Amazon Cloud Player: Buy Once, Listen Everywhere

Amazon's marketing message for the Kindle is simple: buy once, read everywhere. It's a compelling selling-point and the reason why othr services with similar propositions (ala Evernote) are so popular. The promo unit shows seven devices ... all running the Kindle application.

Similarly, Evernote's promotion can be describe as "write once, read anywhere". The marketing graphic looks similar: the application across different devices:

So it's no surprise that the Amazon Cloud Player marketing unit looks almost exactly the same as the Kindle's: "Play your music anywhere."

It's also not surprising that "Access Anywhere" is the core value proposition of cloud-based services. And it's interesting to see how that proposition is similarly - and effectively - conveyed across different applications and brands.

Google +1 a Win for AdWords, Ad Units

I don't fully have my head around Wednesday's Google's +1 launch... namely because I don't entirely understand how 'liking' a page affects / improves a search query: am I voting for the best matching page for the query? or is +1 more similar to 'liking' a page? And if it's akin to liking a page - this makes more sense on product searches, websites, etc... much in the same way that Facebook Connect and concept of having Facebook Facepiles">Facepiles appear across the web.

What does my sense to me is the effect of +1 on ads. It makes a ton of sense and I love it:

For consumers: +1 'facepiles' (for lack of a better term) will lend credibility and users will be more inclined to click on those ad units.

For advertisers, you can now amass brand 'advocates' or 'fans' who will effectively improve click-throughs and conversions.

And this leads to a happy Google.

And a note to advertisers: I would work to drive +1's on my AdWords campaigns immediately. There will be a first-mover advantage as the product gains traction and your ads compete against units without +1 votes.

Mashable Profiles Instagram, Touches on Dogpatch Community

As part of their Scaling Startups series, Mashable profiled Dogpatch-alum Instagram: "Scaling Instagram: How the Photo Sharing Startup Avoided Catastrophe in Its First Days". It is an interesting read considering Instagram's instant, tremendous success... and it is also a testament to Kevin and Mike, who are terrific. The article also touches upon the core of Dogpatch Labs: a community of entrepreneurs of different backgrounds and skills. As the Instagram team quickly (ie six hours after launch), co-founder Mike Krieger leverage the Dogpatch community's input / experience:

Instagram, already fast-approaching 40,000 users, would need something much sooner to meet the weekend demand. “We needed to be on a platform where we could adjust in minutes, not days,” says Krieger.

So, Krieger, a former UX designer at Meebo with admittedly no experience scaling a startup, walked around the Dogpatch Labs coworking space in San Francisco — the locale of Instagram’s first office — and queried other startup founders about what to do. Officemates suggested that Instagram move its service to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

Instagram officially went from a local server-run operation to an EC2 hosted shop in the wee hours of Saturday morning October 9, 2010. Doing so was much like open heart surgery, according to Krieger.

Also fun: Mashable highlighted the Instagram picture of the Red Bull consumed during their all-nighter at Dogpatch

Join Offline Labs: Exciting Company, Exceptional Team.

At Dogpatch Labs, there is a coincidental tradition of hosting companies with "Labs" in the name: Thing Labs, Formative Labs, Schematic Labs, Lumber Labs, etc. The most recent is Offline Labs, a company that we are excited to now be a part of (alongside General Catalyst, Redpoint, Sequoia and handful of great angel investors). You can read more about Offline Lab's seed round here on TechCrunch. Offline Labs was founded by three former Slide and Google employees: Rishi Mandal, Rod Begbie, and Vivek Patel. They are building Sōsh - a way for people to discover and share great activities: "Curated activities. Exclusive events & deals. Members-only access."

Two important action items:

1. Join the Team

Offline Labs is hiring and looking for stellar individuals who will be exceptional teammates. If you are interested, find more information here or email me directly.

2. Join the Product

Sōsh is launching soon and I think you'll find it as exciting as I do. Join the invite list at http://www.besosh.com.

LinkedIn Celebrates 100m Users with Great, Personalized Email Campaign

I have been spending a lot of time thinking and writing about email marketing. While social media (branding, communication and advertising) gets much of the attention - email is often overlooked and under-discussed... despite being the building block for great companies: - core to experience: Groupon, LivingSocial, ShoeDazzle, Gilt, Rue La La, etc

- conversions & engagement: Facebook, Redbox, etc

- merchandising: Amazon, Art.com, and other e-commerce providers

- communications: Zappos, Apple, etc.

