Cool weight loss idea

I've been sick this week hence a lack of blogging updates. In the spirit of keeping the dream (blog) alive, here is a cool paste from springwise.com:

Anyone who's ever tried to lose weight or improve their fitness knows that it can sometimes be tough to get motivated. For those who need a little extra help getting going, a new service called WeightNags will nag customers mercilessly until they get off the couch and get some exercise.

WeightNags, which was just launched by Texas-based ConnectWorks Media, needs nothing more than a customer's email address to get started. In exchange, it will hound that customer once a week for free in the hopes of motivating him or her to exercise and lose some weight. Of course, we all know that emails can easily be ignored and deleted in the blink of an eye. Customers who don't trust themselves to take WeightNag's emails seriously can also request weekly nags by phone. All they need to provide is their phone number and first name; the cost is USD 4.95 per month.

Without a way to tell WeightNags when you do get some exercise in or have resisted every single calorie-laden temptation—and thereby win a respite from the nagging—it seems to us the effectiveness of the negative feedback could soon wear off. Nevertheless, it's an interesting concept that could be a nice micro-business opportunity for anyone with a Skype account and a talent for nagging. ;-) (Related: Sell what you say.)

Website: www.weightnags.com
Contact: tgraysonboyd@sbcglobal.net

From where I sit, there's got to be an awesome mobile concept...Jenny Craig, anyone?
Y

News from Nielsen re online measurement

Nielsen hosted their quarterly agency meeting this week. There are a number of new initiatives in play regarding online measurement in Australia. This is great news for the industry and is as a result of the enormous pressure the MFA have been putting on the IAB; and the IAB in turn putting on Nielsen. Nic Jones our very own MD Digital has been instrumental in pushing this matter to the forefront of industry agenda.

Top line, here is an update on all that was covered:

• Market Intelligence this week launched "Ad Networks" as a new category
• This function enables quick analysis of the various major networks individually and by category eg Auto
  
• NB of course you need the Publisher to subscribe to MI in order for their results to covered so there goes Yahoo!
• Interestingly, NNR are encouraging smaller sites to band together to create their own Networks to improve afford-ability/access, hence if you are working with a smaller player not covered feel free to encourage they get back in touch with NNR
• Online usage measurement
• NNR have recommended a couple of solutions to the measurement issue to address matters in response to the IAB blue print
  
• As per the blue print, the new system must overcome current issues; ie must be people based (not browser based), priority focus on domestic traffic - however visibility over International traffic, better weighting of activity at home and work, easy rollups of domain levels, high quality, statistically strong data - true reflection of population
• NNRs preferred solution is a hybrid between browser and panel, with a larger panel than currently in market
  
• The new platforms working title is 'Phoenix' and all going well will be available early 2009
• We need to put pressure on the likes of Yahoo7! to ensure all publishers are represented in the new system NOW
• The IAB have appointed Peter Danahar to audit the new measurement system
• There is much focus on the quality of the panel, particularly ensuring that the work panel is vastly improved (currently it is made up of 80% small biz)
• Online spend measurement
  
• Nielsen are currently working on a solution to incorporate online into Adex, this is also set to be in place by early 2009
• Industry panel working on this to ensure improved accuracy re spend estimates
  
• Adrelevance will continue to be developed and provide access to impression data and creative (however will exclude spend estimates, which have never been too accurate)
• Buzz Metrics
• Will be launched next week in Sydney, stay tuned for more info
  

Spend 16 minutes watching this

I picked up a link to a video of Clay Shirky presenting on cognitive surplus.

What is this you may ask? In a nutshell it's the amount of free time the modern world would have on their hands without TV.....

Clay is a deep thinker, this is 16 minutes of your life I strongly recommend you invest. Watch it here:

www.calacanis.com

iPhone impending arrival

Finally, a statement has been released confirming that Vodafone will in fact be carrying the iPhone, later this year.

There was no mention of whether they are indeed an 'exclusive' carrier.

My money is still on multiple providers, and fingers crossed we are only weeks away.

More here:

http://blogs.smh.com.au/gadgetsonthego/archives/2008/05/vodafone_to_release_aussie_iph.html?page=2#comments

Applying search technology to TV ads..the Google way

Imagine the TV advertisements you enjoy most automatically being played more often. Well Google are doing more than that. In their planned system, you'll pay more for the same ad space if the ad doesn't 'perform'. The attached link is worth a look:

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126849

The new music model is - well free!

Emerging artists have long been using the Internet to gain audience. I'm sure we've all heard the story of Lilly Allen, who launched herself by streaming live gigs on MySpace. One thing soon led to another and next thing you know young Lilly has a huge following and the Record Industry beating down her door. And this is just one of I'm sure many examples of success.

The poor old Music Industry has been hit hard by the digital evolution. What once was a viable commercial model is no more. The Industries primary source of income has traditionally been via physical purchase (albums, tapes, CDs). Sadly for them, they don't make money on much else - live shows are sewn up by the artists and promoters. The radio and TV industries have been accessing their content free for years. And now consumers are able to get at their content gratis as well. Time for emergency measures.

I don't know much about what these measures are and how the business will change in the coming years. Merchandise is still an opportunity, ring tones worked for a while, and I'm sure there are plenty of renegotiation's taking place in every other aspect of their artist relationships.

Any way, I have gone off on a tangent when what I really wanted to say is this.

Coldplay have released their latest single for free for all to download on their website (www.coldplay.com). So far 600,000 people have taken advantage of this - I mean 600,001 given I've just done so myself. What started out as a tool for the emerging has officially gone mainstream. Actually about as mainstream as you can get.