His conclusion: Instagram was a good deal. And not indicative of a bubble. See his analysis here.

Three reasons why this is awesome:

1. Cold hard facts. Baio uses a cost per acquisition model to which any marketer can relate. It makes $1B tangible. eBay paid $84.42 per PayPal user. Yahoo $111.11 per Flickr user. Google $48.53 per YouTube user. Intuit $113.33 per Mint.com user. At $28.57 per Instagram user, Facebook is looking rather savvy.

If the relative data cohort was how much it costs to feed hungry children or how far to the moon Kevin Systrom’s 400M new $1 bills would reach, we’d be telling a different story. This is what I love about data – it holds rich stories.

2. $30 can get you a lot of different things. Some ways to spend $30:

15. Fifteen days of access to a San Francisco gym
14. 3.75 months of NetFlix (streaming)
13. Five round-trips over the Golden Gate bridge (cash not FastTrak)
12. Thirty $1 tips to buskers on the L subway platform in NYC
11. 37.5 clicks on a Facebook ad (based on average CPC of $.8)
10. Ten minutes of a therapy session
9. Two mixed drinks in a swanky Manhattan bar
8. Thirty songs on iTunes
7. Two days of a rental car on Priceline (if you’re lucky)
6. Ten slices at Joe’s Pizza in Greenwich Village
5. A half-an-hour massage
4. 1/19th of one Apple share (market close value = $580.13)
3. Fifteen minutes of a visual designers time (maybe)
2. A two-pack of Polaroid 600 instant film (on eBay)
1. One Instagram user (with 34,999,999 more to follow)

Multiply each item by 35M. Think Zuckerberg made the right call?

3. Instagram’s story fuels Silicon Valley/Alley dreams. Thirteen employees, fifteen months in operation, two smart founders who seem like nice guys. It makes us believe that anything is possible – recognizing that anything in this instance involves an incredibly intelligent, simple product meeting opportune market timing and adoption rates that broke all the rules.

Like any great drama this story has foils – Kodak and Hipstamatic (profitable in their own right and a new Instagram partner). A good-natured missed opportunity in Rob Abbott who declined an early chance to shape Instagram full-time. Plus plenty of envious and inspired people salivating over Instagram’s success – as well as a loud cheering section wishing them well.

I am in the cheering section. Congratulations Instagram. Congratulations indeed.

Who’s in to be next? Game on.

Cheers,
Amy

With that said, remember the most valuable company exposure isn’t on brand pages. According to a May 2011 Comscore report, 27% of a user’s time spent on Facebook occurs in News Feed. Comscore also reported that three top brand pages saw 40 to 150 times more impressions in News Feed on their pages.

Timeline won’t affect the way these stories are shared in News Feed, but the posts that resonate on Timeline will likewise drive engagement in News Feed. That’s because the Edgerank algorithm that determines News Feed placement rewards highly engaged posts and Friend activity. Additionally, posts with images- the kind of posts you’ll want to be using regularly on your Timeline- generate twice the engagement of other posts types, according to Facebook’s internal studies.

Fluid has taken a look at the first Timeline pages to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and what we can work around.

Hence our first recommendation: convert to Timeline as soon as possible.

You’ll be required to make the switch on March 30, so why not leverage some early adopter swag? While you’re at it, use this opportunity to re-evaluate your social media strategy. A few points to consider:

Is your page easy to find? An additional feature added on Wednesday allows admin to easily change page names. Many brands have multiple pages, some unofficial fan pages, some company-run. Makes sure it’s clear that yours is the correct page.

Pick a cover photo that complements your profile picture. You can use this background to creatively interact with your profile picture. Swap it out seasonally as you would a landing page, but take note: Facebook has prohibited the following:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section
• References to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Make the most of the real estate. The biggest Timeline gripe: the removal of app tabs and default landing pages. You’ll now have 4 tiles for apps and a drop-down menu. The first is designated for your photos. You’ll have to decide which apps you most want to feature in the remaining three tiles. Forgo displaying Page Likes as a tile unless it’s really something you want to draw attention to; they’re already called out below the page title. You’ll also want to have a succinct About statement that fits into the three lines designated on Timeline. You may use this spot for the calls to action that are prohibited on the cover photo.

