Online market for buying and selling ideas..that's marketing!!

Now this is going to be an interesting platform--an online exchange where product innovators seeking to get to the next level can meet and transact with intellectual property buyers.. While not exactly an innovative idea; Idea Connection is another one, and this has been tried via an assortment of initiatives over the years), its being backed by a formidable group of manufacturers, retailers and major corporations.

The obvious biggest obstacle is privacy--i.e. appeasing those concerned about promoting ideas that aren't protected (patented), and naysayers will suggest that this could become a flea market that can be raided by knock-off artists. Wonder what Donny Deutche thinks?

Selling Chat on Fox, and a Sex-Enhancing Potion on the Side

If you don't subscribe to the NY Times (who could blame you?), you probably won't be able to get much out of the link imbedded in the title, but here's a story you gotta love---another 'new product and marketing tactics' profile..

Who woulda thunk that a former professional wrestler would morph into a Wall Street investment banker and then turn that gig into becoming a financial market news talking head...? Only in America, folks!

Just when I thought that my condo association President (a former top gun at CIT Financial) had it right when he suggested the idea of a lotion format for a Viagra-esque product--along comes pseudo star John Layfield with "Mamajuana Energy" ....an energy drink/beverage potion from the jungles of somewhere south of Bora Bora---and a product that purportedly emulates something similar to what happens when you take a Viagra tab.


From the NYT:
Mr. Layfield, a 6-foot-6 Texan, actively cultivates an outlandish persona. His wrestling character is based on the television character J. R. Ewing, the ruthless oilman on “Dallas.” For a photo to accompany this article, his publicist, Pamela Johnston, suggested the following: “Layfield in a beach chair, wearing a suit and tie on the top and swim trunks on the bottom. N.Y.C. skyscape in background. Cabana girl serving him Mamajuana Energy on a silver tray.”

Hats off John--you got Vitamin Shoppe to take a gamble and stock your product--and you're no doubt being labeled a scoundrel and elixir salesman...but we love your tenacity and your passion---lets hope your beverage evokes the same response from those on the opposite side of the table!...

Email Software Delves Into Employees' Contacts

If you have a subscription to WSJ online--you can access the full article..but the story ( in excerpted fashion), brings to light the most integral element with respect to Sales. Its all about leveraging (some say 'exploiting') internal relationships.....at www.JLCgroup.net--resident guru Jay Berkman opines that "every single one of your employees is a salesperson--even if their job title is miles apart from traditional sales roles--and that secondarily...your most valued clients are the best third party sales executives..."

The article does point out that privacy concerns remain an impediment to full scale exploitation---but gee whiz golly gosh...contact information acquired by employees in the course of doing their job belongs to the company---NOT to the individual--and it merely requires a pragmatic, rational and mature business executive to determine the most appropriate way to leverage this data---taking into account relationships that exist between employees and their counterparts/relationships at other enterprises...

Bytes from WSJ article:

Companies are rolling out software that allows them to mine their employees' emails and electronic address books for contact information, in a bid to make it easier to establish relationships with potential clients and others.

The products work by examining the contact lists on employees' email programs, as well as other information such as lawyers' billing records or contacts stored on special programs for managing customer relationships. Then it checks how often individuals email the contacts and whether they have appointments for face-to-face meetings or phone calls on their calendars. The software uses that information to determine how strong a relationship a person has with the contact. For example, individual emails that get replies rank higher than a blast email sent to many people.

"We're able to infer where people have relationships, based on their electronic vapor trail of activities," said Geoffrey Hyatt, founder of Contact Networks in Boston. The company, whose product is called ContactNet, said the program is used at about 40 law firms, including Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, both in New York.

If an attorney at a firm using ContactNet wants to pitch his expertise to a particular company, he can type in the name of the company or perhaps the general counsel. The system responds by saying how many of his fellow employees have relationships with the general counsel or other people at the company. The lawyer can then ask his fellow employee to introduce him to the contact. At other firms, the program reveals which employee has the contact, but details like phone numbers aren't shown. The employee may offer to share just an email address, or they may advise against pursuing business with that contact altogether.