Green with Intimacy
For this post, I’d like to get a little more concrete on the potential of using the new channel framework to analyze & optimize a marketer/seller-customer relationship.
One company I like that deals with a potential retail “channel” in many different ways is Recellular.com. Recellular is in the perhaps unglamorous but important business of "electronics sustainability"--they work to keep the millions of cellphones, PDAs, and related accessories that get replaced annually out of landfills. How might they adopt our framework?
The first answer that comes to mind for me is: gather and analyze customer intimacy data concerning how long the customer has had his/her phone, how many new features he/she might be missing, what he/she uses his/her phone for…and then to target them with SMS, MMS, voice, or web solicitations intended to appeal to their propensity for technology change vs. the age/functionality of their phone.
But here are some other ideas that come to mind:
- Could Recellular partner with a battery company to incorporate technology that detected when a battery is nearing the end of its life (who among us hasn’t had to figure that out the old-fashioned way?), and somehow (calendar message, SMS) triggered a message to the user?
- Could Recellular partner with service providers or cell phone companies to send SMS, MMS, or internet-based reminders to customers whose phones are close to reaching the end of their lifespans, perhaps based on the customer’s known usage patterns, travel patterns, or other behavioral data (if the service provider is willing to provide it…)?
- Could Recellular combine customer behavior intimacy with location awareness (perhaps through a custom, co-branded hardware component) to suggest to green-minded customers green-related things to do? Or drop off points when it was time to recycle a cell phone or battery? Or for that matter, any other recyclable thing?
- Could Recellular partner with a philanthropic organization to leverage any of the above technologies to allow cell phone users to benefit causes significant to them through simply recycling electronics?
- Could Recellular partner with both a philanthropic organization and a cell carrier to provide benefit to both parties PLUS to the customer in the form of some sort of incentive?
All of these ideas have their pros, cons, and practical/technical limitations. Again, I’d love to hear your feedback on any of these or anything else that comes to mind.
Comments
Hi,
As I call - IT means international tribes.
I like the concept. My personal experience is that Mobile is a very powerful tool. I personally find due to some or other reasons, I used to change mobiles as per location in Japan, US or India. There are many mobiles without use due to location change over the years.One needs to leverage on social organisations for awareness on such initiatives.
Regards,
Nandkumar Kalate
Posted by: Nandkumar | August 6, 2008 07:04 AM
Hi,
The work done by Recellular is fabulous. They are doing a great job in removing all the e-waste. All the ideas stated above are good. Recellular and other organizations should take steps in providing knowledge to the common man about all the bad effects of e-waste. But the main thing that will help is the conscience of the common man. Until they understand , no of Recellular like companies wont be of any use. Organizations and companies should make people aware.
Regards,
Subhrasish Mallik.
Posted by: Subhrasish Mallik | August 12, 2008 01:05 PM
Another example of going green is technology to support efforts for reducing carbon foot print. Check out this article
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Airlines__Aviation/Galileo_brings_software_to_track_carbon_release/articleshow/3413674.cms
And also the Google Android winner http://code.google.com/android/adc_gallery/app.html?id=13
Posted by: Rockey Nebhwani | September 3, 2008 02:06 PM