Fanta has adapted their landing page to fit the new layout. The cover photo incorporates the profile picture and the campaign, and the action is called out in the About section underneath.

Use pinned posts to unify your content. Daily updates should be considered components of a holistic page rather than branded pings. Organize content around a weekly pinned post, or use this feature to emphasize promotions, campaigns, and app links formerly used on your landing page.

Move your monitoring resources to private channels. Instead of the wall being a catchall for Page posts, fan posts, customer service, and spam, Fan posts are filtered to their own section of the page. Now that pages can also directly message Fans, customer service can occur through private channels rather than the wall.

Visually highlight your content. With the bulk of the page dedicated to brand content, photos and videos should play a larger role in posts. Utilize the new starring function in previous posts to double the width of videos, albums, and photos. Some ideas to incorporate in future posts:

• Repost stellar content curated from your Fan post section. Since these posts are now compiled separate of your posts, use your space to leverage the best fan submissions.
• Show your products from different points of view to maintain Fan exclusivity. Without a landing page, Fans need a compelling reason to Like your page. Show them something different than what’s available on your website. A fan submission of their new shoes sitting beside the box, an employee’s Instagram pic of their outfit, or behind-the-scene corporate snapshots are all cost-effective ways to diversify your product photos.
• Instead of creating new albums in full, add images in batches so each upload generates another newsfeed story. Star each upload to expand these assets in your Timeline.
• Link previews look particularly weak in this format, so star these posts or upload images instead of relying on the thumbnails.

Star your video to ensure its prominence on your page. Burberry’s starred video has 2,067 shares; the smaller video thumbnail has 336.

Extend your Timeline with milestones. There’s no rule to what constitutes a Milestone, but ours would be that it’s interesting and has a picture. Just be careful about doing it all at once. Each milestone will generate a News Feed story, and you don’t want these stories to be lumped together or worse, cause a fan to hide your updates or Unlike your page.

• Older brands should capitalize on the visual impact of Timeline posts in selecting milestones. Your posts can revolve around your archives, as opposed to the other way around.
• Younger brands have room to branch out with milestones. What works: humor, fun factoids, a dose of personality. What doesn’t: corporate news that lacks relevance to your fans.

Adding a bit of commentary livens up this milestone. A picture would make it even better.

Another Starbucks milestone fails to capture interest.

Make your content worth sharing. The greatest potential for your social media efforts lies in fans’ friend networks. Your goal should be to create content that compels fans to interact and better yet, share. This is an opportunity to draw attention to work of which your company is particularly proud, to put your stake in the ground, and to communicate your story in a compelling and effective way. You’ll be rewarded for high-quality content with equally high-quality fans.

Reach out to us with any questions or concerns as you make the switch. Here’s a few resources to get started:

Facebook: detailed overview.

Mashable: Examples of brand timelines.

Mashable: Why Newsfeed matters most.

All Facebook: Noteworthy Timeline changes.

Inside Facebook: Comscore report coverage

Pinterest remains the marshall of this parade. This has not changed since my last Pinterest post. The one where I said stop reading about Pinterest and start playing with it – but bear with me. I like what I’ve seen this week.

Noteworthy parade participants:

- Juxtapost: 52 days in operation. 50K images bookmarked. They are hot on the heels of the lead dog.
- Little Monsters: It’s Lady Gaga. Her touch is social gold. And she loves a parade.
- We heart it: Around since 2008, this serious contender draws more than folks who dot their “i”s like Junior High girls.

