Jaffe Juice

Why I Am (Probably) Coming Back to SXSW Interactive Next Year

Jason Schlossberg wrote an opinion piece in Ad Age last week, titled, "Why I am (Probably) Not Coming Back to SxSW Interactive Next Year." 

The sub-head was "Four Reasons Why Discovering Something New is Getting Harder at Event." and they were:

1. The biggest technological innovations right now are invisible.
2. It doesn't seem like anyone waits to launch things at SXSW anymore.
3. This year it is all about ed and med (and robots).
4. "Innovation" is everyone's business today -- or is it?

He ends with the following paragraph:

So is it still worth attending SXSW Interactive? If you've never been, then I say yes. But if you already have then I say, maybe. It's simply no longer the requirement that it once was. I'm not sure that I am leaving any more informed or inspired than I would be reading about it from afar. Having said all of that, I still had a great time. I met and reconnected with many good friends and colleagues -- most of whom, ironically, live in New York City like I do. And Austin is itself an extremely inspiring place to visit. But I (probably) won't be back next year.

So kudos to him for a) getting my attention, b) being smart about covering his a$$ with the word (probably) #fomo and c) getting his piece published in Ad Age.

Personally I disagree with him. Respectfully of course.

To address his points:

1. Not always. I met the founder of Kapture who gave me his wearable device that allows me to go back in time 60 seconds at a time. I'm not joking.
2. Tell that to Mr Robot who launched last year and followed it up with an even bigger activation this year. Mr Robot has had an incredible award-winning and ratings-winning year
3. ...and VR (and robots or Mr Robot)
4. It should be, but the reality is that it's the first budget to get cut and the level of innovation at companies is still abysmal

...and to his concluding paragraph, I actually think it's a lot harder for virgins than grizzled old timers. First timers tend to get overwhelmed with the tyranny of too much choice. They cram too much into a day, spend too much money with third party vendors that "program" their itineraries to a fault where serendipity and chance are pretty much eradicated, are disappointed when they are turned away from sessions that are too full, spend too much time waiting in lines and haven't discovered "The Onion" yet.

I went solo this year and never found myself wanting for a second to find stimulating conversation from random people I bumped into, mutual admirers I finally met like Mark Schaefer or old friends I reconnected with like C.C. Chapman.

I went determined to be positive at all times and my litmus test was to have 1 quality conversation with 1 quality person at every venue. Like George Costanza (in the Seinfeld episode where he cracks a joke in the meeting and when everyone roars with laughter he ups and leaves on a high), when that happened I would leave and go to the next soiree (even if I had been there for less than 30 minutes).

Jason is right...you do tend to connect with people who are a stone's throw away in the very city you live or work, but sometimes it takes getting out of the madness and chaos to find the time to have genuine conversations, like my breakfast with R/GA on Sunday morning for example.

So what was "the next big thing" at SxSW this year? From what I heard, it was Snapchat as a messaging platform. I missed that memo. Perhaps it was the fact my cellphone worked so well (and the connection problems from previous years was just a thing of the past). I also discovered "Low Power Mode" on my iPhone which is my new favorite function...that and "Night Shift" (but you can't use them together).

Actually, my big takeaway this year was one word: TALENT. I was blown away by how many BIG companies (from blue chip brands to agencies or management consultancies) set up their lavish activations with a primary goal of using it as a recruitment tool (and I suppose retention as well). Makes total sense when you think of the tech savvy, influencers and Millennial talent "on show".

On the flipside, I continue to be appalled by the LACK of vision from the same Fortune 500 brands and service companies who DO NOT invest in sending their people to SxSW. You would be shocked at how many people were NOT there because their companies wouldn't pay for it, or worse still...they were there ON THEIR OWN DIME.

I don't believe SxSW has jumped the shark...well, not any more or less than in every previous year that I've been going down to Austin. SxSW is what you make of it and what you put in is almost always what you get out. 

I had moments of serendipity like sitting next to Bryan Bundesen, the founder of legendary Grumpy Cat, two years running on the plane coming into Austin and he kindly gave me ride into town or seeing an ignorant bouncer refuse VIP entry to Steve Case at a startup event (oops). Or blowing off MDC and IAB's brunches in favor of watching Spurs beat Aston Villa at NBC Sports Experience at the Four Seasons. Come on you Spurs!

