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MyEliteGrocer.com - Grocery Shopping and Home Delivery for People on the Go in Jamaica

November 12, 2008

My Elite Grocer (MEG) is a lifestyle management solution for People On The Go, who would rather be someplace other than Standing-in-Line for Groceries. The site and the Service launched in Jamaica this month.MEG’s pitch is simple… ” Grocery Shopping and Home Delivery, leaving you free to live today’s lifestyle the way you want to…the way you should…EASY.”

Here’s what I like about MEG, she seems to know her market segments. The company has identified the individual niche segments that could use the service and puts them out there with a sweet spin. CHeck them out. Read more

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Blog, Startups | Leave a Comment 

JamaicansJokes.com the Caribbean’s most successful Facebook App to date

September 17, 2008

JamaicanJokes.com is the Caribbean’s most successful Facebook application to date and I judge success here by virtue of the fact that it’s creator Internet pioneer and entrepreneur Sandor Panton got it developed, marketed it and now has over 40,000 daily users of the app and did this in a period of nine months. The app was launched on December 4, 2007. Read more

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Blog, Startups | Leave a Comment 

Top 5 REASONS TO NEVER AGAIN GIVE EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FOR OLYMPICS TO MAINSTREAM MEDIA LIKE NBC AND HOW I USED SETH GODIN’S BOOK MEATBALL SUNDAE TO PROVE IT.

August 15, 2008

Reason 1. NBC Sucks. Who needs another Olympics filled with America’s self indulgent back patting complete with fawning awe struck commentators. Hey I like NBC, Katie Couric moving from The Today Show was upsetting and I still set my Blackberry to watch ER.

Reason 2. The insight, ideas and real world examples with the 14 trends unleashed in Seth Godin’s new book Meatball Sundae makes the idea of mainstream media owning exclusive rights to events like Olympics seem, well, old school.

I’ve been reading Seth’s book Meatball Sundae with green highlighter in hand and neck brace on…insurance policy from all of the damn nodding in agreement that I did on the first read. Now, I’d love to gift this book to all the Jamaican and Caribbean Brand and Marketing managers that have frustrated many of my colleagues and me over the past 10 years. Why? The book is a slap across the face, a double Cuban coffee-based espresso kind of kick in the buttuski to us all. Meatball Sundae – Is Your Marketing Out of Sync? really asks a rhetorical question. What Seth says in 230 pages is, listen people many of you are going down the wrong path right now, things have changed, here are 14 trends you need to get familiar with, scream WTF and humbly go back to your drawing board. Yeah, it’s that kind of book.

How is this relevant to NBC’s exclusive rights to the Olympics and why I’m upset about that? Follow me to Page 23…”the way things are distributed …is changing”. On Page 30…. “ aided by technology the world now acts smaller and works faster,”…are you with me NBC Olympic Games executives. Ok, now go to page 71 and read about Trend number 2- “Amplification of the voice the consumer and independent authorities”, it covers issues like Why Blogs Matter and Flipping the Funnel. The other two trends to mull over are Trend number 8 – “Infinite Channels of Communication”; Trend 10 “The shifts in scarcity and abundance” and one of the biggies, Trend number 14- “New Gatekeepers,No Gatekeepers”. Nope, I’m saying no more go buy the book and spend a weekend with it and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Back to the Olympics more directly.

Reason 3. When I can get the video of the 100m Men’s Heats thanks to mobile video, the exclusive Caribbean rights holder CMC (see we’re doing not so smart things in the Caribbean too) and the facility of YouTube - who needs to wait on NBC to show a delayed and ad riddled version of it.

One of the tenets of exclusivity in old school media’s mind is that we, the consumers will only see it on their station at that particular time. The trend of timeshifting in full effect globally throws this out the door. Consumers want what they want when they want. And the only reason why NBC and CMC have exclusive rights to the Olympics coverage it’s because they banned cellphone cams, video cams at the Olympic venues. Don’t they now this is the age of the consumer being in control and no about of exclusive media content contracts will stop that trend.

I’m Jamaican and clearly while I know that by population size and athlete entries, I expect to see China and United States dominate most events. When it comes to track and field, we Jamaicans are rabid, we want to see our guys and girls run and of course win their races- LIVE and if delayed not 24 hours in these times an hour is fine. And while I am a fan of gymnastics, I was a jumping screaming fan of Mary Lou Retton, I was nonetheless pissed that I had to wait a full 24 hours to watch Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt run and of course win their qualifying heats on NBC. Simply because I’m currently in Washington, DC on business , don’t get CMC here, missed it on NBC since showing the gymnastics live and making money from ads was most important to NBC.