Remember the race last year to optimize men’s style and fashion (Mr. Porter, Gilt Man and CLAD)? The men have officially entered the social inspiration arena. Notably Gentlemint, Fancy and Manteresting. Note: Items are “nailed” on Manteresting, not “pinned.” Put those pins away.

For the record, pinning used to be how a sweaty man in a singlet won a wrestling match.

The rhyming contenders also enter the ring. Sinterest promises the ability to pin pin-up girls and “stash great ’stuff.’ With one hand.” And have you seen J-Linterest?

This week, two perspectives related to Pinterest struck me:

1. This is My Home by Departure | Arrival Films

This short is beautiful. It makes me long for warm nights in Manhattan full of unexpected encounters and adventures. The story embodies the discussions happening around digital social inspiration.

Anthony Pisano is Pinterest.

Except he’s sharing his amazing curated collection from his East Village store front home and his comments extend richly longer than a tweet. He’s been doing it for 32 years. It’s social sharing in its truest form. Invite-only access requires a conversation not an email confirmation.

See the short here.

2. Fast Talk with David Gensler, CD, Serum Versus Venom

According to their site, Serum Versus Venom “proudly stand(s) in opposition of mass-marketed, mass-produced, mass-consumed fashion.” This is a New York fashion label focused on craft, passion, quality and the “collision of traditional craft and new technologies.”

I like David Gensler’s perspective on Pinterest. (I’m betting he wouldn’t like me Liking it.)

This quote is taken verbatim from Fast Company. See the rest of his interview here.

[Q. Fast Company] “You’ve said that it would be a shame if Picasso were alive today and had a Twitter account.”

[A. David Gensler] “People ask, ‘What stores sell your stuff?’ And I’m always like, ‘Why do you ask?’ No one asks, ‘Where do you get your fabrics?’ Or, ‘Can you tell us why the buttons are like that?’ They only judge you by the consumption of the thing. The same thing happens online: No one cares about the ideas of anything, just how many likes you have on Facebook and how many Twitter followers you have. But then the reality of my job is I gotta sit there and fucking set up Pinterest accounts.”

Have a great week,
Amy

Fluid’s Craftsman TORQUE case study is featured on page 87 of The SoDA Report.

For the fourth year in a row, SoDA has compiled the thoughts and opinions of ≈700 marketers, agencies, technologists and digital industry insiders. Dozens of SoDA member companies have contributed thought-provoking articles and case studies to The SoDA Report (formerly known as the Digital Marketing Outlook). A broad array of guest contributors, CMOs and other senior-level digital marketers from a wide array of organizations (i.e., L’Oreal, Adobe, Google, Compete, E*Trade, Bloomberg and Samsung, among many other blue-chip brands) also provided their insights.  The result: an invaluable planning resource for marketers and agencies in 2012. SoDA is releasing the publication in its traditional format today, and a tablet edition will be released in early March.  SoDA will also be publishing smaller quarterly updates to The SoDA Report over the course of 2012.

Download the publication here: http://bit.ly/AmGSqf

I made a Pinterest board to show a sample deluge of articles from the last two weeks. This doesn’t include tweets or Facebook posts:

For the record, my favorite one is Bianca Bosker’s The Secret of Pinterest’s Success: We’re Sick Of Each Other.

The whole digital industry is running to catch-up with a high school friend who lives in Minnesota and discovered Pinterest first. She’s busy making bird nests out of cut string with her kids (found on a How to Make or Grow board) while we all try to figure out when she got so cool.

I find this awesome. Curation and social have reached a crescendo – using a model that harkens back to the cork boards of Junior High bedrooms.

Pinterest is the cool mom with great ideas for birthdays, who makes desserts that tell stories and turns the backyard into a drive-in theater full of fireflies. She is the what-if of wedding excitement and the how weird of everyday life.

This social stage of inspiration follows us around the web via our browsers. It’s mood boards for the masses. If done right, it’s a boondoggle for brands.

