Captivating Connections.

b2s predicted to not be a bust.

Back To School, or B2S, season is incredibly important to retailers. It’s often seen as a foreshadowing of holiday sales. So, for those who are looking to B2S with fingers crossed, there’s some good news:

 

“Despite the ongoing recession, only a small 15.7% share of consumers plan to spend less money this season on school supplies, according to new research from ad network Burst Media.

 

What's more, nearly a one-quarter -- 24.9% -- actually plan to spend more money than last year, according to a study of some 2,100 households with children attending elementary school, middle school, high school, or college.

 

Online or off, how much do parents plan to spend? About half -- 48.6% -- expect to spend more than $250 on each child for back-to-school.

 

When do they plan on spending? Almost two-thirds -- 63.6% -- of back-to-school shopping is done in July, August or September, with August accounting for 38.6% of the total.”

p&g goes live.

"Procter & Gamble today launches a pop-up store called 'BrandSaver Live!' at 101 West 57th St. in New York. The company is using the store to promote its BrandSaver coupon plan as much as its products.

Open every day through Dec. 11, the store will showcase Clairol, Olay, Pantene Pro-V Tide, Bounty, Dawn, Duracell and CoverGirl products. Visitors can get a CoverGirl makeover; Clairol Virtual Hair Color consultation; an Olay skin consultation; and Pantene shampoo, blow-dry and styling as well as demos of Tide and Dawn 2X, Bounty and Ultra Dawn, and Duracell batteries.

Shoppers will also be able to take $45 worth of the coupons. The first 100 shoppers will also receive a gift bag."

I think this is a great way to get people hands on with your product without a hard 'buy-me' sell, since they don't actually sell products there.

how many clicks does it take?

How cool is this? 

"In its continuing effort to find a way to make money from its YouTube unit, Google introduced on Tuesday a type of e-commerce ad that YouTube users can click to buy digital goods from Apple’s iTunes or Amazon.com. 

Under the new program, viewers of a video with a music track, for example, would be able to click on an icon to download that song from one of the two music stores. 

'If you like the song, you don’t need to leave Google or leave the site to buy it,' said Bakari Brock, business affairs counsel at YouTube."

It looks like not only is Google trying to take over every media format and outlet in the universe (and then some), it's trying to make the most of its purchase of YouTube by finding ways to monetize on free. 

We've talked about it before, and it can be done, but do you think what Google is doing will work?

make, or finish, a movie to call your own (and microsofts).

Here is an interesting way to get past poor consumer reviews:

"The Microsoft Corporation...is underwriting an online movie-making contest in an effort to stimulate sales and burnish the reputation of its Windows Vista operating system. The product has met with mixed reviews since its introduction last year.

The contest is another example of the popular marketing trend known as user-generated content. It is intended to promote the higher-end version of Vista — Windows Vista Ultimate — among videophiles, early adopters of technology and filmmakers."
The Microsoft tie-ins are a heavy part of the contest:
"Ultimate Video Relay and has its own Web site (ultimatevideorelay.com), a spinoff of the Windows Vista Ultimate Web site (ultimatepc.com)."

Essentially, they've started a movie, and you get to finish it.

What do you think about this? Are you interested in participating? Does it depend on the type of film?