Reason 4. Does anyone remember 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and how many televisions were slapped, smashed and thrown from balconies across the world because of the glaring, unapologetic, self indulgent coverage of American athletes even when they came 12th and 14th.

Reason 5. Citizen Journalism is huge, growing fast and is unstoppable - through blogs, videoblogs, mobile videos,photos etc and I’d love to see more of that for 2012 in London even though ironically, I plan to attend that one. I’d love to see how the United Kingdom Olympic committee could get the world’s population more involved in the games- a sweet spot that has them as both spectators and participators. The cheap, universal digital tools are already in place and the consumers who now rule are using them.
NB: I am looking forward to TysonGay eating the collective Jamaican dust of Asafa Powell and Usain Bold this week. Go Jamaica!! They can delay broadcast us but we’re still the fastest nation in the world. Argument done.

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Blog | Leave a Comment 

BLOGGERS AND SITE PUBLISHERS MAKE MONEY WITH PERFORMANCING ADS

August 12, 2008

It is rare to find a real money making opportunity for bloggers and site publishers online outside of Google Adsense. Enter Performancing Ads, they couldn’t care less about the source of your traffic or how large or small your blog or site is, they just want to help you monetize it. Read more

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Startups | 2 Comments 

LOOK WHO’S BETTING ON A CARIBBEAN DOT COM BOOM

August 12, 2008

Alot of companies are betting on the rise of the Caribbean Web-those people and businesses in the Caribbean and Caribbean Diaspora and what they are and will be doing online.

Some of the companies are traditional, others are made-for-the-Internet startups, all, have spotted the trend, the key factors that indicate boundless opportunities for those who target these audiences. In fact the rise of the Caribbean Web is being compared to the start of a dotcom boom similar to that of the United States in the nineties. Read more

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Startups | 3 Comments 

How much is your domain name really worth?

August 12, 2008

Greatdomains.comI’m sure some of you have heard of a few of these amazing domain name sales, like the infamous and controversial domain Sex.com that was sold in January 2006 to a Boston-based company for US$14million. Then there are other mega domain name sales like - Beer.com for US$7 million, Telephone.com for US$2 million, Shop.com for US$3.5 million, and others such as Computer.com, College.com, Diamond.com, Timeshares.com and CreditCard.com. Read more

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Blog, Startups | 2 Comments 

Jampersonals.com- The largest Jamaican online dating site

June 12, 2008

Dwayne Black is the Jamaican entrepreneur who owns Jampersonals.com, Jamaica’s largest online dating website with over 34,000 active members. We spoke to him about his role as an online cupid and the business that has grown out of that. Read more

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Startups | 5 Comments 

MY STARTUPS, A FEW QUESTIONS and MANY LESSONS

June 4, 2008

I sat down this week thinking about startups, I just joined another one. For the first time I thought about how many I’ve personally been apart of. If I had to count the number of startups I’ve given free advice to, send jobs to, facilitated crucial handshakes, just help in some way, the number would double. I realized that I’ve been personally involved in 10 startups from the start of my career as a journalist 15 years ago until now where I’m a blogger/writer, tech entrepreneur, digital strategy consultant. Read more

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Personal, Startups | Leave a Comment 

10 Caribbean social networks, who’ll be No. 1 ?

May 16, 2008

The race to become the dominant Caribbean social network has become hot and heavy with players. From the pioneers, the new kids to the niche players, were now wondering which ones are the real contenders in becoming the facebook.com,myspace.com or classmates.com of the Caribbean?

Weve been tracking the development of Caribbean social networks for the past five years and there have been some exciting developments. What has influenced the rise of social networks is the easier access to white label open source solutions and generally a hunger to connect with other in the region and to our friends and family in the Caribbean Diaspora in US, Canada and European. Consequently- social media in the Caribbean is blossoming. Read more

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Startups | 4 Comments 

Herrd.com the Caribbean’s answer to Digg.com

May 13, 2008

herrd-header_r1_c1.jpgBarbados- Without question the time is now for the Caribbean and Latin American region to experience the dot com boom already experienced by the United States. Right now, Caribbean startups are creating their spin on phenomenally successful American and European Internet brands and hope to be just as profitable and successful. Read more

Written by Ingrid Riley · Filed Under Startups | 1 Comment 

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