At first I thought Pinterest was Polyvore’s missed opportunity, but now I think it’s the next iteration. Both companies leverage the fact that we all think (and shop) across categories with patterns and definitions that are unique to us. This makes us, and Pinterest, interesting. In commerce, Etsy was the prelude to Pinterest.

Five pinworthy things about Pinterest:

1. Pinterest fuels what-ifs: Pinterest is the wishlists brands have always wanted. But constrained by one site and one brand they were not to be. Like wishlists, Pinterest matches what-if aspirational elements with the tangibles of planning. Pinners get to design a user experience that matches their specific mental model – using a shared set of simple tools. Like Target’s early TV ads or method’s product design, there’s a positivity that permeates it.

2. Pinterest speaks without saying: Pinterest pictures are tagged with text but otherwise the images do the talking. As do the patterns that board titles define. We get to see how someone thinks and what they think. It’s ideas vs. daily actions.

This gets interesting for brands. What if brands could define the default board titles pinners get when then sign-up? Coke could call one Red and see how people picture their brand color. The North Face could label one outdoor adventure. Market research – one step beyond tagging on online photo sites.

3. Pinterest ends the above-the-fold fight: Digital design is reveling in showing vs. telling. The minimalism of mobile design is driving simplification across mediums. The fold of the newspaper era applied to web design is finally becoming obsolete.

Gilt was once our argument that people scroll – it insured they saw all the sales. Social media scrolling, Facebook Walls and Twitter feeds, further made the case. Pinterest puts another stake in the ground. Scroll for ongoing content and updating or miss out.

4. Pinterest is open: Pinterest automatically allocates Followers and folks to Follow. Folks we know and those we don’t know. Pinterest doesn’t have the privacy issues of Facebook. For consumers the two networks serve different purposes. But for brands the two may compete for social media resources.

The bottom line: Brands are invited to the party at Pinterest – content gives all pinners an equal starting point. With Facebook, brands sometimes knock on doors while consumers close the curtains and continue talking to their friends.

Note: There has been a hint of controversy around Pinterest’s quiet use of affiliate links. To me this isn’t controversial, they’re driving traffic better than banner ads (and Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined) and should reap the rewards.

5. Pinterest has 16 employees: comScore reports that Pinterest hit 11.7M monthly unique visitors in February, crossing the 10M mark faster than any other standalone site in history. Pinterest has 16 employees. That’s 731,250 unique users per employee. Like Instagram before them, with 4 employees and 4.25M users, a small team of people with a great idea prove to be powerful.

The potential small teams hold to innovate is incredibly exciting.

My vote: Play with Pinterest more than you read about it. The flood of coverage runs the risk of making people tired of talking about it before it has a chance to truly play out. It is, by the way, worth talking about.

And yes, I realize I waited until the end of a post about Pinterest to express this vote.

Cheers,
Amy

It was fantastic. And frightening. And fulfilling. All at once.

SOPA, Komen and Planned Parenthood scrolling on my Facebook wall, have me thinking about that project. I still spend my days figuring out how to get people to take action – but now that action centers around interaction, engagement and conversion on behalf of consumers and retailers. A social movement still moves me – especially when it uses the uniqueness of digital to compel action.

Specifically, the reaction to SOPA reminded me of the power of the medium in which we work – and the power of people who purposefully engage with it.

Frankly, it fired me up.

My politics are mine, not Fluid’s. But independent of political leaning, SOPA is a strong case study for digital action and impact.

Case study: SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act)

Politicians excel at marketing. Who doesn’t want to stop online piracy? Legislation namers could name consumer products that would fly off the shelves. Those for SOPA argued an end to copyright infringement. Those against it argued censorship and a chasm of liability where one violator could bring down a whole domain.

Within 24 hours stands in Congress had shifted. The Act died. Why?

The sites that would be most impacted took to the digital streets. Like consumers holding a boycott of buying, they made it clear that SOPA could shut down their store fronts.

