Four Click Freedom

http://bit.ly/173fzI

SmartKiosk Media will deliver Digital-Out-Of-Home (DOOH) advertising via interactive “SmartKiosks,” smartphones, internet social networking sites, and a unique format of direct mail print advertising to consumer households.

Now this is pretty amazing and along the same line as my idea.  My idea again is to use the web, print and outdoor advertising to collect coupons via a coupon code that can be collected using your phone number, on the web or by texting.  On the web these ads can be on social networking sites or use of local targeting software agencies.

The kiosks in my theory was for pre-shopping and collecting of additional deals of the day at your grocer or mall outlet.  When these coupons are then validated at the point of purchase using your phone, and it doesn’t have to be a smart phone, then the retailer is sent the validation as well, eliminating cheating coupons.

The final step is the print media sent to the users house.  Now I am pretty sure that the material this company is sending is just Direct Mail full of ads, even if they are targeted or not.  My idea is to link your magazines and newspapers to your shopping history, something you can also tailor online.  Then when the magazines and newspapers of your choice come to your house they are full of relevant advertising that make a difference to you.

With all the screaming and hollering about the print industry dying it is any wonder why they haven’t tried to absorb this idea.  But the good thing is, if I can get the numbers, I now have something to pull from to allocate risk analyses and profit margins. So, go Smart Kiosks!

Wednesday I went to Beijing for the advertising event of the year as it came through China on its last stop.  Everyone was very receptive to the idea of Clickboards.  I handed out seventy five business cards and then just got tired of saying:

Who do you work with? What do they do? Well I’m here today representing Clickboards. Clickboards is a new type of Internet advertising that connects the web to feed to mobile.  The reason it is called Clickboards is because they are like banners but you can click on them more than once (making a clicking motion with my hand) and you can enter information into them like your phone number.  Then without leaving the site you are on, the information is sent to your personal coupon feed.  Then those discounts on the feed can be accessed at the point of purchase with your mobile.  The discount is then verified for the vendor and is erased from your feed.

I told a lot of people I was based in Tianjin and why Tianjin was such a perfect test market for the fact that most retailers have no register or computer in the stores and that I was at a point where I just need to start spending money to get it started.  Most people were a little shocked I was from Tianjin.

So…………………. I met a lot of great people from really cool companies. I guess the conclusion is that I am successfully beginning to brand the term Clickboards and I’m still number one when you Google Clickboards.

I did get to thinking if some of these guys wanted to start this in more developed markets, and I tend to believe that having oversimplified Clickboards to get to this point, that it wouldn’t work.  So I am in the clear as far as broadcasting my message.

Next post is about Smart Kiosks and how they are already being installed, and in the beginning of creating Clickboards this was part of the conclusion to the future development of Clickboards.  So now how do I leap frog?

http://bit.ly/4sLzg9

This article is about the traditional mobile couponing campaigns underway.  My mom sent this to me and here was my response:

That is not what I am doing but very effective.  I allow users to collect the coupons rather than just be an open portal to discounts that they may or may not use, thus receiving anything and everything.  Also here in China I have to deal with no computers at the point of purchase but still have to verify that the coupon is valid.  I can also go from print to feed to mobile.  Not just surfing the net to feed to mobile.  By feed I mean that the users have a personal account at advertual.com and can collect more coupons from around the Internet, set their settings for advertisers to direct to sell to them, and access their feed of coupons from their phone, much like what I see in this article.  Sounds the same but mine can work for any retailer no matter how big or small with point of sale computers or not.

I checked out the sites that were in the article.  The coupons are so un engaging it is the exact same as cutting coupons the way you used to except on the computer.  Completely boring.  There is no sale done by the retailer except the money off.  Apparently the sale already has to be made then you have to find the coupon and then save.  My clickboard makes the sale, gives you the discount, and then rewards you at the final purchase.  This is advertual, not couponing.

Well, things could be changing for me.  My oldest Chinese friend, Zhang Kai, went with me to a party over the weekend.  There, with a bunch of his friends, we ate at the local foreigners bbq house.  We started to talk about Clickboards and how the CEO of mGuanxi liked it and then about what I do.  I told them I was the Chief Editor of the local foreigners magazine and they started to take interest.  I found a copy at the front of the restaurant and let them take a look.

I told them that this magazine probably makes about RMB1,000,000 a year.  That got their attention and they asked if I could do it on my own.  I started telling them about printing, which is probably RMB2 per copy, the staff needed, and fact that the magazine should probably be an emag.

They are still interested in we are in the midst of thinking this over.  My idea would be to make about a forty page editorial and journalistic magazine.  We would launch it at the same time as our new website.  The website would have all the listings and maps and relevant info on it.  And I will discuss the Clickboards option with them.

What I want is to have all the information on the website able to be sent to your phone.  So if you are looking at a listing or a coupon, you can send it to your mobile.  So in a sense we would be launching three things at once: a website, a magazine, and a mobile application.

The mobile application would be created by Alvin from mGuanxi, this group I am now in contact with would create the website, and I would create the magazine.

I would also be responsible for bringing all the advertising clients from Jin and Tianjinexpats to the new magazine lineup.  I want to call the magazine and website ‘The Grind’,  but I’m sure I will think of something better.  Selling advertising in the beginning is going to be hard and cheap.  But I think I could get people to sign contracts that they would start at a base pay and then month after month the price would go up 5% until the retail price has been met.  However, with the whole operation based on advertising sales based on a very infantile start-up, things are shaky.

So let’s see.  I want to do this, thing is I will probably have to support myself till there is actual revenue.  Hopefully the others feel the same way.  Maybe my old professor Shafa could help out because he keeps telling me I should buy Jin Magazine, where I currently work.