I'm probably with Jason that I didn't necessarily learn anything new this year, but then again I never do. Rather, I get inspired by networking with amazing, diverse, talented and visionary people. Some of it sticks. Some of it disappears into the Red Bull and Vodka void of too many late night cocktails...but I always emerge just a little excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.

And for that, I (probably) will be back next year.

P.S. Jason, we should connect as we're both in NYC. Or better yet, let's meet in Austin next year :)

Jaffe Juice #174 - The Internet is NOT the Answer with Andrew Keen

Andrew Keen is mad as hell...and he's not going to take it anymore. Actually he's just a big softy with a big brain and a big heart. Either way, he's not afraid to stick out his neck and have an intelligent conversation or debate about things he cares about...deeply. And in his new book, The Internet is NOT the Answer, he doesn't pull punches when he calls out certain greedy entrepreneurs, monopolies, plutocracies (I think that's the ruling power on Pluto) and Uberocracies.

GIve him a piece of your mind (if you can spare it) at @ajkeen, but only after you listened to this podcast, which you can download here.

And if you'd like to subscribe to this podcast, you can do so here.

A challenge to Domino's and Microsoft

Domino's recently announced they were giving $500 "Pizzavestments" to 30 startups. I'd like to match the offer with $15,000 of my own money. There's just no way an individual should be able to match a giant corporation when it comes to making a commitment to startups, but there you go...

To Domino's CEO, Patrick Doyle: "Patrick, I think you're awesome. You've done a phenomenal job all round and led the brand through the YouTube fiasco to the well documented, Pizza Turnaround. I totally get the connection between pizza and burning the midnight oil, but I think you can do better. This isn't a fad, gimmick or ad campaign. Innovation is the lifeblood of corporate evolution and survival. Contact me and let's figure out a better way to spend our $30,000 and then some with bright and talented startups."

This offer is conditional on Patrick making contact with me and the two of us sitting down to brainstorm as per the challenge above. I will not be providing Pizza, but I'm happy to invest in these companies commensurately.

Microsoft just announced they are to write off close to $900m of excess inventory on their Surface tablets. OMG! How is this kind of colossal failure possible? Add the ridiculous amount of money spent wasted on marketing and advertising and you have a billion dollar white elephant and migraine.

I'm sure the surface is not a lemon, but I wouldn't know because all I see on TV is a bunch of out of work actors who can't a job on Apple commercials (because Apple just uses blue shirt geeks now in their commercials) dancing around like cool kids, snapping their surfaces.

Hint: It's a tablet, not a musical instrument.

This is a classic example of old school marketing that simply does not integrate digital and social best practices from 5-10 years ago.

To the execs at Microsoft, I'd like to volunteer my services free of charge to help you turn your frown upside down and Flip your Funnel.

 

 

Related articles

Evol8tion Acquires Beancast (and Bob)

Domino's: Pizzavestment

Domino's Realizes They Are Startup Fuel! Offering $500 Pizzavestments To Startups.

Don't Worry About Funding Because Domino's Is Willing to 'Pizzavest' in Your Startup

Domino's Is Fueling Some Entrepreneurs With Free Pizza

Jaffe Juice #169 - New Business Networking with Dave Delaney

I recently sat down with old friend and social media veteran, Dave Delaney, and now author of New Business Networking: How to Effectively Grow Your Business Network Using Online and Offline Methods.

Here is our conversation on how to ahead in today's increasingly cluttered digital, social and connected world. Download or listen live by clicking this link.

And as a reminder, you can purchase his book here.

Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes here for more interviews like this one, as well as my monthly debate with fellow author and thought leader, Mitch

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Your Vote and Presence are requested at a SxSW Panel on the Intersection between Startups and Brands

(quick link to voting here)

Yes, it's that time of the year again. Time to rock the vote as the SxSW panel picker moves into overdrive and the audience participation phase of the rigorous selection process begins.

For those of you who don't know what SxSW (South By Southwest) is, check out the Wikipedia Entry. Or if not, in short it's essentially the banner event in the entire interactive/new media/social media/emerging media (you get the picture) calendar. Think CES for consumer electronics. Cannes for Advertising. SxSW for Interactive. The festival is not only for the geeks. There's also a Film and Music festival and for those of you that can make all 3 (Interactive and Music run back to back, but Film bleeds into both), you'll benefit tremendously from the blurring and synergy that comes from naturally overlapping trades.

One of the great things about SxSW is that anyone (and I mean ANYONE) can share the stage via the Panel Picker process. Literally thousands of proposal are submitted and via a 3-pronged vetting system (staff picks, advisory board, public), the eventual shortlist is chosen.

