Loyalty programmes have been given a boost by location-based services and social media. Companies like Groupon can use twitter and the like to pump out masses of offers to huge groups, taking advantage of ridiculously fast scaling to become HUGE. Location-based applications like Foursquare, Gowalla and the rest have created a bridge between peoples movement, their custom and the chance to personalise services, deals and offers based on their habits and a GPS signal. Real-time, customised retailing is not that far away (shudder).
This is all great if a) you have a smartphone, b) you feel it’s worth it letting people know where you are 24/7 and c), all you do is shop.
Speeding up understanding of social and environmental issues is going to be pretty hard if all the good info is imprisoned in tables. The three trends of data being more open, everything being more visual and life being on-demand/always-on should mean that numbers are no longer just for the analysts and ratings agencies.
Before the internet went social and we still lived in an age of push, companies that wanted to engage with big issues through their CR programme would pump out mega treatises on their approach to dealing with their social, economic and environmental issues.
The wonderful site from this Sao Paulo group combines good storytelling with loads of info and a simple idea to inspire people to make (mega)city life more liveable.
Off to see Clay Shirky talk tonight about his new book Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. Lots of ideas about human potential in the 21st Century and living in a world that is moving to being less about consuming and more about doing.
I’ll be intrigued to find out how far down this road he thinks we are. Does the Foxxcon assembly line worker in Shenzen or the Mcjobber in the suburbs of Sao Paulo get to be part of this creative rebalancing? Or are they just allowed to be the last targets for growth hungry legacy companies of the 20th Century and an easily forgotten part of our own personal supply chains?
Companies that get the vision thing and embed sustainability into their strategy often fall down on stage three: engaging and communicating with stakeholders. Without engaging effectively with stakeholders there is no way to improve their approach to defining and refining the issues that matter most (materiality).
Idea is a clip log that is much easier than a post. You simply download the plugin and hit the amplify button in your browser when you are on a webpage you like.
orange boxes automatically appear when you click your mouse
Jo Confino of the Guardian and Simon Henzell Webb talk about their interactive websites their are launching and a host of other reasons why traditional reporting has had its day.
MTV does music video TV.
