Tag Archives: prize giveaway

Getting Craft-y with Mobile Coupons

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all I need now is a KNITTING app!

It makes sense for a certain type of retailer to keep their brick-and-mortar stores healthy, even as they make a big push into mobile retail. Michaels craft store is one example, and they have introduced a mobile coupon app to get the job done.

Mobile is providing an important alternate means of coupon distribution for Michael’s and other large chains that have traditionally used newspapers for that purpose as more consumers turn toward digital media and away from print.  InternetRetailer.com

17% of us used mobile coupons last year, and the number is growing. For Michaels, one key to driving consumer acceptance still lies in the old circular stuffed into your newspaper. It leads people to the mobile site, and promises them that the coupons they find there will be different from the ones in the paper.  Also, while the coupons in the paper are necessarily general in nature, the mobile coupons can be more easily tailored to the consumer.

Hey, as much as I feel like a hostage every time my wife drags me into Michaels, I really can’t imagine that you would get anywhere NEAR the same experience – getting ideas, seeing completed projects on display, etc. – from simply shopping online.

So what do you think? There have to be some Michaels fans among us! Have you tried the app? What do you think? What other retailers would you like to see try this method?

The Kitchen is Closed

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We all have a defunct restaurant from yesteryear that we miss – usually some mom and pop diner or local steak house. But who knew we would mourn Bennigan’s or Don Pablo’s? Well, it’s come to this, people.

 There is a school of thought that says the restaurant business is always a good business because people need to eat. A glance at the sales of many of America’s largest restaurant chains over the past decade quickly dispels that myth.             MSN Business.com

Here’s the deathwatch:

  1. Bennigan’s: This nationwide, Irish-themed casual-dining restaurant has 87% fewer locations than it did in 2001.
  2. Ground Round: This casual-dining burger and steak chain lost 81% of its locations in the last 10 years.
  3. Bakers Square: Serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, but is best known for its pies. Has 70% fewer locations than 2001.
  4. Damon’s: I always knew it as a rib joint, but later became a sports bar. 72% decline.
  5. Don Pablo’s: Nationwide Tex-Mex chain. 70% decline.
  6. Gloria Jean’s Coffees. In its 30-year history, it has expanded to Australia, where it still thrives. Here? 73% decline.
  7. Big Boy. This one I don’t get. Frisch’s is the Big Boy chain back home in Ohio, and I have seen ZERO decline. Every one of the dilapidated shops from the 60’s has been renovated. But, the overall national chain is down 65%.
  8. Tony Roma’s. Tony still has a large international presence, but here at home is down 72%
  9. Country Kitchen. Buffet place, right? Down 74%.
  10. Black Angus Steakhouse. Primarily out west, there are 46 BA’s today, down from 107 in 2001 – a 57% drop.

So, any of your favorites on the list? Who did they miss? Let us know!

Netflix: Self-inFLIXted Wounds

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Have you been following the implosion of Netflix lately? I know, it’s not easy! The video rental business built its name on home DVD-rental delivery. More recently, they have also been offering streaming content to their higher-tier customers, basically for free. Well, them days is done, son! And the fans are irate.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings with self-inflicted wounds. This might be Photoshopped.

The problem is that they tried to build their streaming service by giving it away for free, as an add-on to their snail-mail DVD service. This was a good way to add customers. But the history of the internet indicates that once you convince people something is supposed to be free, or close to it, you will have a devilishly hard time getting them to pay for it.   Megan McArdle, Atlantic Monthly

Particularly when Netflix apparently knew from day one that home-delivered DVD’s were a short-term gateway drug to eventually get us hooked on streaming video. They always knew they would have to start charging for this content eventually, so how did they screw it up so badly? Jacking up the price by 60%, enraging their customers, then splitting the business in two, with Netflix as streaming only and Qwikster for DVD’s. Bottom line, they are expecting to lose 1 million customers in the short term!

So, let’s hear it, Netflix fans. Were you shocked, angry, or indifferent? Let us know!

Update October 10, 2011… Now they have scrapped the whole idea! What a head-scratcher!

iPhone Losing Its Cool?

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“There’s an interesting thing that’s going on in the market. The iPhone has become a little less cool than it was.”

Now, here at MindField we love our iPods, iPhones, iPads, you name it. We’d like to think it’s because they’re innovative, they work well (alone and together) and they have great apps. We’d like to think it’s NOT for the Apple “cool factor”…because that wouldn’t be cool somehow.

But the cool factor is a big part of it for a lot of people. Believe me, I know. I worked at a company that made cases and power accessories for Apple products. The boss would call a staff meeting. 30 people would gather around the big table, and all of them would immediately whip out their iPhones. Heck, about a third of them had iPads, too. And here I was with a dumb old Nokia flip-phone.

So when my wife’s boss was giving up his iPhone 3GS and upgrading to an iPhone 4, I jumped at his used model. Social faux pas averted! Coolness achieved!

So, when I read this article, “Has the iPhone Lost its Cool?”, I got a bit of a chuckle. Basically, it says that college kids are turning away from iPhone for one or both of the following reasons: first, if their parents love the iPhone – as parents definitely do – there must be something terribly LAME about it. Also, if you want an iPhone, you’d better be ready to lay down at least three bills for it – unless you buy a creaky old 3GS like mine! Meanwhile, nicely capable Android phones are available at a variety of price points.