In 2011, your votes helped secure a speaking slot where I spoke about "Flip the Funnel" and took questions from the audience. Within about 60 seconds after the event, every single copy of the book has been sold in the bookstore. I hope they'll bring more copies this time round.

In 2012, my panel didn't make it into the final shortlist, so I'm appealling to you this time to help me make this possible - if for no other reason then the fact, we've put together a really bumper topic with incredible panelists and a super relevant theme: Madison Avenue meets Mountain View - in other words, the convergence of technology and creativity in the form of startups and brands collaborating together across a variety of engagement paths and platforms.

Here's the official description of the panel:

Why is it that so many startups have brands built into their monetization strategy and yet they only involve brands at the 11th hour? Dominated by a technology and investment focused mentality, marketing is an afterthought. On the flipside, brands recognize the growing importance of innovation and yet continue to invest in established, paid media. And that includes Facebook. But what if the process started earlier, with brands and startups collaborating further upstream to co-develop revenue streams, consumer utility and ultimately technology solutions to business problems? With less than 3% of startups ending up being fully funded, how might brands come to the rescue as White Knights? What if Instagr.am had been created for Kodak? What if Conde Nast invested in Flipboard? This panel will bring together 2 senior marketers from Fortune 500 brands, and 2 startup founders to discuss the challenges, opportunities and partnership potential that arises when Madison Avenue meets Mountain View

Here are the main questions we'll look to address/answer:

1. When in a startup's development life cycle should brands and startups be working together? How early is too early? How late is too late? What are the different engagement or partnership opportunities that are possible?
2. What are some of the pitfalls, pushback and concerns about brands and startups working together…and more importantly, how are they resolved? 
3. What is the role of the agency in terms of helping facilitate and ultimately execute on behalf of both startup and brand? 
4. What does a successful early stage startup and brand partnership look like? Who's doing a good job out there right now? How does one measure success? 
5. What can brands teach startups about marketing, emotion and monetization? What can startups teach brands about failing fast, pivoting or operating lean?

The panel will include two senior executives from blue chip brands, namely Ed Kaczmarek from Kraft Foods and Winston Wang from Anheuser-Busch InBev, as well as at least one startup founder, namely Brett Welch from Switchcam. We will also have a minimum of one case study to highight and reference.

I will moderate the panel and introduce the topic with some high level thoughts on where we see this space going and "evolving"

What makes me really excited about this panel is that it takes a hot, emerging topic from the conceptual to the realm of tangible outcomes and possibilities. And so if you're going to be at SxSW, please vote for and attend the panel and even if you're not, please register and vote regardless. We will make sure we capture the essence of the panel to share with you after the fact.

You can also share the panel via Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

Thanks so much for your consideration!

 

 

 

Kraft your Pitch Redux

On Thursday night, June 28th, Evol8tion put on our first branded pitch night called "Kraft your Pitch" in association with Grind and of course Kraft Foods.

This was a pitch night with a twist in the form of two key differences, namely:

1. Instead of pitching to investors, the startup finalists were pitching to brand managers
2. Instead of the 1 winner format, we employed a "everyone's a winner" spirit by providing marketing/agency feedback to all finalists ahead of the pitch night to help them "kraft" their pitch. Our hope is that this feedback will deliver continued value for all their future pitches to investors, brands and agencies.

At the end of the day, it is our belief that every viable startup has a brand soulmate. We equally believe that in startups, brands can find their salvation and solutions to their day-to-day problems (breaking through the clutter, engaging consumers, building brand trust, love and health, creating relevance and resonance, delivering real service and experience, providing utility)

Kraft your Pitch is one of several ways we connect early stage startups to matched brands.

Here is a 2 minute video which summarizes the night:

The finalists (congratulations to you all) were:

• Zokos
• Preplay
• Hatchedit
• GoChime
• Huddlers
• Spacesplitter
• Brouha

...across the following categories:

• Changing the Way we Shop (Shopper Marketing)
• Social TV
• Points and Perks (Loyalty Marketing, Advocacy, Flip the Funnel)
• Technology for Today
• Social Serendipity

If you want to find out who won, watch the video :)

If you'd like to find out more about branded pitch nights, contact us via our website or info [at] startupsforbrands [dot] com

Jaffe Juice #163 - Jaffe and Joel discuss Facebook's Identity Crisis

Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation and the upcoming smash hit, Ctr Alt Delete, and I sat down for our regular "debate" to discuss Facebook's Identity crisis as it relates to moving from being a Slave to VC's to a slave to Wall Street, but ultimately a Slave to Brands as opposed to Slave to consumers. Confused? Don't be...just listen and weigh in with your opinion as to whether Facebook has jumped the shark or as Jay Chiat once said, "let's see how big we get before we suck."

