Starbucks Releases New Coffee Brew: Blonde Roast. Runs a Clever Facebook, Twitter Campaign.

This is a fun, light post from always-socially-creative Starbucks. Starbucks is unveiling a new coffee brew (the Blonde Roast) tomorrow (January 12th). In an effort to promote the new roast, they have created a social campaign on Facebook and Twitter called "The Roast I Love". It's clever because it's simple and fun... and leverages social data. In short: users vote for their brew of choice via Facebook and that creates a mini-infographic of sorts: - what your network drinks - what your geography drinks - what you gender prefers - what Facebook fans are saying - and what Twitter is saying

Clever. Relatively simple to create. And based on the activity stream - fans are engaging.

Klout, Perks and Packaging.

During the holiday season, why not write about great packaging? (a theme I have written about before) I am a big fan of Klout. Whether your specific number is truly accurate - it represents a general level of influence. And that's important for brands, marketers, etc. And it reminds me of Ken Blanchard's great quote, which in today's world means everyone is capable of influencing and therefore leading:

"The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority."

But back to packaging. I received a free Windows Phone from Klout's Perks program. It arrived in this colorful, branded box. The box itself is fun, the quotes are funny and on-brand (you got perk'd!)... and the experience of opening it and receiving a great perk is both exciting and fun. That's a win for Klout and, in this case, Microsoft.

It's also worth reading the insert from Microsoft. "Take it for a spin and tell the world what you think." That sums up the Perks experience well. Get product in front of relevant people. Provide a unique, fun experience. And encourage those 'influencers' to discuss and share.

How to Create an Early-Stage Pitch Deck

Note: This article originally appeared on TechCrunch ("How To Create An Early-Stage Pitch Deck For Investors"). It is the first in a series of posts / decks that I will be doing on those questions I get asked most commonly. Of course we will start with the question I get most: how to create a great pitch deck!

When raising capital, a combination of your company’s product, vision, team and execution are what ultimately attract investment. And while the pitch deck is ultimately less important than vision and product, it exists to convey both elements and get investors hungry for more.

Like other investors, I come across hundreds of pitches each month — some in person, others in email; some as PowerPoints, and others as full-fledged business plans. Your goal is to craft a deck that is both:

- crisp: succinct enough that it is easily digestible (in person, email, etc)

- and complete: thorough enough that it conveys the big vision and current traction

I looked back on many of the pitches I reviewed over the last couple years (good and bad) and compared it to public pitch decks of familiar, successful companies like Airbnb, Foursquare, and Mint. The output is this guide to creating an early-stage pitch deck. It’s intended for companies seeking seed and series A investments.

There are five core themes followed by a suggested structure:

1. Have a great one-liner 2. Know your audience 3. Keep it to 10-15 slides 4. Beware of the demo 5. Expect the deck to be shared

And remember: it’s the story and the conversation that is important – not the imagery and colors. If you can convey the passion that drives you (and your users / customers!), you will have created a powerful pitch deck.

How to Create an Early Stage Pitch Deck

View more presentations from Ryan Spoon

Redbox SMS Program: Users Get Discounts; Redbox Gets Marketing Channel.

I write a lot about Redbox, in part because I am frequent users and in part because they are terrific marketers. Here's yet another example of Redbox leveraging SMS to drive promotions (and to collect user data ... and create ongoing marketing touch-points). The promotion: send Redbox an SMS and get discounted delivered via mobile. That's not entirely unique.

But, it's smart. As noted above, its a clever way to collect data about their users and create ongoing marketing touch-points... like the example below. Once you SMS Redbox, they follow up with an SMS that allows you download the mobile app (just reply APPS).

And that's the big takeaway here: be creative about driving engagement. Redbox uses SMS to deliver discounts and drive app downloads. The discount is the incentive for consumers and its a marketing cost for Redbox to distribute their app and drive engagement (a tactic they have used in email as well).

Both parties win. And Redbox has created a simple, low-cost marketing program that drives long-term benefits.

