There is a new service out called Shopflick, that allows online sellers to augment their item with a video ad. After poking around the site, I find it to be a fresh and entertaining way to engage buyers in the online shopping experience. Many of us have either bought or sold things on eBay and see the same stock product description and image that everyone else posting the same item has used. Now, video will be able to provide much more differentiated information on the product and allow a stronger connection to be formed between the buyer and seller.
It didn't take long for the recently merged Activision and Blizzard Entertainment to make some interesting strategic moves. They recently announced a plan to launch a new digital music store to compete with iTunes. Wait, aren't these two companies in the gaming business?
As we have seen, many of the recent blockbuster game titles have been music-focused. Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution have been major hits over the past couple of years. Activision Blizzard's Guitar Hero is the hottest selling game over the past year and has shown to dramatically affect sales of songs included in the game. For example, the chart below (or in the extended post) shows the impact that the GH3 launch had on digital sales of songs in the game (chart courtesy of Ars Technica). Not only did song sales make a dramatic leap, that leap continued to grow and sales remained high even weeks after the launch of the game.
