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Thread: Cd-Rom Multimedia --- Is it a profitable business?

  1. #21
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    Originally posted by Agent_Coop
    Ack!

    I'm trapped in a Kinko's (a US copy center) right now..and there is no end in sight! This place is filled with folks read: employees) that know nothing...grrr..

    I'll talk to you all in a couple of hours.
    Step on it, man! You're losing potential sales here! :-)

    -scott
    http://www.scottmanning.com

  2. #22
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    resolved excellent....

    I've heard of similar tracking programs. The reselling is a great plan. here's a question... I've been asked about a CD for an automobile company that enables the user to vote for certain options they want to see in new models. Then it will send in their list. The goal is to track the CD (via serial number I guess) and make sure a re-vote can never take place. Is this program capable of such a thing or would it require each cd to programmed with a separate serial number in the design satge (which is of course a ludicrous thought)...

    I'm curious. Major potential "pusher" to make potentials go over the edge.

    J

  3. #23
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    Let me make sure I've got this correct: You are talking about a program that would run on cd's that would allow you to collect and store information about where people go and what they do on this CD on thier computers and then transmit this info back to me either A.) Immeaditly if they have a connection on right now, or B.) The next time they are connected to the internet?!?

    I guess I'm kinda a newbie (firgurtivly) to all of this stuff, but this sounds absolutly incredible. I am working on a mass produced, reguarly distributed, dynamic content product right now, built entirly using Macromedia Flash, that would be able to use this to it's fullest extent! Very exciting if this is correct... Let me know how this all works out, and how dificult this would be to impliment. Computers are something that I know how to make pretty pictures on, and sometimes get into very limited actionscripting or html with, but I am not a code genius like many of you guys. Could a layman like myself possible figure out how to use this? Let me know, allright?

    Thanks DS

    PS: I just came back to see if anybody had posted anything new and re-read what I wrote and thought I needed to add something. I don't know if this is confusing to you, but I just wanted to make the point that when I was talking about implimentation, I meant after it was purchased from the creator, not making one myself. Just wanted to clarify this...
    [Edited by dsmmg on 07-05-2001 at 10:44 PM]

  4. #24
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    resolved geography...

    Scott,

    I'm from Southern Ontario, Canada, actually.
    Saw the nocrapchurch site. Some good points on Calvin. Anyone ever thought of doing an article on the tyrant King James?

    Anyway, sorry for the interuption in our lovely CD-Rom Chat...

    And While we're here...
    Can I embed and HTML File into director? I hate having to spawn a browser.

    J

  5. #25
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    Re: geography...

    Originally posted by seeddesign
    Scott,

    I'm from Southern Ontario, Canada, actually.
    Saw the nocrapchurch site. Some good points on Calvin. Anyone ever thought of doing an article on the tyrant King James?
    Certianly thought of it, but haven't done it. Wanna e-mail me with your thoughts on it?

    info@scottmanning.com

    -scott
    http://www.scottmanning.com

  6. #26
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    Originally posted by dsmmg
    Let me make sure I've got this correct: You are talking about a program that would run on cd's that would allow you to collect and store information about where people go and what they do on this CD on thier computers and then transmit this info back to me either A.) Immeaditly if they have a connection on right now, or B.) The next time they are connected to the internet?!?

    I don't know if this is confusing to you, but I just wanted to make the point that when I was talking about implimentation, I meant after it was purchased from the creator, not making one myself. Just wanted to clarify this...
    [Edited by dsmmg on 07-05-2001 at 10:44 PM]
    Yes. It tracks EXACTLY that way. The product does exactly that. We've been tracking our CD Rom Business Cards for almost a year now, it is phenominal.

    I doubt you could cobble together a tracking system with as much marketing appeal to a client as the CyberTrakker CD system. You could probably do something with cookies, but I know that we went a completely differnt way after client feedback.

    CyberTrakker is a Server product which you can use for a number of things.

    We are working right now to distill the CD-Tracking portion of the CyberTrakker Enterprise edition into a single stand alone product.

    There is a 100% functional test site that anyone can play with at http://www.cyberseainc.com It's not tied to a credit card processor is the only difference. The full version of CyberTrakker runs in the neighborhood of $799 (minus a 10% discount right now I believe). That is for a one server deployment, but you can resell the service to all of your clients, etc etc..

    I will have a definitive idea of how much a CD-only version would cost.

    More to come, getting excited here..

  7. #27
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    Word on the street..we'll have a CD-Trakker Version available by the end of next week..

    Stay tuned..

  8. #28
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    What happens if you give someone your CD and then they copy it, and their friend copies it, etc... won't that mess up your stats?

    Also, it there ANY way the person you gave the CD to realise that he/she is being tracked. In theory, this tracker shounds great, but in the case of major companies - this could result in a serious problem, because the CD would contradict the typical privacy statements.

    Also, what if the person is using BlackIce or ZoneAlarm? Not only would it block the transmission - that would definately clue the person to the fact that they are being tracked...

    -A02

  9. #29
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    Good questions..however it is a fairly inocculous tracking system..

    1) We separately track stats for installed/copies presentations from those run off the original cd-rom

    2) We do not track personal information only the fact that a single hit (a numeric counter) is incremented. Nothing personal is ever tracked including ip addresses, email, names, etc. This does not violate any privacy statements as personal information is defined as anything that can be tracked back to a single individual or computer.