Google donned a blacked out banner and produced 4.5M signatures on their anti-SOPA petition. In 24 hours. Have you ever stood on a sidewalk collecting signatures for something? Or selling Girl Scout cookies? 4.5M is a big deal. Relative to their daily traffic it’s less impressive (about 2.8% of their daily traffic) but still big.

Wired blacked out content. Craigslist put up a intercept page that looked like 1996 all over again. Flickr let people black out each others photos. Wikipedia went completely dark. GoDaddy, initially pro-SOPA, felt the heat of people threatening to switch their domain hosts.

Like a deprivation study that determines there are moments when people can’t live without milk or Burger King Whoppers, these actions hinted at what SOPA would take away. It gave consumers and Congress a glimpse at a future with SOPA in place. And that future freaked people out. And if it didn’t, it sure made them aware of the impact.

Delvin Coldewey at TechCrunch argues that this wasn’t activism – it was collective bargaining by large entities that happened to align with individual outrage. I don’t think activism has to be solely about the Davids and not the Goliahs. But admittedly, this gets harder to swallow if the Goliaths are against an issue for which I’m advocating.

What we, and brands, can learn from SOPA:

- Showing often trumps telling
- What people do with your brand or products (vs. what they are) is important
- Collaboration multiplies impact (as long as its not collusion)
- Think about a world without your products – what would people miss?
- A glimpse at your power can imply consumer impact
- Pick your political stands with care (& perhaps gusto)

This issue will be back. As it should be. Copyright infringement and piracy need to be addressed. I like that the issue, and the reactions, are driving digital innovation. I, and Fluid, dig digital innovation. Bring on the next iteration…

Cheers,
Amy

Read about it here. Agencies (including Fluid) take note.

It started in Michigan when a woman anonymously paid off three Kmart layaway accounts. From there it went viral. It spread across social networks in a way that makes those of us who create social strategies salivate. And to top it off, the content was user generated.

Let me clarify. The story spread, so did the giving. And in a time where social updates define status, the majority of those who donated did so anonymously.

Sure there are naysayers who called it “Kmarketing,” saying Kmart was exaggerating a few instances and plugging them into their PR machine. But whether that’s the case or not, I don’t care.

The bottom line: People had an idea about being good to others and it caught fire. It was one of those ideas that I, at an agency, wish I had thought of first. It told an irresistible story, hit the social goals we usually set for our clients and felt good.

Are consumers eligible for a Clio? Could they win at the One Show? If they tweaked this to pay lists off via digital, perhaps a Cyber Lion?

I love the look of the new competition.

Happy New Year,
Amy

Fluid’s guiding principle as a company is that content, community and creativity together drive commerce. With Torque, we put that belief into action by creating an experience that took the best of Craftsman’s vast amount branded content, added in their highly engaged community of DIY’ers and brand enthusiasts and transformed it into a richly interactive, fully shoppable iPad magazine.

The list of innovative things we did for this app is pretty comprehensive:

• Almost all content within the app is actionable in some way. Whether it’s shopping, signing up for the Craftsman Club, engaging with the brand on Facebook and Twitter, following along with DIY projects, or accessing exclusive videos and articles, the content leads the way
• Using an updated version of Sears eCommerce API, we enabled users to add products to their cart right from articles and content within the app, then checkout seamlessly on craftsman.com
• Live video streams directly from the Craftsman Experience studio, and the app alerts users when the stream goes live
• Social media streams are universally accessible, giving every interaction a potential
• Blurs the line between editorial, branded content and eCommerce
• Content is streamed into the app via a CDN, allowing easier updates without having to release full updates into the app store

How Fluid designed it
Fluid started the discovery process by first auditing all of Craftsman’s existing content as well as their upcoming campaigns and initiatives. We then created an editorial structure and content flow for the app, which is actually much more like creating a magazine for print than creating an “app.”

