foodie
Local writer (and occasionalTOCcontributor) Ari Bendersky rolls out an iPhone app this week that offers its members exclusive Chicago dining opportunities. Around 30 participating restaurants (including the Bristol, Spiaggia and Green Zebra) will use the app to send out word of special offers like bargain prix fixes, which #foodie members can jump on by paying 99 cents to reserve a spot. The app download waives the charge for your first three, and the first 250 people to join get a free year of reservations. ($1.99 (includes three free reservations); iPhone 3GS; Android and BlackBerry Storm early 2010)
Beer Hero
The promise of this app is to lead beer geeks to (fermented) water by using your current location to find locally brewed beer and nearby brewpubs. This could be pretty useful when traveling, but be warned: We found local search results less than complete (where’s Piece or Metropolitan?). More practical is the “Beer & Meal Optimizer,” which suggests specific beers and more general styles for various foods—helpful when you’re at a restaurant where the server is beer deficient. ($1.99; iPhone 3GS)
Full list here from Time Out Chicago
Last week I posted quickly in reference to the Tour De France Nike Chalkbot idea, about how after some brainstorm sessions I started to question how we’re coming to tactics first vs. strategy or ideas.
And of course two people have gone out and expressed in more depth what I find at fault about this practice.
First Seth Godin:
In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail before they embrace a strategy… and as a result, when a tactic fails, they begin to question the strategy that they never really embraced in the first place.
And then Paul Isakson about the shiny objects we choose:
Given all of that [read what he refers to here], it’s very likely that a majority of a lot of companies’ fish aren’t on Facebook, or any other social media platform for that matter. This is why, to the point of Matt’s post, if you start planning your marketing around tactics based on where the fish aren’t, it simply doesn’t matter.
