June 25, 2008 by Steve.

A-cappella.com Inc., a small online seller of CDs, DVDs, sheet music, and books for unaccompanied singing groups, discovered the power of viral marketing on the Internet and YouTube this past Christmas—and it’s only just recovered from a “blizzard,” in the description of one A-cappella.com staffer, of orders that ensued.

A 1998 video of the Indiana University a cappella group Straight No Chaser singing “The 12 Days of Christmas” that had been on YouTube for nearly a year suddenly took off in November and was registering 400,000 views a day. Viewers who were taken with the group’s performance began googling the name to find the DVD for purchase. And there was only one place they could buy it: The tiny A-cappella.com, based in Southwest Harbor, ME, which handles an average of 60 orders a day.

Shoppers placed hundreds of orders a day for the Straight No Chaser DVD, and the company, which was caught unawares, quickly sold out the 30 DVDs it had on hand. The orders kept coming, even when the company told shoppers it was out of stock and wouldn’t have more until mid-January.

By the time the company fulfilled all orders, it had sold 5,300 copies of the DVD—not much by most Internet retailing standards, but huge for the company that employs only two full-time people. “We’ve never sold that many of anything,” says Doug Gray, president. “If we sell 100 of an item in a year, we consider that a good seller.”

Gray has no problem explaining the popularity of the group: “It’s 10 young men, well dressed, behaving very nicely, and having fun singing. It appeals to a lot of people.” Still, he is at a loss to explain why the video suddenly caught YouTubers’ fancy. “It had been up there for close to a year, so there’s no telling who started e-mailing the link to friends and how it suddenly became so popular,” he says. “We’ve all tried to figure it out, but I don’t think we’ll ever know what started it.”

As of the end of February, the video of “The 12 Days of Christmas” had been viewed nearly 7.5 million times and other Straight No Chaser videos had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. The frenzy of interest has had another effect. While the performers in Straight No Chaser have changed as singers graduate and others take their place, Gray says the group of young men in the 1998 video are getting back together to create a new DVD.

Posted in Marketing, General | Print | No Comments »

June 16, 2008 by Steve.

Bankrate, Inc. released the findings of a national poll that found that eight out of 10 Americans are concerned about their identity being stolen. Furthermore, more than one-third (34%) of Americans know someone who has been a victim of identity theft.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were approximately 800,000 consumer complaints filed in 2007. Of those complaints, 32% involved identity theft. The total dollar amount in reported fraud losses was more than $1.2 billion.

Respondents who reported being concerned about identity theft were more likely to shred documents (82%) versus those who are not concerned (52%). Notably, people who are uneasy about identity theft were much more likely to keep tabs on their credit reports. Fifty-three percent of concerned folks check their credit, versus 30% of the unconcerned. Women (83%) were significantly more likely to destroy sensitive information than men (69%).

The national random-digit-dialed phone study of 1,006 adults 18 or older was conducted for Bankrate by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media. The surveys were conducted from April 4 through April 6, 2008. The sample was weighted by demographic factors including age, gender, race, education, and census region to ensure reliable and accurate representation of adults in U.S. households. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points.

Posted in General | Print | No Comments »

June 10, 2008 by Steve.

The National Hurricane Center and Google are working together to create a map that homeowners can use to determine if their property is threatened by a dangerous hurricane storm surge.

Storm surge is considered one of the most destructive elements of a hurricane and the greatest threat to the lives of people who ignore evacuation orders in vulnerable coastal areas. Google will use storm surge data that meteorologists have used for years to determine the flooding threat from any category of storm.

People can plug in their addresses to see at what level they are at risk. The program should be available during the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. Hurricane forecasters use a computerized model called SLOSH (Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes) that estimates storm surge heights by taking into account the size, internal pressure, forward speed, track, and wind strength of a hurricane.

Hurricane forecasters will also offer a new color-coded graphic on the NHC Web site this year that will indicate storm surge probabilities for threatened areas, similar to forecasts they now offer on wind-speed probabilities. The graphic will indicate the probability of the surge reaching or exceeding five feet within a given number of hours.

Posted in Cool Tools, General | Print | No Comments »

June 5, 2008 by Steve.

Are your clients able to communicate with you any way they want—whether by phone, e-mail, Web, call center, or live access? Instant Messaging (IM) is an option that is becoming easier to implement. Understandably, agencies are often concerned about the practical aspects of IM. How will the conversation be documented? Is it worth the time?

One service worth considering is Provide Support (www.providesupport.com), a software and Web process that provides a “Live Chat” option on your site. You are given code that enables you to add a button on your site that a client can click to start a live chat with someone in your office. You select individuals who become part of a chat rotation. When someone clicks on the Web button, a box pops up on the computer of the next person in the rotation. That person is responsible for the instant message conversation.

The price depends on how many users you add. One user costs $99 annually, three users is $200 annually, and 10 operators is $400 annually. The software provides a transcript of each conversation after the call is finished, along with a management recap at night.

Posted in Marketing, Cool Tools, General, Benefits Management Systems, Agency Management Systems | Print | No Comments »

June 2, 2008 by Steve.

A group of Chicago lawyers sued Craigslist (www.craigslist.org), the popular classified ads Web site, in 2006 because some of its housing notices illegally discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, and ethnicity. Various ads say “no minorities” or “no children.” Declaring such preferences violates the U.S. Fair Housing Act and would be illegal in a newspaper.

But a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals found that Craigslist is not the publisher of these ads as a newspaper would be, and thus is not liable for discriminatory housing ads posted on the site. Instead, the Web site is more like an intermediary, carrying information from one person to another and, therefore, not liable for its content, the panel said in a ruling that upholds a lower court decision. The attorneys “cannot sue the messenger just because the message reveals a third party’s plan to engage in unlawful discrimination,” Judge Frank Easterbrook concluded. He suggested the attorneys instead use Craigslist to find landlords with discriminatory ads, and then forward their names to the state’s attorney general for prosecution.

The decision is a victory for the free Internet bulletin board, where every month more than 30 million people post offers to buy, sell, or rent goods and services, including housing. Current housing listings on Craigslist are now posted with this warning: “Stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal. Please flag discriminatory posts as prohibited.”

The San Francisco-based company is run by fewer than 30 people but offers classified ads and forums for more than 300 cities in the United States alone.

Posted in General | Print | No Comments »