Users pick a goodie that they would like to bin and have to manage to stay in the game for 30seconds to win. If they win, they’re presented with a digital token and directed to the neared McDonalds store to claim their reward.

Truly innovative. Hope we’ll see more of these in the future, and not just in Sweden

If you’ve never been to Iffyton High Street, it’s a great concept in online shopping that mimics the experience you get in a realy shopping trip. You get to browse around a street full of shops containing different outlets each specialising in a particular type of product. My T-shirt came from one of the T-shirt stores there and says “Classically Trained” with a picture of a Nintendo NES in the center (get it?)

Here’s what the shopping experience looks like, just like walking through a High Street:

The idea translates very nicely into the ability to browse and purchase other types of items. The current shops seem to specialise mostly in clothing, from music T-shirts to regional T-shirts, though I didn’t see much in terms of kids clothing. But there’s a nice selection anyway, so you’re bound to find something you like.

Oh, and just a word of thanks to Kevin from FuelMyBlog who pointed them out to me.

So, here are some interesting stats about the competition. People could sign up in one of 2 ways, via a tweet, or a post and comment on the blog. Over the span of the competition (4 days) I got a total of:

• 125 entries on Twitter (each with a link back to my competition page)
• 91 new followers on Twitter (though I can’t vouch they are all due to the competition)
• 11 blog posts entries (each with a link back to my competition page)
• 66 comments on the post
• 4 trackbacks on the post

I thought that was pretty good considering I ran the competition during a quiet period and the prize cost me less than $20. I think I’ll do it again in the future, but have a bigger prize (or maybe more than one prize). So, if you want to know about it, follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my RSS feed.

So, what prizes would you like to see?

So, for example, if you are trying to sell a data center automation package you probably wouldn’t want to bother teenagers or moms with your message (or pay for their reading it), but would prefer to bring it to the attention of technical support staff or operational managers. Magpie lets you do this effectively without spending too much on your advertising; particularly as it’s a new network so you don’t have to bid against many advertisers at the moment.

Interesting concept, and one to watch as people try out different marketing techniques with new social networks.

I wore my new Izea T-shirt today, the one that Ted send me all the way from the US. It fits pretty nicely even though the size *should* be a bit small for me. (Good thing I lost some weight)

I must say, T-shirts are always a great way to advertise your business as people are usually quite happy to walk around with your advert on their back or chest. This one is particularly nice as it’s a bright colour and the logo is in an unusual place. And I’m happy enough with it to blog about it. How many of you can say you have an Izea T-shirt, huh?

Ok, I’m rambling now .. maybe it’s time for bed …

I arrived home today and found a mystery package waiting for me. It was sent to me courtesy of the boys at FuelMyBlog as part of their new product testing campaign for bloggers. I opened it with trepidation and found inside:

A brand new Azor blade to try together with some King of Shaves Shave Gel to try! Woohoo .. I must say that I’m pretty picky when it comes to shaving and usually go for the best blade I can get my hands on, so I’m looking forward to giving the Azor a spin. Looking at the packaging it has been designed to last a really long time so I am pretty keen to see how long the blade will last.

No time to shave today, but I’ll be happy to let everyone know how it goes. In the meantime, I can use my pocket money on baby clothes for Arthur. It’s amazing how much blades cost nowadays. I guess the real test for the Azor is how long I can keep using it without giving up on the blade.

Personally I like using binoculars but they are not my gadget of choice. It would be different if I went hunting or birdwatching, but they’re not one of my more usual hobbies (though I’m not averse to trying out something new)

The IDEA Conference isn’t just about innovators, entrepreneurs and successful people of various creative stripes and hues deconstructing the genesis of ideation or discussing how networking stimulates their own creativity, suggested routes to fortune and glory or the actual value of eye of newt. That’s just some of it.

I’m not based in the US, so no chance to go there; but some of you out there might be interested. Ok, some of my readers will be more interested in gadgets or desktop management tools, but I have a growing segment of friends in marketing, social media and PR; so this could be interesting for them.

I ended up following a link off the page to The ListBuilding Club which is one example of what can be done once you create a mailing list. Apparently it gives you access to a number of other free videos that can help teach you have to make money online. I haven’t signed up for it or anything like that, but it looks interesting enough.

The one thing I would recommend is that you try not to rely on your mailing list as the only channel you use to approach your customers. A mailing list is a powerful device, but it’s even more powerful used in conjunction with other tools like an Adwords campaign and some good SEO for your company’s website. Also don’t underestimate the power of offline mechanisms like traditional advertising and word-of-mouth. You need to have a consolidated strategy to win customers rather than just relying on a single channel.

Yup, you guess it, we’re all big fans of Pringles. Ted Murphy from Izea posted to Twitter that he was looking for some Pringlish pictures for his presentation at Cincinnati AMA Digital Marketing Summit and he got responses from Drew, Corrin, Connie and yours truly. It was great fun to do and Ted’s presentation went very well. Here are some comments from the blogosphere:

From: R.O. Why! Marketing:

Ted gave some very helpful pointers on how to get started in the maze of social media opportunities.  While we’re all caught up in traditional brand development and the interactive marketing programs we’ve always done, there’s an entire ecosystem out there right now of consumers, fans, critics and their conversations that happen whether we participate or not.  It’s time to get involved, and to start influencing the conversation.

My key takeaways:

1. Start listening -What is currently being said?
2. Create some goals for your social media efforts
3. Determine what content you can draw from -Text, video, photos, audio, etc.
4. Find content you can capture -Customers, partners, employees
5. Decide what you’re willing to share
6. Choose your platforms
7. Participate in other conversations, don’t just broadcast -The most important conversations may not be those you start.  Seek out conversations about your brand & add value to them.
8. Create your own storm of social media content

Really great event, and I think Ted’s talk helped make some sense out of the social media storm, and gave everyone a few clear steps to getting involved.

From The Future Value of Business:

Ted’s message about blogging was all about making a personal connection with your customers. Blogging allows a company to show its human side. A company no longer has to be just a name and a logo. A company blog shows your customers the passion, excitement and intelligence of the employees who contribute to the blog. The company now has feeling and a pulse. The company can now show their customers that employees are engaged, content, and willing to share their work experiences. Great Companies inspire Great Work.

From Pimp My Keywords:

His topic, “The Social Media Symphony” was subtitled “Harness the power of social media to drive traffic and sales.”

Far too many people are unaware of what social media means and Murphy explained it well pointing out that social media is a platform and distribution channels that provide scale to reach millions of people.

Consider this: Murphy said five years ago only a few people would have viewed a video of him snoring in the backseat of a car. Today, however, that video can be easily viewed by millions of people. The potential is unlimited.

Today, with Web 2.0, the difference is “social” and is now about people, conversations, interaction and community. A huge difference.

According to Murphy, the way social media works is to “listen.”

Listen for mentions of your company or brands. Understand what your customers are saying.

Listen for mentions of your competitors. And, listen for mentions of subjects related to your industry.

These “conversations” are happening at:

• Facebook
• Friendfeed
• Twitter
• Utterz
• Plurk
• Brightkite
• Tailrank
• Techmeme
• Digg
• Google Blog Search
• Technorati
• CoComment

Murphy added that once you have located a discussion, you need to conduct your research (Who started the conversation? What is their relationship with your firm? What is their goal?), then determine your goal and never ever go straight into a sales pitch.

While social media does take time (and who has “time” these days?), you have to start somewhere and do what you can to get involved and participate.

Sounds like it was a great talk. I wonder if the slides are available for download anywhere.