We all know about Foursquare's meteoric rise to fame, but here's something that was a bit a shock. According to Compete.com, the number of unique visitors in May dropped by 400,000.
Now I'm sure those numbers will vary between different web analytics services, not to mention the fact that it doesn't take into account actual users or registrations.
But Foursquare might be feeling the pressure, especially looking at their latest move.
The location-based social network sent out window clings to businesses to display in their storefronts, reminding people to check in. The most prominent franchise set to display these window clings is the Whole Foods grocery chain.
I can't say whether or not this latest promotion is a reaction to their drop in numbers, but the timing makes sense. Now we'll just have to wait and see how well this offline move helps the online startup.
Showing posts with label grocers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grocers. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Grocer Has A Lot At Steak With New Billboard
If you've ever driven on highways through the rural Midwest, then you know that billboards outnumber trees on many of those roads.
There will literally be 20 or 30 billboards in a row at times, to the point where it's impossible to pay attention to any one billboard in particular.
And that's the problem with billboard advertising. It's impact becomes largely subliminal, seeing as how drivers rarely focus heavily on the billboard at all. Not to mention that due to safety concerns, drivers can't look at a billboard for more than 2 seconds or so.
But Bloom Grocery may have solved this vision impairment billboards face, when they recently put up a billboard in North Carolina to promote their new line of beef. The catch is that the billboard actually emits the smell of cooking steak to entice drivers.
The aroma was artificially created and is stored in tanks behind the sign, which is then wafted with industrial fans.
While this will probably disgust vegetarians, I'm sure it will attract more than a few meat-lovers, if only out of curiosity over steak-scented sign. More importantly however, this is a new venture into a largely untapped resource: the power of smell to attract customers.
If this billboard is successful, we could end up seeing many more of these scented billboards spring up across the country.
I just hope my local Waste Management company doesn't decided to go this route.
There will literally be 20 or 30 billboards in a row at times, to the point where it's impossible to pay attention to any one billboard in particular.
And that's the problem with billboard advertising. It's impact becomes largely subliminal, seeing as how drivers rarely focus heavily on the billboard at all. Not to mention that due to safety concerns, drivers can't look at a billboard for more than 2 seconds or so.
But Bloom Grocery may have solved this vision impairment billboards face, when they recently put up a billboard in North Carolina to promote their new line of beef. The catch is that the billboard actually emits the smell of cooking steak to entice drivers.
The aroma was artificially created and is stored in tanks behind the sign, which is then wafted with industrial fans.
While this will probably disgust vegetarians, I'm sure it will attract more than a few meat-lovers, if only out of curiosity over steak-scented sign. More importantly however, this is a new venture into a largely untapped resource: the power of smell to attract customers.
If this billboard is successful, we could end up seeing many more of these scented billboards spring up across the country.
I just hope my local Waste Management company doesn't decided to go this route.
Labels:
advertising,
grocers
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