Doing a 180 on Mingle360
In “Two Better Mousetraps,” the Marketing Consigliere blogged about his preference for one professional-to-professional communication technology over another. He thought DubMeNow offered a less cumbersome way to electronically transfer information between networkers than Mingle360. Living in the Washington, DC area, it was interesting to blog about the two companies.
Now the Marketing Consigliere would like to exercise his prerogative to correct a misperception he had about Mingle360. You see, the messaging on the website at first impression talks to the consumer/enduser:
“Start connecting to people in a safe and easy way!”
“Meet | Click | Connect“
“Pre-order Your Minglestick Today!“
Not to mention the mascot “MingleMan,” this site had all the trappings of a professional B2C site looking for viral product adoption. However, yesterday evening at a networking event, the Marketing Consigliere had the pleasure of speaking with Bradley Blinn, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Mingle360, who graciuosly clarified what the company and product were all about.
The MingleStick , a component of the Mingle360 service, is not meant to be a gadget for sale to individuals. It is a self-liquidating premium targeted to event and conference managers who can emblazon their or a sponsor’s logo on it, and then give it away to attendees for their use. At the event, end users can exchange “codes” via the devices which can later be used plugged into USB ports on computers to obtain contact information, specific literature and other content warehoused at the Mingle360 site.
The implications of this are great in that attendees do not have to be weighted down as much with hardcopy collateral as they work the aisles and crowds. It also means that unlike the BuyerConnect service from CompuSystems , which I blogged about earlier this year in “FOSE Followup Folly,” there is the possibility for a higher level of information immediately available to the customer whose behavior can be measured.
It will be very interesting to see how well this concept is accepted by the B2B crowd. The Marketing Consigliere appreciates the patience and professionalism of Mingle360 and regrets the misunderstanding from his previous blog.