Groupon’s national Gap deal is only the beginning

Today’s (August 20th) Groupon deal was the first time the group-buying coupon site has ever hooked up with a national chain for a deal. The site primarily teams with local retailers and businesses to give great discounts on a wide variety of products. The offer today is for $50 worth of goods from Gap for only $25, a %50 off sale on any products on the shelves. This is a great deal (for both consumers and Gap) for many reasons:

– Gap is a very popular store with great clothing for a cheaper price than a lot of stores in the same “genre” of clothing,
– It’s back to school season which means people need good clothes to look fresh for school, and Gap is cutting everything in-store to half-price, and
– Though Gap will be losing money on every purchase made, it’s a much better value than spending millions on a national television campaign that doesn’t result in thousands of sales.

Why is a deal like this so important to Groupon, national retailers, and consumers? Check out this article on Mashable about the overwhelming results of today’s deal. After reading that, start reading between the lines. A deal that gets hundreds of thousands of consumers committing to buying $25 worth of product in your store, not online, is worth the revenue loss. It’s an interactive national commercial that generates sales…a television commercial advertising a 50% discount is both expensive and will be ignored by millions of people who are too busy DVR-ing their shows to skip said commercial.

This is only the beginning because national retailers are going to start seeing the type of response Gap had with this Groupon deal…and are going to do this themselves. One company being successful isn’t enough to win just anyone over, but one or two more successful coupon deals like this and it will become all the rage. Groupon has no qualms against it because they aren’t the ones fronting the lost revenue…and national retailers are getting in-person exposure to hundreds of thousands of consumers going to their stores. Other than the lost revenue (which can be gained back from these consumers returning to the stores/new shoppers who are just taking advantage of the deal returning in the future) there is little downside to a successful campaign like this.

I would have taken advantage myself, but I was busy…though I can admit this is the first time I’ve ever been mad about missing a Groupon deal before. Keep it up Groupon!

Foursquare’s Response to Facebook Places

This is an interview with Foursquare’s Vice President of Mobile and Partnerships, Holger Luedorf. It covers Foursquare’s stance on where things may be going now that the world’s largest social network, and second largest website, has “stolen” Foursquare’s primary purpose and functionality.

A lot of people and companies in the geo-location/check-in service industry have wondered what the effect will be when a site like Facebook does finally integrate these features on their website. It’s an interesting interview that you should check out. What do you think will happen now that this has occurred? Video below:

The Brotha Over Here Is Causin’ An Overlap-sation Situation

Mr. Chi-city is back with another hilarious video, this time fighting for the right of middle/lower America. It’s about his parking ticket with a very descriptive, detailed analysis of the situation, with some camera work showing his fighting for us on the phone and at the courthouse. Mr. C hasn’t failed to produce something that’s funny, quotable, and memorable…and he succeeds to the highest degree in this video. So check it out.

Union College Ranked 49th Best College In The Country

The recent Forbes list for America’s Best Colleges was just released, and Union College was ranked #49, just making the top 50. I have to say congrats to the Union College community, especially after a recent list being released saying that Union is also the second most valuable education out of all party schools in the nation. Union is ranked right between Davidson College (48) and Lawrence University (50). The Top 3 of the list is filled out by Williams, Princeton, and Amherst.

And to deter everyone complaining from the costs Union is ranked 66th in this category at just over $50,000/year (thank you mom and dad for essentially paying a Mercedes’ worth for four years straight).

However, Union fails to make the Top 100 in the “Best College Buys” list, ranking schools on how much bang for each tuition buck you spend. Union might want to work on that a little more seeing as how many schools on this list are extremely large public universities not exactly revered for being “top quality” schools. Maybe the 50 grand should be used towards getting onto this list, one that is important in these economic times.

So Union students, and other readers, any thoughts on these rankings? You can view the lists and rankings on the Forbes.com website.

Sony Ericsson Developing PlayStation Phone

For those of you who are in tune with the video gaming world, it is well known that the Nintendo DS is the supreme ruler of mobile gaming. Sony, with it’s PS2 absolutely dominating the console market in the early 2000s tried to get into the handheld gaming industry by introducing the PlayStation Portable, or PSP. The device isn’t of bad quality, it’s just worse quality than the Nintendo DS and has not caught on in the market like Sony is used to. However, this may be about to change.