After nailing down the table of contents, Fluid worked out all of the possible user interactions. This included everything from basic page behaviors all the way down to multiple content interaction scenarios. As we worked on the interaction design and started merging it with our editorial structure, we began brainstorming ideas for an editorial voice and identity. Fluid presented one naming option to Craftsman: “Torque”. Craftsman promptly trademarked the name.

We then began the process of breaking the editorial structure apart into smaller chunks to work on. For content that already existed (like the step by step projects), Fluid redesigned it to fit into the edgier, grittier, DIY-inspired look and feel of the app. For content that needed to be created or expanded, Fluid designed those sections from scratch and provided clear direction and guidance to the Craftsman marketing team so that they could start writing those remaining sections – the most notable of which are the Top 100 and Mystery Car Vault. Our process continued on iteratively until the content for the entire experience was completely fleshed out.

How Fluid built it
On the UX and visual design side, Fluid began prototyping very early on in the creative process. In some of the very first designs presented, we used video layers in Photoshop and exported the files as quicktime movies so that the client could immediately see how both the look and feel and the interactivity worked together.

On the technology side, Fluid’s developers immediately started testing different options for build and eventually settled on using a combination of HTML 5 and Javascript. Structurally, Torque was set up in a way that makes content updates achievable without having to push an update to the app store. All of the content, from videos and images to text, is served via an Akami CDN. In other words, much of the content doesn’t actually live “inside” of the app, so the initial download is very fast and all of the content loads on-demand.

In order to make sure that the eCommerce layer worked seamlessly with Craftsman’s existing system, Fluid worked with Craftsman’s technology team to create new API’s that allowed Craftsman’s “Quick View” to be displayed within the app. Adding items to a cart was seamless via the UIWebView (in-app browser), and checkout was handled by craftsman.com. Once the app was in working order, the entire tech, creative and ux team all spent time working together to test for bugs, optimize, and refine the experience. The final handoff was to the Sears Mobile team, who then submitted the app to iTunes for approval. The app was approved in one weeks time.

Why we think it’s cool
Opportunities like this are rare. Fluid got to create, name, design, and build a branded, shoppable iPad magazine on the hottest technology platform in existence for one of the most well-respected brands in the world. At Fluid, we believe strongly that experiences like this – the ones that merge content, community and creativity in delightful and innovative ways – are the future of eCommerce and brand engagement. We were honored to work with a legendary brand like Craftsman and their very talented marketing team to create a cutting edge product that their consumers are thrilled about.

Benefit Cosmetics

The Internet Retailer editors liked the bold graphics, video tutorials on how to use its cosmetics, along with the social features, including a tool that lets consumers post and answer product questions, and a social club that connects Benefit fans with others around the world.

Sur la Table

Innovative navigation that puts relevant deals right in the front of the shopper caught the attention of the editors when they reviewed Sur la Table. For this site, Fluid focused on interactive merchandising and conversion.

Wag.com

Fluid helped combine the hallmark efficiency of Quidsi, the parent company of Diapers.com and Soap.com, to deliver a whimsical experience that changes the way people shop for pet supplies.  Internet Retailers’ editors noted the site’s novel navigation approach, which lets pet owners browse by animal type — not only cats and dogs — to find needed products in one section, each with its own color scheme that serves as an anchor. Wag.com has the benefit of learning from sister site Diapers.com, which was also developed by Fluid.

Follow this link to see the complete Hot 100 list of companies.

-The Fluid Team

At years end, Fluid celebrates ten digital retailers that took bold action in 2011 – some are our clients, some are not. The order is purposeful. We count down to the brand actions we see as boldest. The gauntlet for 2012 has officially been thrown. Fun.

Think there’s a bold action that should to be on this list? Send it on.

Happy Holidays,
Amy

Bold Action #10 NetFlix: Facilitate visual navigation just for kids
In November Netflix revised their Wii app to include a “Just for Kids” section, navigitable by cartoon and kid characters. The under-12s will never be computer-centric – design is changing accordingly. In fact independent of age, design for tablets and touch-screens began to heavily drive web design in 2011, instead of vice versa.

