Does Membership have its privledges?

Last week, in the mail, I received something quite interesting. A pretty typical CD mailer, maybe 5x5. Nothing spectacular from all outward indications; generic white with my address on a little printed label, but it felt a big weighty. Curious, I opened it anticipating I would find a CD with some software they I just couldn't live without. Much to my surprise, I found a beautiful little mailer, a little die cut bee design with a "snot dot" holding the mailer closed. As I opened the piece, I noticed it was a beautiful duplex stock, with gold foil printing. Ah, the Patron (tequila) Social Club sent me a beautiful little silver keychain, held in by a green ribbon, the same ribbon found with its arms wrapped around the neck of a bottle of Partron Silver Tequila. The inscription on the card reads:

Thank you for contributing to the Patron Social Club.

As a member we hold in high esteem, we've sent you a little something extra. Exclusive benefits may be attached so be sure to hang on to it. We look forward to hearing from you, both on the site and in the clubs. Stay social.

Partonsocialclub.com


Beautiful, and man do I feel special now, due to the being held in high esteem and all. So what is this all about. A month or so ago, I had found online on some list of "cool sites" the Patron Social club, so I decided to check it out. I signed up and kind of snooped around the site for a while, pretty cool indeed. Complete with a little bartender who stands there and talks to you, welcoming you to the club. A significant consumer of Patron Silver, not quite, however I do find it quite enjoyable, but just a tad out of my regular budget for liquor consumption. Someday, perhaps.

So, what about it, it brought back memories of a presentation that a friend of mine and I gave presentation to college leadership group on marketing your organization. One of the key points was to create "exclusivity" for members. Make they feel privileged to be a part of the group, and offer benefits only available to those who are members. This accomplishes just that.

Are there other companies out there doing the same kind of thing? Tons, and some of the smarter ones too. You see more and more social environments being created, Facebook and Myspace being two, but the number of big businesses creating these social environments grows richer every day. Why? Loyalty and sticky content. Sticky content for their website. It keeps you there, keeps you coming back over and over again. Coke does it, with their mini me environment where my little avatar can probably be found hovering under the table rocking in the fetal position due to lack of attention. But for some, this is their alternate life.

Another company that does this well is Webkinz. Having two girls 9 and 11, Webkinz are the center of their vitrual world....aka...social life. First you purchase a stuffed animal which comes with a "special code" which you go to the site and log into. Now, you have this virtual pet matching the one you are holding in your hand. You play games, get jobs, earn Webkins cash and then you buy your pet things. I posess, too few digits to count the number of times I have seen a bright shiny face busting with excitement proclaiming they have purchased a new "bed" or "room" for their virtual pet.

It isn't all bad, they are learning, reading, and developing computer skills, but at what cost? Maybe their "real" social skills? Who knows.

So, what are my "exclusive benefits" of the Patron Social Club? I guess we will just have to wait and see. For now, I will just sit and admire a well done print piece and a the marketing genius behind it.

Food for thought....

As I am home from my trip, and about 7 pounds heavier, I am looking to drop some of that vacation weight, and in the midst of valentines day, I came across this site. http://food4thought.bhf.org.uk/ which tried to educate children about junk food. I believe the hosts name is "sick rick" and they have a number of little 3D game-type activities. I am attaching a photo of one of the videos where they have two kids eating hot dogs while what actually goes into the hot dogs is rolling past them on a conveyor. Well, not long and they are both hurling. I wonder if we knew what was really in our food what we would be eating, yes, that is "pig bits" rolling past the kids. Pig Bits? Now there is food for thought....

Getting around Italy

Travel and traffic in Italy was interesting. Narrow streets and large amount of pedestrian, bike and motorcycle traffic, makes driving an automobile that much more challenging. However, you did frequently see the new Smart cars. While environmentally sound and really pretty cute, I couldn't quite envision my 6'3" husband crawling into one.

Their compact size (only seats two) extends the number of parking spaces and because of their size, they are able to park perpendicular to the sidewalk in traditionally parallel only areas as you can see here.















Motorcycles are also quite popular and one model that we saw frequently was made by Kymco, pictured below.

The city is quite romantic, and after a glass or two of wine, you couldn't help but think that David Letterman could have a heyday with a top 10 list of pick-up lines for owners of these fine machines. Now there's a advertising campaign brainstorming session you would love to be a fly on the wall in.














The Kymco DINK 200.

City of Towers

The view from Fattoria Poggio Alloro towards San Gimignano. Notice all of the towers of varying sizes and heights that the city is famous for. Guessing S. Freud would have a thing or two to say about that.

San Gimignano

After the vineyard, we travelled up to San Gimignano and stopped to wander about this beautiful historic little town.

There were quaint shops and great architecture all around. The town also contains a "torture museum" and for some reason I felt compelled to go it. File this one under "What in the @#%* was I thinking?" category. I shot some photos which I can't even bear to look at, was there for only a few short minutes got physically ill and had to leave, it was horrible. Google it if you care to, but ewwww, I get sick just thinking about it. Don't say I didn't warn you.

The rest of the town was quite lovely and if you would like more information on it, you can check it out online at : http://www.sangimignano.com/sstoriai.htm

Tuesday afternoon

Following our trip to Pisa, we stopped by the Archeological museum to see their collection of Egyptian artifacts, it really is a beautiful collection and one that I think is often overlooked because of the numerous other things to see and do in Florence. If you are headed to Florence, definitely put this on your list of things not to miss....unless of course you have actually been to Egypt.

The collection contains more than 14,000 artifacts, including a partial New Testament Papyrus of John 12






Here is the Wiki description : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archaeological_Museum_(Florence)

Papyrus info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament_papyrus


Here is a photo of a Papyrus manuscript.

Photo from patio of Fattoria Poggio Alloro

I am a sucker for a lone tree, and couldn't help but to add this one to my collection.

Moooving experience

We visited the barns at Fattoria Poggio Alloro and it was refreshing to see and smell farm animals again. This is one of the cows they have and here is the description of the breed from their site:
SELECTED CHIANINA BREED
This is one of the most ancient Tuscan breeds, once sung by Latin poets and portrayed in the Roman bas-reliefs, and today considered the best bovine breed for meat in the world.

A fireplace I could get into.....literally!

At Fattoria Poggio Alloro, we ate in one of the oldest rooms on the estate near this quaint fireplace. After lunch Eileen and I decided to jump in and warm ourselves by the fire.

the Vineyard-farm

We spent a day at Fattoria Poggio Alloro as I described earlier, and thought I would share a couple of photos from that day. We had a fabulous time and was truly a memorable day for us all.

Their website is :http://www.fattoriapoggioalloro.com/eng/

For the birds

Pigeons were in abundance in the Piazza San Marco.

Have you ever felt like this...

As we were walking along the canal in Venice we came across this lady sitting in the sun taking a little nap and it made me smile and I couldn't help but snap a photo.