You haven't won yet Nintendo...maybe

Sony Ericsson has been reportedly “actively” developing a new gaming platform that is very similar to the PSP, but is also a phone. This could be a revolutionary product, provided that it is well made and does the whole phone thing as well as game playing, since there is no other device like it currently on the market. The mock-up of the product below is not the final version, so we can’t know exactly what it will be like but it gives you an idea:

Sexy = PSP phone

And if you’re observant, or just have a phone with it, you may recognize that the phone is running Android in the above picture. Yes, the PSP phone will be running Android, and not any lame Froyo 2.2 version either, this guy is rocking Gingerbread: Android 3.0. I like to compare it to the Terminator in T2 vs. the Terminator in T3: Awesome cool guy who can do stuff but gets blown apart and melted vs. Super sexy model chick who is the only girl with a “gun” that you look at with envy/arousal. Android 3.0 with a custom skin will make this phone not only the first with a great gaming platform, but (possibly) one of the first with a super sleek look on the increasingly popular and customizable Android platform. I am stoked about a product like this because, while being a loyal Sony customer (never had any console except PlayStations), I never purchased a PSP because it didn’t offer many games I was interested in playing while on the go. Now there’s a phone attached to it with a great operating system, and one that is extremely powerful, so I will find it tough to argue against buying a product like this.

Oh yeah, and it’s rumored to be coming out as early as October this year.

What do you think, world? Is Sony going to be giving you something that you want? Read more details about the phone on Engadget.

New Blog: Bring the Roof Down; bringing you the music for your next party.

So I just started my new blog, Bring The Roof Down, which serves the purpose of finding the newest and best music floating around, especially music you haven’t heard before…that you can then use for your next big event. It focuses on music that makes you want to move; parties at clubs, fraternities, dance parties, etc. are catered to through this blog.

Don’t worry, there will be classics and songs that are just plain good posted up there as well occasionally so that you can hear the crowd favorites as well. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

http://bringtheroofdown.wordpress.com/

Girl Quits Job via Dry Erase Board Email Blast

Meet Jenny

This is one for the ages. An unnamed girl (Jenny, in the article) quit her job via an email blast to the whole office showing a series of pictures of her holding a dry erase board, one sentence per picture. The pictures explain her situation, that she will miss the office, and then promptly tears her (ex)boss a new one in a way that he simply can’t defend himself from. Jenny’s confidence, creativity, and humor make this way more light-hearted than it should be. I wouldn’t be surprised if she nailed down another job very quickly because of this. Think about that, she quits her job publicly and humiliates her boss…and I will still bet she gets another job; THAT’s how good she is.

Check out a sample of pics below…then view the whole series here.

Meet Jenny

Funniest thing I will see all week, and it’s only 2am on Tuesday

I’m not even going to say anything, except that this chick did the right thing:

Token multi-touch table is the coolest thing you can’t have

DJ Booth...or Light Show?

The Token multi-touch table is the most futuristic-looking, most envy-causing table to ever exist….period. The table has incredible response sensitivity for a prototype product like it, and the colors are incredible. It uses a rear projection system it seems, and the table looks great in the light…visibility is very good. The real magic happens when the lights turn off. Check out the video below and you’ll see what I mean:

“emulator” on töken concept from yöyen munchausen on Vimeo.

If that didn’t make you at least smile and say “What if?”…It’s a light show in a table. Wow. If this becomes commercial I’m buying it, hands down. How about you? Post in the comments.

Found on Engadget .

Dove Soap = Sexist?

During a recent episode of Mad Men a Dove soap commercial aired that was meant to replicate the Mad Men era. The commercial shows to businessmen talking about advertisements for Dove, while an attractive secretary walks in with coffee and proceeds to lay out a perfect ad campaign on the fly…”earning” the male execs a round of golf for “their” hard work. The sexism in the ad is apparent (female secretary, the idea being used by the male figures as their own, secretary bringing coffee and having to apologize for speaking, etc). Backlash has occurred with people claiming that an commercial like this one is in terrible taste, even if it is replicating the show it is airing during.

I for one think people need to lighten up. The commercial is obviously meant to be taken with a grain of salt and is not at all serious. Dove is not trying to portray themselves as a sexist company, and the commercial is done with enough over-the-top sexism that it should be plain to see that it is not serious.

What do you think? Is Dove crossing the line, or riding it perfectly?