Bold Action #9 AmEx: Bolster small businesses with their own Saturday
AmEx isn’t a digital retailer but in a year of bold moves by payment systems (Paypal’s Facebook app, Square’s rise, etc.) they sparked digital commerce success. Lodged between Black Friday and CyberMonday, Small Business Saturday drove social traction, offline sales and fueled Davids over Goliaths. Another brand focused on small business buying, Etsy, saw 80% YOY CyberMonday sales growth.

Bold Action #8 Coach: Kick the purchase funnel to the curb
Rich, bold imagery conveys the sensory elements of Coach products in the magazine style format of their ecommerce site. It gets most interesting though (to us) when you go to buy. Gone are the traditional .pdp pages – product details and Add to Cart are treated in a quick view. And checking out is no longer a purchase funnel, it’s done all on one page.

Bold Action #7 JCPenney: Incubate companies to target market opportunity

JCPenney had proof of market opportunity in two areas: 1. Men’s style and 2. Gifts. Recognizing the strengths (and constraints) of the JCPenney brand they served as their own VC funder and incubated two new digital only ventures. Partnering with Hearst Magazines, CLAD and Gifting Grace were welcomed into the world this Fall.

Bold Action #6 ASOS: Trust a marketplace will amplify – not compete
ASOS is the UK’s largest independent online fashion retailer, offering over 850 brands and their own ASOS label. This year ASOS opened Marketplace which allows anyone, anywhere to sell fashion to anyone, anywhere. Indie labels, emerging designers, vintage boutiques and clothes hounds are encouraged to apply for a boutique. ASOS positions themselves as celebrators of fashion and takes a percent of sales.

Bold Action #5 Reebok: Showcase custom shoes for on-demand inventory

Customers love custom shoes. Reebok saw success grow and decided to give custom shoes their own shop. In 2011 it excelled. It’s fueled by attribution to the custom creators, design voyeurism and social sharing – social that also serves as ratings and reviews. Custom options permeate their traditional inventory for a persuasive cross-sell.

Bold Action #4 eBay: Declare ecommerce is dead and buried

John Donohue, CEO of EBay, declared the concept of ecommerce dead and buried. Consumers think shopping, not device. “Over the next 12-24 months we’re going to see an explosion of experimentation, and no one knows what’s going to take off and what’s not.” Right now it’s mobile – U.S. eBay mobile shoppers spent 2.5x more on CyberMonday than in 2010. PayPal Mobile saw a 552% YOY increase in global mobile payment volume for the same day.

Bold Action #3 Apple: Overtly and publicly celebrate the life of Steve Jobs On Oct. 4th Apple launched the iPhone 4S, on Oct. 5th Apple announced that Steve Jobs had died. Defying the speculation for years that Apple stock would drop upon his death, Apple owned the celebration of his life outright. The homepage of the Apple store honored him for days and Apple stores became pilgrimage sites of emotional expression. Consumers responded with an unprecedented outpouring.

Bold Action #2 Patagonia: Declare “Don’t Buy” on the years’ biggest shopping day

Retailers wait all year for Thanksgiving weekend and this year Black Friday and CyberMonday did not disappoint. In the flurry of price drops, limited editions and 4am store openings, Patagonia took a bold stand. A full page ad in the NYTimes and their home page declared “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” A stand for their Common Threads Initiative, the buzz was widespread and polarized.

Bold Action #1 Amazon: Reward consumers for price comparing

Yes people research online and buy in-store. Amazon is aggressively encouraging people to research in-store and buy online. This shift in behavior is significant for digital (and is happening independent of Amazon). Amazon’s advantages? Prices that benefit from large inventory and the lack of online sales tax. The controversy around their Dec. 10th promotion is likely to bootstrap mobile buying – and expedite the sales tax conversation.