Now, bear in mind, this article was based on an Android executive’s personal experience dropping his daughter off at her college dorm – so take it with a grain of salt! But what do you think? Has the iPhone lost some of its luster? Are you just as happy with an Android? Let us know!

MindField Facebook Fan Update for September

Once again, we have updated the Panelist Reviews page with a fresh batch of, um, panelist reviews from happy MindField Online Facebook fans. Lets take a look at them, including this white-hot chunk of satisfaction from Timmie – who seems to like exclamation points as much as WE do!

Timmie says: It sure makes you proud when you go to the store & find the product you tested knowing that you helped make it available to others!! Also, there’s a bunch of fine fun folk here. No auto response computers! Amazing what a relief it is to talk to real people!! You guys make this panel fun!!!!!

Read the rest here. And THANKS, MindField friends!!

Blogging Year in Review, el parte dos

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Yesterday we began our two-part blogging year in review looking at the various pieces we did about the consumer testing industry in general, and MindField Online in particular. Today, let’s recall the ways we reached out to panelists like YOU!

We announced fun cash and prize giveaways, like

And when we reached those milestones and held the drawings, we featured the names, pictures and bios of as many of the winners as we could:

Early on, we reached out to long-time members and asked them to tell their stories:

We really wanted to do more of these, but we found that people are generally shy about too much attention.

Meanwhile, we began collecting satisfied members’ comments on Facebook. Back when we had about 5,000 fans, we made a blog post with a bunch of these comments. We kept updating them about every month or so, and finally decided they needed their own page. We update the Panelist Reviews page monthly, and it’s coming up next week!

Well, that’s the year in review! Thanks for everything, MindField Online friends and family…and stay tuned!

Labor Day Open Discussion

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OK, your humble blogger is north of 40 in age, and he remembers when almost nobody’s mom worked outside the home. Then, when mom got a job, it was to get out of the house, or to have some personal spending money. Now, 66% of moms with kids have jobs!

Check out the chart to the left, From The Two-Income Trap

Now please, always take statistics with a grain of salt. As Homer Simpson said, “People can make statistics say anything they want, and 54% of people know that!”

Basically, it says that while incomes have close to doubled, we have nearly half as much money left over than we used to.

I guess my point is, times are tough. We all have to work, more or less. So how do you make it work in your family? Cut back on frills? Clip coupons? Join online consumer panels and complete surveys for money and prizes? Let us know!

Coupon Crazy!

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A shopper snags $4,000 worth of razors and pays zero. Couponers dive into Dumpsters in search of newspaper inserts. They purchase $1,000 worth of groceries and pay a few dollars. One man has a “wall of toothpaste” with 1,000 tubes. Twin sisters brag they have cleaned out a store’s supply of dental floss. Others boast of lifetime supplies of paper towels and toilet paper.             Palm Beach Post

So, did the coupon craze inspire that wacky “Extreme Couponing” show on TLC? Or has the show inspired the couponing craze? Seems like it’s true both ways.

Somehow I managed to catch the premiere back in the spring (in between shows about guns and monster trucks!) Much of it was pretty interesting. First of all it was shot in my hometown of Cincinnati – I recognized the Kroger that lady shopped in, and her neighborhood.

Anyway, there were some really practical aspects to the show, and couponing in general. Who doesn’t like to save money, especially these days? Other aspects gave me a “Hoarders” vibe. Couponing as an obsession, you know. Still other aspects made me angry. I worked in a grocery store once. You get to tie up a register, and a cashier, and ten carts for two hours, AND crash the computer system, just so you can get $1000 worth of groceries for twenty bucks? Grrr.

Anyway, in this economy, I don’t think couponing is going away anytime soon. What do you think? Practical? Obsession? Menace to grocery stores everywhere? Let us know!

Our Biggest Drawing EVER!

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Faceless yellow man is happy…you will be too!

NOTE: This is a PAST drawing. We keep it posted to illustrate the kinds of fun opportunities we have for MindField Online members.

Big news, fans of MindField (and money!) Announcing our biggest cash drawing ever, just in time for the holidays! On December 10th, 2011 we will hold a drawing for combined total of $2,500.00!

This includes:

One $1,000 Grand Prize,

Two $500 Second Prizes, and

Twenty $25 Third Prizes!

How do you qualify? There are all kinds of ways involving Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, Amazon.com, the MindField Online Blog, Refer-a-Friend, signing up for text messages and more!

For a full rundown of rules and qualifications, head over to the official MindField Online prize page, HERE.  Thanks, and good luck!

New Amazon.com Cashout Option!

Check out the brand new Amazon.com cashout option for MindField Online Panelists!

That’s right, starting now, in addition to our check request and PayPal cashout options, you can also choose to get your dough in the form of an Amazon.com Gift Card*! Whether you just hit your $5 threshold, or you’ve been saving up, you can request an Amazon.com Gift Card* at no extra cost to you. You receive a gift card code via email, you enter the code number at Amazon.com, and you go nuts!

We hope you enjoy this new convenience…let us know!

And now the legal mumbo-jumbo!

*Amazon.com Gift Cards (“GCs”) sold by McMillion Research, an authorized and independent reseller of Amazon.com Gift Cards. Amazon, Amazon.com, the Amazon.com logo, and the Amazon Gift Cards logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. GCs may be used only for purchases of eligible goods on Amazon.com or its affiliated website Endless.com. GCs cannot be redeemed for purchases of gift cards. Except as required by law, GCs cannot be reloaded, resold, transferred for value, redeemed for cash, or applied to any other account. See www.amazon.com/gc-legal