Employees at buuteeq Have an Awesome Travel Perk

Mitch Pittman, over at KING 5 News:

Lots of jobs have benefits: health care, paid vacation, maybe a 401k. But how about yearly all-expense-paid vacations to anywhere in the world? Perks like that are generally reserved for the world of tech start-ups, such as buuteeq, which offers that annual vacation benefit they call “Trotamundo.” The only catch, if you can even call it that, is you have to visit with three hoteliers you stay with along the way and then tell your coworkers about your experience.

​Folks, that is one great perk. Presumably, the requirement to visit hoteliers means that buuteeq can qualify some portion of the employee's vacation as a business expense (and a tax write-off). That's a good example of a win-win scenario.

By the way (in the interests of full disclosure), I happen to be friends with Lisa Tran, one of the buuteeq employees featured in the video.

Looks like Lockerz is Pivoting Into a New Site Named 'Ador'

​John Cook, over at GeekWire:

Lockerz appears to be unlocking its next chapter. The Seattle social commerce startup is behind a service called Ador, a new online fashion site where shoppers can “get new arrivals & sales alerts from your favorite stores.”

I previously wrote about Lockerz and its troubles, and this news seems to be part of the fallout from those issues. Based on separate information that has come to my attention, it sounds like the Lockerz team is pivoting to a new business model. The current model for Lockerz is to encourage users to share their favorite fashion styles and products via social networks (e.g. Facebook) by giving those users discounts on products based on their sharing and curation activities. The new business model, it seems, is to switch to a new site (Ador) which revolves around providing a service that acts as a sort of 'RSS Reader' for fashion styles, trends, and sales. In some respects, this is like a cross between Trendabl and Poshmark. 

It remains to be seen if this pivot will be successful, but it is at the very least quite an interesting idea.

Path is Getting Its Hand Slapped

Bryan Bishop, over at The Verge regarding the social network app Path having its API access restricted by Facebok:

The spamming behavior first went into effect with a March 6th update to the app. It gained traction when a digital marketer named Stephen Kenwright signed up with the app, and discovered that multiple individuals from his contacts received Path text notification early the next morning — even though he'd subsequently deleted the app on his own device. In that particular case, some of the texts manifested as robocalls due to the way local phone companies dealt with text messages sent to landlines.

​It isn't at all surprising that Path would pull something like this. They've been caught with their hand in the cookie jar before. Also, what would you expect from a company whose CEO has this kind of personality?

I don’t use a ring of any kind on my phone. This is so that I am always on offense and never defense.

Don't Let Wireless Carriers Abuse the Term 5G

Kevin Fitchard, writing for GigaOM:​

4G became a meaningless term, and we tech journalists reinforced its meaninglessness by swallowing the terminology carriers fed us. If carriers get their hooks into the acronym 5G, you can bet the exact same thing will happen. Once one carrier succumbs, others will race to redefine their perfectly serviceable 4G networks as 5G networks. An the next operator to gain the slightest technical edge will start bandying about the term 6G.

This is one of those situations where journalists need to take a stand. Don't let marketers misuse a term, because doing so perpetuates misleading advertising and ultimately results in consumer confusion.​

Microsoft's Crazy Magazine Advertisement for Office 365

​Jon Fingas, at Engadget:

Americans who've received a special issue of Forbes have flipped past the articles to discover a fully functional (if stripped down) T-Mobile router tucked into a cardboard insert. Once activated, it dishes out 15 days of free WiFi for up to five devices at once, at up to three hours per charge.

I have conflicted thoughts about this move. On the one hand, it's interesting from a technical and marketing standpoint. It certainly does a good job of getting the reader's attention on Office 365 (as well as T-Mobile). The troubling part, as noted by some of the commenters in the article, is the fact that this would look awfully suspicious if someone attempted to take it through an airport's x-ray machine.

Mobile Rewards Apps for Brick-and-Mortar Stores

Lauren Goode, writing forAllThingsD.com:

What would it take for you to shop in stores these days, rather than buy from the comfort of your couch? Some companies are betting that smartphones can help lure you back to the mall by offering rewards, coupons and other incentives that can only be earned when you’re physically in a store.

This is an interesting article on mobile rewards apps for brick-and-mortar stores. Goode covers the basics of two apps (ShopKick and Kapture) that encourage users to visit stores, scan items, or share product and business-related posts on their social networks in order to earn rewards such as discounts and freebies.

This is an area of increasing interest for traditional retailers. Every business, of course, wants to find new ways to increase customer engagement (and thus increase revenue). This type of rewards-based engagement is another way that physical stores can help combat the effects of lower-priced Internet-based competition such as Amazon.com. This is also intended to reduce the amount of 'showrooming' that is plaguing the brick-and-mortar industry.

The idea is to get customers to not just simply visit the store to see a product first-hand (and later make their purchase online), but instead to see the other products available at the retailer's location that can be added to their shopping cart. The addition of rewards and perks helps to not only minimize the cost advantages of Internet-based shopping, but also helps sway consumers to choose the immediate gratification offered by purchasing a product in a physical store.

It's worth noting that there have been some troubling developments in a similar space online. Lockerz.com, for example, was once the high-flying darling of the social engagement and rewards industry but recently laid off roughly 30 percent of its staff in its Seattle office and closed an office in San Diego. However, this is still a nascent and rapidly maturing industry. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.