Join the Conversation dammit (it's not a cliche when I coined the term and wrote the book on it!) @jaffejuice on Twitter and @mitchjoel on Twitter.

And be sure to forward this to any brand marketers you think would benefit from the discussion and ultimately give their perspective on the theme at hand.

Listen to it LIVE (left click) or download it HERE (right click)

Subscribe to the show via iTunes here

Calling all startups: It's time to Kraft your Pitch

On June 28th at Grind in NYC, we'll be helping run a branded pitch night called "Kraft your Pitch."

Like the name suggests, this is an initiative we've put together for/with our client, Kraft Foods.

There are many pitch nights where startup hopefuls have a limited time to present their best elevator pitch to an audience and panel of judges (consisting of potential investors and other subject matter experts).

Startups are generally very good at talking tech and even funding, but what about marketing and monetization -  specifically, how their product and/or proposition will help deliver value for both consumers and brands?

That's where this pitch night takes on a different look and feel. For starters, startups will be selected to pitch on the basis of their pitch being a "match" to a defined Kraft focus area. In this case, we'll be honing on:

• Social TV
• Points and Perks
• Technology for Today
• Changing the way we Shop

Then, Evol8tion will spend time with each finalist prior to the pitch night to help "kraft" or customize their pitch to the marketer audience. We'll give advice, feedback and suggestions from the buy-side/agency-side to help refine and evolve their pitch.

We hope that this feedback will prove invaluable far beyond the pitch night itself and we know that the feedback the brand gives as part of the Q&A will go all the way to the bank. This is - after all - our vision at Evol8tion, namely "early stage participation with early stage startups".

And so if you're a startup looking to kraft your pitch, you can submit via www.startupsforbrands.com/kraftyourpitch.

If you'd like to attend, you can register via the same link (spots are extremely limited)

Thanks to Grind, for helping out on the event side and of course thanks to our client, Kraft, for their commitment to helping startups get to the next level.

Here's a more visual description of what I just said:

See you there!

Reflections from SxSW by Evol8tion's Partners

This year's SxSW Interactive Festival in Austin has come and gone.

Here are 10 insights/reflections from the Evol8tion partners: Sam Huxley, Gina Waldhorn and myself.

This post originally appeared on our Madison & Mountain View Tumblr Blog. If you haven't already, check it out and follow all things MplusMV (the intersection of advertising and technology) 

1. What launches in Austin sometimes stays in Austin (Sam)

In the mythos of SXSW, Twitter and Foursquare both gained massive adoption at the show and went on to mainstream stardom.  Twitter’s utility at the show, creating a back channel to the panels and quickly sharing relevant news, was matched by Foursquare’s ability to easily share location and utility demonstrated at the show was applicable to the mainstream.

For the two last years, however, the darlings of the show have had limited appeal after the show ends.  GroupMe, acquired by Skype last year for $50 million, is super-useful in coordinating large groups of attendees quickly, and is often more reliable than SMS in the bandwidth-challenged environs of the Austin Convention Center.  Outside of SXSW, however, 90% of what it does can be handled by group MMS messages, iMessage, and Gchat.  Similarly, this year’s “hot” app, Highlight, uses passive location to identify users nearby with similar interests, or contacts.  Outside of large conventions, it’s hard to see how this will solve an everyday user problem, besides helping extroverts find each other more quickly.  The other issue is that it needs to run constantly to work, which leads to…

2. Passive location startups need to figure out battery usage (Sam)

The biggest startup trend was around location services such as Highlight, Ban.jo, Sonar, and Glancee.  All of them differ in utility and presentation, but share a drawback that the great-granddaddy of location services, Loopt (recently acquired by Green Dot for $43 million), had in 2005 – they are energy vampires.  The GPS chip is one of the biggest power consumers on every smartphone, and having it on constantly dramatically shortens runtime.  It will likely take phone manufacturers a lot longer to develop better batteries that can handle these apps, than the developers to figure out how to use the GPS less.  If they don’t, it will take years for passive location to go mainstream.