    3) Zone alarm will pop up a dialog box notification that the program is accessing the internet. Virtually all new software these days goes out to the web for something (checking for updates, etc.). Don't know about BlackIce. This will not affect the operation of the program. However if they try to use the contact form (email)and block the transmission of your email contact form - then you have a bonehead that doesn't deserve to have their email read.

    We are tracking only the fact that a card got played or a link clicked. Nothing more than a hit counter on a web page.


  10. #30
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    Oh..

    and it doesn't matter if people copy the CD's since it has an install/mulitplier feature anyway.

    If someone is buring copies, thety are just doing free work for us.

    -tg

  11. #31
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    Well, back to the main point of this thread. "Is there a market for CDs."

    In our experience it is yes. Basically, there is a market for everything, you just have to sell it. THis holds true for Digital Media. The main thing we have discovered is that although the technology isnt necessarily new, the clients dont think about it as a money making media choice to use to promote their business or product.

    We had to do some sample ones to show the potential but after that the response was exciting. We do not produce the actual finished product, we design what goes on the CD and farm out the production.

  12. #32
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    Yes there is a market..like you said..there is a market for everything.

    The eye-candy appeal wanes after a short while, which is why we developed a more robust application for the backend on the CD's.


  13. #33
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    resolved Eye Candy...

    We all know the statement "I wanna see my name in lights..."
    This is the big seller of Biz Cards and such. When you show a company something with their name/logo on it, something that generally never hints at the competition, they'll be sold. That said we recently broke off a project as it was going on too long with the manager constantly making little changes. Finally he said I'm going to go to so&so cuz they have a 2 day turnaround. 5 months later, it's still not done. Curious eh?

    Anywa, when all is said and done, these Biz Cards really are phenomenal Marketing tools and should be sold as such. In reality you're looking at about a 40% increase in sales as compared to people who receive a regular Business Card. This is largely because of the ability to see all the info in an exciting form and then connect from the card and make a purchase without ever leaving home or talking to a human.

    Regards,

  14. #34
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    Eye candy sells the exec's, your right..

    Analytics make the marketing folks wet their pants though..

  15. #35
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    Affiliate & Partnership Information for CDs

    Here's the information about adding CD-ROM & CD-ROM Business Card product to your site.

    We track with a cookie so you do not lose any site referals, however, we mainly coordinate sales with our resellers on a much more personal level. A reseller with speand much more time over the phone and email than relying on just a cookie..however, having an affiliate application is a nice way to collect all of your business's information in one fell swoop. These partnership work a lot like print resellers, you deal with the client's need, collect the media, turn it over to us for production, you either resell it for "x" amount of profit..and you have to pay upfront our cost..or we bill the client and you get the commission structure.

    The Marketing Copy:

    We have started a new company called Cyberi, Inc.
    which produces CD-ROM business cards. We are
    offering a 2-tier affiliate program for those
    services which also includes lifetime commissions
    on CD-ROM reorders.

    Our presentations can include:

    Built using Macromedia Director
    ROI marketing tracking of card usage
    Desktop installations
    Follow-up contact enabled
    Video clips
    Audio (music and narration)
    PC and Mac support
    Flash animations
    Virtual reality IPIX tours
    Web site integration
    PowerPoint presentations
    PDF documents
    Private labeling for other developers
    and much more

    We have created presentations for companies
    such as Hyatt, Marriott, Days Inn, Hilton,
    Doubletree, Marine Stewardship Council,
    Sheraton, Embassy Suites and many more.
    See our portfolio for more.

    Signup at:
    http://www.cybericard.tv/htm/affsign.htm


    Best regards,

    Tom
    Tom@cybericard.tv / TomG@proposalkit.com


    P.S. If you are a web developer or know someone
    who is, would you consider offering our CD-ROM
    services to your clients? We will private label
    the presentation with your logo, URL and company
    name in the credits.


  16. #36
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    Wow, Tom... this has turned in to quite a commercial, hasn't it?!

  17. #37
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    resolved So I was just wondering...

    Is the CD-Rom market profitable?



    Isn't that what we were talking about?
    I guess the answer is yes, if you do good work.

    Regards,

  18. #38
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    Originally posted by JabezStone
    Wow, Tom... this has turned in to quite a commercial, hasn't it?!
    Yeah, big commercial. Flashkit Board = Free Advertisement.



    -scott
    http://www.scottmanning.com

  19. #39
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    Ads

    Re: Advertisement

    Can be..

    I don't spam the boards all day looking for business however. There are better uses of time that do not errode credibility. If people want to talk to me, they will or they won't..everyone is advertising what they do in one way or another.

    The boards are for discussion, help and networking. If I didn't spend my fair amount of time helping folks, I'd be deserving of more criticism.

    Hope no one was too insensed..


  20. #40
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    Re: So I was just wondering...

    Originally posted by seeddesign
    Is the CD-Rom market profitable?



    Isn't that what we were talking about?
    I guess the answer is yes, if you do good work.

    Regards,
    Which is sort of true for any market, product, or service..if you do good work you can make good money.

    You will always have deeper conversation with general questions.


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