Balancing Ads, Revenue and Experience, Pageviews.

I write frequently about how mobile web requires a different design and UI than traditional. Great example here. These are two *subsequent* screenshots from the New York Times iPad-friendly website. First, the NYT homepage is taken over with an American Express ad (albeit a really good looking, custom-built ad).

I can tolerate a page takeover. It's neither unique nor inexcusable (they have to make money on a free product). But, after it disappears and I click on an article - I get another takeover.

It too is custom (and I give them credit for that)... but that is two consecutive takeovers and, this last example, is remarkably annoying. It should at least appear on the right column so that I can read the article. Why preserve the social sharing screen for an article I haven't yet had the ability to read?

It's really shortsighted to sacrifice experience, reduce pageviews (both in this session and in the future) to increase eCPM for this specific visit. The eCPM will be terrific: two huge takeovers on my two pageviews... but I didn't even get to a third pageview. Is it worth it?

iTunes Best of 2011 is Curated by Apple. Time for Retails to Curate with Social Data.

It's that time of year when iTunes - and countless other retailers / merchandisers - publish their "Best of 2011" lists. It's fun to review the lists, particularly when a great merchant / voice crafts them. But the example below of reading through iTunes "Best Music of 2011" list isn't nearly as powerful as it could be. What's missing? A list curated by the merchants I most care about: my friends. Show me what my network bought, listened to and loved. That's most interesting and would ultimately be the highest converting.

Of course that requires Apple to either integrate Facebook Connect (or even less likely, have Ping succeed).

But it's a relevant lesson to those retailers who do in fact integrate Facebook Connect and collect social data. There is great value and intelligence within.... think of it as more than social sharing: it's a merchandising and conversion lever.

Hulu's New Social Sharing Gives Visual Control

Hulu has introduced a new sharing mechanism that does two things: 1. It allows users to comment specifically on 'moments'. That then publishes the specific scene to your Facebook wall and stores your comment at the specific moment within the timeline. At scale that creates a very interesting concept: a dialogue that moves along the video's entire timeline. At scale that also poses a problem: will I want to read all of that content? Not sure... but interesting.

2. The preview UI is terrific. This is what first caught my eye: the pop-up box showcases the specific screenshot, comment and formatting that will appear on Facebook. That's really good-looking, unique and powerful.

Why is it potentially powerful: first, because I think users like to feel control over what is published and this is a visually, fully controlled experience. Second, it is different... and that means that users will drawn to it (as compared to a standard like button).

I really like this experience and don't see why it can't be applied to other visual mediums like e-commerce.

Google Currents: A Reminder about Mobile UI

Below are three screenshots from Google Currents on the iPhone (Google's Flipboard-like product). Rather than commenting specifically on the Currents product, I wanted to share three themes I was reminded of when first using the app: 1. Mobile UI is really critical and really unique. (you've heard this before and will again & again).

2. Mobile UI is very different on iPhone vs. iPad. Different real estate and different behaviors / expectations. The below examples demonstrate why this experience just does not work on iPhone. You have to treat them differently and create unique experiences specifically tailored for each.

3A. The genius of Flipboard is not the content. That's become more of a commodity: publishers of course want their content in as many places as possible. It is the UI and the interaction. It is the magic users feel when opening, using and sharing.

3B. And it's that magic that you need to capture within your product(s) and experience(s) - of course in your own, relevant way.

Facebook Testing "Listen" Buttons in the Ticker

Below is a screenshot of Facebook testing new listen buttons in the news ticker alongside music apps like Spotify. Visually, its a bold move because they are all over the feed... and it turns a good percentage of Facebook into a music network (people, songs, apps, trends, etc).

It's also a bold move because it's potentially a very slippery slope... are "read" icons coming? "Shop"? etc? Visually that could create significant clutter / confusion - but it also creates hubs of verticalized activity. Fascinating to watch.

Hat tip to Andrew Machado for the screenshot. Founder of OpenHomePro and Dogpatch Labs resident

without the new listen buttons