3. The accelerator bubble (Sam)

One of the best panels this year was “Exploring the Top from TechStars, Frank Gruber from TECH Cocktail, Gabriella Draney of Tech Wildcatters, and Aziz Gilani from DFJ Mercury.  It was a solid, wide-ranging discussion, but one topic stood out – the incredible growth of accelerator programs worldwide.  There are currently over 200, and David estimated that there will soon be close to 500. This is an industry that is relatively immune to the normal forces of market contraction – most are isolated regionally, so they face little competition, and most of the founders have large amounts of capital that can keep the lights on until they lose interest.  The downside is that there is a finite pool of experienced mentors for startups to access, and bad advice early is one of the leading killers of great ideas.  The upside is more access to capital means more ideas get funded from a wider range of locations.  Time will tell on which wins out.Accelerator Programs” with David Cohen

4. Serendipity Rules (Joseph)

Going with the flow can produce incredible results. From meeting Christian Arno, the CEO of Lingo24 at the airport check in counter, to meeting Allison Hemming, Top Gun at The Hired Guns, on the plane, and sharing a cab downtown with Justin Glenn Davis, Lead Strategist, at Oniracom. Juan Andres Munoz Fernandez, CNN, Snr. Interactive producer.- outside hotel room door getting the newspaper. I also got a chance to catch up with Jeff Cutler and Chris Brogan one morning early at the Driskill, and it all came from waking up ultra-early due to Jet Lag and sending out a mundane tweet about being up at the crack of dawn. Who says what you had for breakfast on Twitter wasn’t valuable!?!

5. Tail wagging the dog (Joseph)

Big brands were out en masse at SxSW, but I’m just not sure it was because they really should have been there (based on proven media rationale) or because their social media manager or agency told them
they should be there. From talking to various brand managers, I understand how the opportunity to reach 50,000 Millennials had merit, but how many of them were actually “reached” and was it worth the cost?

For those brands that did participate, the ones that added value really scored above those indulging themselves. Chevy’s ride system added obvious utility, whereas Kraft (an Evol8tion client) delivered simple pleasure (and sampling) with their Mac ‘n Cheese Food Truck and speculative move in the form of branded umbrellas (keep your noodle dry). Pepsi’s presence on the other hand seemed to be inconspicuous and even absent (this may have had something to do with a much larger presence last year and perhaps not the best location this year).

Let the debate continue…

6. Nike rawks (Joseph)

Nike decided to launch their Fuelband in Austin. Apparently you can only buy them in Austin (during SxSW) and a concept/factory store in Manhattan, NY. This was a really smart seeding strategy that involved a kick-ass experiential outdoor installation, a pop-up store inspired by Apple, a seamless buying experience with personal shoppers and a constant line outside designed to raise the eyebrows and good old fashioned word-of-mouth. As the festival unfolds, more and more people joined the line based on interactions with others at the festival. Really smart implications for future festivals, namely an initial pop followed by consistent ramping up due to the momentum established by the steady flow of buyers.

The big loser in my opinion was Facebook. Not only were they completely absent, but rumor has it that their employees had to pay their own way there. Guess they were too busy counting their IPO moolah, but on two counts: their presence and actual consumer usage, my take was a giant flat-line.

7. The Freaky Line has been crossed (Joseph)

As Robert Scoble refers to the suite of new services like Highlight, Glancee, Banjo and Sonar. A whole bunch of times my Banjo twanged, the person in question was literally standing next to me. Very freaky indeed. I’m still not sure how this will play out, but glad I got to play this time round.

It was also commonplace to hear every startup pitch begin with “log in with your Facebook account,” which seems like the path of least resistance, but at what cost?

8. Design and User Experience will win the SoLoMo race (Gina)

From accelerator pitches to the line for the bathroom, every other conversation was with the founder of “the next revolution in Social Local Mobile utilities.” The space is certainly ripe for innovation, but the only problem being solved for seems to be “how do I find new and interesting things to do and places to go around me.” While there may be nuances in the platform approach (I.e. A virtual telephone pole with virtual fliers vs. an only positive recommendation engine) the usage and value propositions are the same, which means the battle for mass penetration is going to be won by getting user experience and design perfect (and this was the recommendation made to many of these startups by the VC judges on the accelerator panels).

