Zeitgeist puts on the pink slip
The Internet service provider aims to explore new avenues in e-commerce through new online communities
The Internet service provider wants to break new ground in e-commerce thanks to new web communitiesBy Clemens Hörler Zeitgeist, the Dättwil-based Internet service provider, is launching Pinkslip, a new umbrella brand for web communities. These are to be financed with new forms of advertising and value creation models.
For several weeks now, more and more cars have been driving on Swiss roads with a sticker with an envelope on the rear. Insiders know: The occupants of the cars in question belong to the web community www.autowahn.ch and could be using the
e-mail address Autonummer@ autowahn.ch (for example [email protected]) can be contacted.
Autowahn was launched by Internet service provider Zeitgeist on May 23, 2000, and now has around 700 members who exchange e-mails and take part in discussions. And the first Autowahn party will be held on July 28. A similar concept is also pursued by the dating channel Flirt24.ch of Total Entertainment AG in Zurich with its Autoflirt. Autoflirters are not recognizable by a mail symbol, but by a red heart in an @.
Fear of idea theft - users help determine development
According to Mischa Blank, CEO of Zeitgeist, Autowahn.ch is an experimental field for other communities that will be launched soon. Blank does not yet want to reveal exactly what kind of communities are involved: "We want to prevent our ideas from being stolen and implemented by others. In addition, the users will have a significant say in the development."
Something has already been decided: The planned communities are to be combined under the umbrella of Pinkslip. The name Pinkslip is primarily intended to arouse interest. And: "Pinkslip is what people project into it," says Beat Wegmann, Creative Director at Zeitgeist.
Zeitgeist was able to win online advertising pioneer Markus Rusterholz as head of Pinkslip. A trained chef, he helped implement the first major Swiss online campaign for CS Direct Net in 1996 at MMD (now Real Media) and was involved in setting standards for advertising banners.
For Pinkslip, Rusterholz wants to do development work again and develop new value creation models and forms of advertising. "The content and forms of advertising on the new platforms will be defined by user needs. That will automatically lead to unconventional forms of advertising."
To fund the platforms, Zeitgeist is looking to partner with e-commerce providers. "We expect that certain needs for products or services will emerge in the communities over time. As soon as this is the case, Zeitgeist would like to become active and cooperate with corresponding e-commerce providers.
Rusterholz goes on to explain that Pinkslip puts e-commerce in the consumer sector on a different footing, in that the platform operator does not create the needs itself, but responds specifically to the wishes expressed by the users. The community thus becomes the central marketing instrument. Although this approach is not entirely new, it is not practiced all that often on the Internet either.
Pinkslip relies primarily on word-of-mouth advertising
Rusterholz is not afraid that this way of eliciting the needs of the Internauts could also meet with rejection from the community. After all, the wishes of the community members were implemented.
For a community to be attractive to e-commerce partners, however, it is not only important to narrow down the target group, but also the number of members. Compared to the total number of drivers with Internet access, just under 700 members seems rather modest.
Nevertheless, Zeitgeist does not want to push Pinkslip and the individual communities with aggressive advertising campaigns, but continues to rely on word of mouth, the momentum of the communities, and steady growth. "In this way, we achieve qualitatively more valuable contacts," Wegmann is convinced.
For several weeks now, more and more cars have been driving on Swiss roads with a sticker with an envelope on the rear. Insiders know: The occupants of the cars in question belong to the web community www.autowahn.ch and could be using the
e-mail address Autonummer@ autowahn.ch (for example [email protected]) can be contacted.
Autowahn was launched by Internet service provider Zeitgeist on May 23, 2000, and now has around 700 members who exchange e-mails and take part in discussions. And the first Autowahn party will be held on July 28. A similar concept is also pursued by the dating channel Flirt24.ch of Total Entertainment AG in Zurich with its Autoflirt. Autoflirters are not recognizable by a mail symbol, but by a red heart in an @.
Fear of idea theft - users help determine development
According to Mischa Blank, CEO of Zeitgeist, Autowahn.ch is an experimental field for other communities that will be launched soon. Blank does not yet want to reveal exactly what kind of communities are involved: "We want to prevent our ideas from being stolen and implemented by others. In addition, the users will have a significant say in the development."
Something has already been decided: The planned communities are to be combined under the umbrella of Pinkslip. The name Pinkslip is primarily intended to arouse interest. And: "Pinkslip is what people project into it," says Beat Wegmann, Creative Director at Zeitgeist.
Zeitgeist was able to win online advertising pioneer Markus Rusterholz as head of Pinkslip. A trained chef, he helped implement the first major Swiss online campaign for CS Direct Net in 1996 at MMD (now Real Media) and was involved in setting standards for advertising banners.
For Pinkslip, Rusterholz wants to do development work again and develop new value creation models and forms of advertising. "The content and forms of advertising on the new platforms will be defined by user needs. That will automatically lead to unconventional forms of advertising."
To fund the platforms, Zeitgeist is looking to partner with e-commerce providers. "We expect that certain needs for products or services will emerge in the communities over time. As soon as this is the case, Zeitgeist would like to become active and cooperate with corresponding e-commerce providers.
Rusterholz goes on to explain that Pinkslip puts e-commerce in the consumer sector on a different footing, in that the platform operator does not create the needs itself, but responds specifically to the wishes expressed by the users. The community thus becomes the central marketing instrument. Although this approach is not entirely new, it is not practiced all that often on the Internet either.
Pinkslip relies primarily on word-of-mouth advertising
Rusterholz is not afraid that this way of eliciting the needs of the Internauts could also meet with rejection from the community. After all, the wishes of the community members were implemented.
For a community to be attractive to e-commerce partners, however, it is not only important to narrow down the target group, but also the number of members. Compared to the total number of drivers with Internet access, just under 700 members seems rather modest.
Nevertheless, Zeitgeist does not want to push Pinkslip and the individual communities with aggressive advertising campaigns, but continues to rely on word of mouth, the momentum of the communities, and steady growth. "In this way, we achieve qualitatively more valuable contacts," Wegmann is convinced.
