's products through their integration in the many games on the site. The company does a great job with customer retention through required log-in to play games but it also simultaneously takes advantage of its database by way of providing information to users on new products, recipes, and tips on Nabisco products via email. As mentioned earlier, some techniques Nabisco uses to drive traffic to its site are:

• Search engine registration with Google and other major search engines
• Contests and Giveaways
• E-mail marketing through promotions and news
  
• Loyalty and Continuity programs-with the ability to post high scores.

These are excellent strategies to help Nabisco promote their products and drive and retain traffic to their site.