9. Startups need storytellers (Gina)

After watching 50+ pitches, it became very apparent that a great idea can be lost in a terrible pitch. With the typical competition contestant having a technology background, and being given only 3 minutes or less to pitch their idea, the number one question from the VC’s we heard over and over again was “so, what exactly does it do?” Startup founders have no experience selling, story-telling, or pitching, and thus a great idea is often lost in a too technical, emotionless, example-less, drab presentation. Startups need the consultation (or better yet a staff member) from those who know how to sell a great idea.

10. We NEED to be thinking globally (Gina)

Some of the most interesting startups I connected with were from Chile, Australia, and London. With alternative (and sometimes more advanced) hardware, creativity abounds overseas. South America in particular had a noticeable showing throughout the conference, in both attendee and presenter numbers. With labor cost in South America being significantly cheaper (and creative design being a force to be reckoned with in S.America and Europe) not having a focused global effort will most certainly lead to missed opportunities.

So what were your takeaways?

Weight loss goes hi-Tech

In my new capacity at Evol8tion, we're looking to make connections between technology-based startups and established/blue chip brands.

The Evol8tion mission is to match "viable startups" to their "brand soul mate," but the real platform here is innovation, defined as new approaches that achieve disproportionate positive business outcomes and effect transformational change.

Actually that definition is mine, as the dictionary one is so bland...but you get the gist: doing things differently in order to get a result (which is the opposite of - or antidote to - Einstein's definition of insanity, as well as synonymous with "productive originality" which is actually the definition of creativity...but I digress)

A while back (2007) I started Fatblogging, which I believe is attributed to none other than Jason Calacanis, who put it out there originally. Sebastian Keil later created an autobot on Twitter to RT any #fatblogging tweets.

The concept was simple - lose weight by / via community. Put it out there and put it out there publicly. Get the support of the community, but also be accountable and beholden to that same community who will encourage and congratulate, but also chastise and commiserate. Why not?

I started (according to the post at around 224 pounds) and have yo-yo'ed since to 177 and back up to 212. Interestingly enough, I'm at the same weight now as I was in 2007 when my third child was born, so that can't be too bad. The real prize is to get back to my wedding weight of around 181, which takes me back to the beginning of 1999.

The ability to have a public "timeline" is interesting.

It's an archived record of your highs and lows (literally) and serves as a historical reminder of how you pick up weight, lose it and maintain. Sound familiar? (Facebook has just introduced "Timeline."

Right now, I'm back in the zone and #fatblogging again, but this time thanks to my Withings wi-fi scale. Yes, it's a wi-fi scale that tweets and posts to FB automatically. I realize that's a revolting concept to many, but it's equally empowering to others...you know, the masochistic narcissists.

Truthfully, that's the smallest piece of (somewhat unnecessary) functionality to the concept. The real functionality of the scale is to automatically detect a specific family member's weight and then map it to their profile to determine BMI, lean and fat percentages etc. This is automatically added to your online account, but also iPhone and iPad apps that graphs each weigh-in relative to goal etc.

Withings also allows you to share profiles with other Withings members, as well as to alert your doctor (it has a separate blood pressure product which plugs into your iPhone) if there are irregularities / negative trends etc.

It's just another example of how health is becoming intimately intertwined with digital, social and mobile technology.

My actual weight loss regime is managed via Weight Watchers Online. I've used WWO several times before and I love it. It works. Where I typically go off the rails is losing interest in the application during my maintenance period, but that's on me. Weight loss is really not that complicated:

• smaller portions
• Food awareness e.g. jumbo movie popcorn is essentially 29 points, 80 grams of fat etc.
• Substitutions e.g. egg whites for regular eggs
• Calories In vs Calories Out

The Weight Watchers App is good, but not great. It pivots around the size and quality of the database and whilst it's interesting to know every equivalent of Denny's products, truthfully no one should be setting foot into a Denny's if they're trying to lose weight. I'm not sure WWO fully understands community 2.0 and specifically social.

Perhaps they should take a leaf out of Withings book. Or Foursquare's.

I really love the ability to manage my own weight loss...with the help of technology and the community. It's empowering. Independent. And manageable.

I'd encourage any brands that either directly are built on a health and wellness platform and/or incorporate this theme into their branding, positioning and marketing to seriously look into this field. There are limitless possibilities of partnership with early stage startups, companies and apps looking to make their mark on this exciting space of DIY "Connected" Weight Loss.

What's your favorite weight loss, health or wellness startup, site or app? Share it with the community.

Photo credit: "Diet Themed Street Sign" from Bigstockphoto