Like other communication platforms, brands should treat email as a privilege. It is the rare communication that gets delivered, converts, and is trackable... and it is easy to unsubscribe from. As such, the frequency and the content need to be carefully thought out (and each of the above buckets are related - they might come from different parts of the organization - but they all arrive in the same inbox and represent the same brand!).

Here is a great email from LinkedIn (who sent a terrific engagement email to wrap up 2010):

- it is a statement of their success: 100 million users strong!

- it is targeted and rewarding: 'thanks for being one of the early users'

- it is personalized: I was member 314,285. I don't particularly care about the number - but it is a fun, nice touch that makes LinkedIn feel more personal to me.

- It is personal: 'signed' and sent from Reid (with his picture)

- While it is not actionable, but it is on brand and bolsters their relationship with me

Here is LinkedIn's 2010 Wrap Up email (see my thoughts here):

Update: TechCrunch just did a similar review. Looks like I missed out on the Innovator email - which was reserved for the first 100,000 users.

Doodle Jump Hits Amazon's Appstore

Earlier this week, Amazon launched the Amazon Appstore by giving away Angry Birds Rio for free (the #1 paid and top-grossing app on iOS). That promotion was in conjunction with an announcement that Amazon would giveaway one paid app for free each day. Today's free app should also be familiar: the 'insanely addictive' Doodle Jump (which, behind Angry Birds, may be the next biggest game on iOS).

Amazon is clearly moving into the application and Android space by distributing great, familiar titles in a way that fits with their brand / style: by winning on price.

Also worth noting: Angry Birds Rio is still available for free on the Appstore. When it first launched, it was marketed as expiring that day...

Amazon Appstore Launches with Free Angry Birds Rio

Today Amazon launched the Amazon Appstore for Android (more here and here). At this point, there are a slew of app stores (from your phone, computer, tablet, browser, television, alarm clock, etc. But this is Amazon... so it's worth paying attention because: 1. their scale and brand makes them a major player 2. they will do it in the Amazon way... technology, recommendations, price competition, etc

Did I mention price competition? Amazon launched behind Angry Birds Rio - giving the uber-popular game away... for free. It's the #1 selling and grossing application on the iPhone. On Amazon, it's free for today's launch. That's quite a promotion.

And it represents a larger pricing move: Amazon Appstore will give "a great premium app for free every day."

10 Fun Groupon Statistics, from Geography to Sushi to NBA

Groupon has reached such scale, that you could spend hours digging into the data and come away with dozens of fascinating takeaways (around geography, consumers, businesses, deals, etc). Here are ten fun and perhaps surprising statistics from Groupon over the last month's data. The biggest, obvious takeaway is that Groupon is massive. But that conclusion comes from a few less obvious findings: Groupon does not rely on any one geography, vertical (ie restaurants, services, etc) or promotional offer. While Groupon is associated with top DMAs and with specific offers, their revenue is distributed across location, sector and promotion. The degree to which this is true surprised me.

10 fun findings from Groupon (over the last month):

1. across all deals and locations, the average Groupon drove 350 sales and $8,750 in revenue

2. 68 Groupons collected $100,000+ in sales

3. The average Groupon is a 56% discount

4. Chicago has the two highest grossing sales

5. After Chicago, geography is very diverse: DC, LA, Phoenix, NYC, Orlando, Dallas, Toronto, San Diego, San Francisco and St. Louis are all in the top 20.

6. Though Groupon is oft associated with food, there are no restaurant offers in the top 50 grossing Groupons.

7. Several professional sports teams have run deals. The Toronto Raptors have the most successful NBA promotion

8. The Nashville Predators have the most successful NHL promotion

9. The most successful Sushi groupon was out of Minneapolis. Seriously.

10. Houston is the next most successful sushi Groupon (though significantly behind behind Fuji Ya).

PayPal, LivingSocial, Causes, Starbucks Use Brand / Community to Support Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief.

Yesterday, TechCrunch covered the $1m that eBay / PayPal had raised for Japan earthquake and tsunami relief. It's been heartwarming to see such big brands and platforms leverage their communities - and their scale - to promote giving. From PayPal (who is in a position to promote spending) to LivingSocial (who is matching donations) to Causes (who has the perfect community & brand) to Starbucks (who promotes giving as soon as access the web via their network)

It's terrific. A few screenshots below. This is not meant to overlook promotions by others - feel free to mention them in comments below.

PayPal homepage:

LivingSocial:

Causes:

Starbucks: