Archive for November, 2010

Zagat’s, the famed restaurant review group but a poor performer on the online world, is changing online tactics. They are bypassing their botched subscription model in lieu of a great app. For Zagat’s, its  another distribution channel, like their still successful printed books. It’s mobile, it’s local, it’s search. Looks poised for success but only time will tell.

Yet another publisher where the paid subscription model failed. Most disappointing is that they seemed ideally positioned to make it on line.  As the NY Times beautifully put it, Zagat’s was the original ‘user generated content.’ Pre-blogs, pre-Facebook, pre-Yelp, they had all these people reviewing restaurants. But they kept it paid content, which kept it outside Google’s firewall. Now they’re seen as an also-ran to Yelp and the proliferating local restaurant and daily deal sites.

So the ad model (Yelp) vs the paid content model (Zagat’s). Yelp was worth $500 million to Google. Zagat was at $175-200 million in 2008. An interesting battle to keep an eye on.

Click Here for full article.

AC Lion, as part of our ongoing partnership with PluggedInVentures, is a proud sponsor of the 2010 eCommerce Summit on Tuesday, December 21st in midtown Manhattan.  This event brings together people from social and mobile commerce, group buying and traditional ecommerce.

Each quarter, PluggedIn looks at a specific industry by bringing together its leaders and innovators for an informative and scintillating discussion. Awesome things happen at our roundtables as we put together a small group of smart and passionate people together to discuss everything dealing with ecommerce. The goal is simple: to connect the most innovative and exciting startups in the ecommerce space with the biggest and best eCommerce sites, brands, technology providers and industry analysts.

The eCommerce summit is a full day event that includes 4 topic specific roundtables with one-on-one networking and meetings in between. The roundtable format is an intimate if not laid back discussion that includes a moderator, participant panel, and guests who are relevant and engaged in the content. It’s designed to facilitate knowledge sharing, relationship building and deal making. 

Participating Companies include: BuyWithMe, Ashford.com, Yipit, GaggleOfChicks, GiltCity, dotBox, SocialAmp, TurnTo, Triad Digital, StyleTrek, ScoopSt, Vitamin Creek, Razorfish, Digitas, Peekaboo Mobile, Checkpoints, and many others.

I invite you to join me there.   AC Lion has negotiated a significant discount (to $150–$100 off if you register before 11/22/10).  Use the product code “ACLion” when you register at  http://www.pluggedinsummit.com/register/

If you have further questions, or need a group rate, please do not hesitate to ask.

Hope to see you there,