Aeromove offers Junk Removal Service to their Members

If you are an Aeroplan Member and have not yet signed up for Aeromove, and are planning on 'moving', you might want to consider it sooner than later.

Aeromove is the exclusive destination for Aeroplan Members to access information and services related to buying and selling residential real estate in Canada. It's basically a 'one-stop-shop', to find Real Estate Agents, Movers and now Junk Removal from 1-800-GOT-JUNK?

Hey, if you're going to use moving services anyway, why not earn Aeroplan rewards by doing so?

MLB partners with Stub Hub

People 'scalp' tickets all the time, so why not get in to the action? At least that's the position that Major League Baseball (MLB) is taking with the launch of a new partnership with Denver, Colorado based StubHub! that will enable 'secondary ticket sales' from fan to fan.

It's an interesting move, considering that many U.S. city municipal codes state that it's illegal to sell tickets for more than face value. Having said that... an argument can be made that the tickets will be "sold in cyberspace", so it will be tough to prosecute anyone, even if the authorities want to.

My take is that Major League Baseball is happy to endorse this market because they are now part of the process as they both guarantee and generate revenue from the sales whereas in the 'pre-online' world, that level of participation would not have been possible. With a keen eye on the transactions, they will have transparency and work with their partner 'Stub Hub' to ensure a high level of service. As for any legal ramifications, I'm sure that the lawyers for MLB have assessed the risk and it's obvious that they are not all that concerned. All of which confirms that if someone is going to make a margin from your product that you might as well get a piece of the action.

You can read more about the partnership here:

MLB Teams With Web Site To Resell Excess Tickets

Sounds like a winner to me!

AOL loves Content Partnerships

I remember the days when AOL was all about providing access to those wanting to connect to the Internet. A lot has changed since that time. AOL announced that they would stop acquiring customers as an ISP (Internet Service Provider) about a year ago to focus on their portal and web based services. That was the right thing to do, as Large Cable Companies and regional DSL providers were eating in to AOL's leading market share for dial-up Internet Services with aggressive Broadband offers, especially in the US Market.

As AOL looks to expand it's offering, Marketing Partnerships still remain key to their strategy. It was not that long ago that you would buy a new PC and find an AOL Icon pre-loaded on your Desktop promoting a special offer to 'Sign Up to AOL for Free'. Well, they are using the same concept, yet this time around they are partnering with ISP's (how ironic, considering that they were once a leading ISP) to offer their web based services to a larger audience as in the case of the recent deal between AOL and MTNL (an India based broadband and telecoms provider) as reported in the Hindu News: MTNL enters in to Strategic Partnership with AOL

Like I said...this is nothing new. In my home market (Canada), this has been the case for a while now. MSN has a partnership with Sympatico as does Rogers with Yahoo. Connectivity Giants hooking up with Large suppliers of Content and Services makes sense strategically because the Telecoms/Communications providers can focus on what they do best; providing access and the Portals (who are specialists in content and services) bring a valued proposition to the customer and therefore enhance the offering beyond just 'connectivity'. Since announcing their strategy shift to get out of the connectivity business, AOL Canada is yet to officially partner with a leading Telecoms/Communications provider in this market.

Keep an eye on this space as I am sure that AOL will be announcing more of these types of partnerships with leading Telecoms/Broadband services providers in the near future...

Dell Asks to Plant A Tree

We all know that I love Partnerships that sell more, add value and leave less on the table, but I especially love them when they make our world a better place. That is why I want to draw attention to the cause related marketing partnerships that computer giant Dell are involved with. If you want to read more about how Dell is selling more 'eco-friendly' servers to companies like search engine Ask.com in an effort to better our world, click on the following link:

Ask.com, Dell Partner for a Better Planet

Apple Doesn't Do Marketing Partnerships

Have you ever seen Apple products actively promoted by Apple marketers alongside other brands? If you have, let me know, cause I never see it anywhere. Apple doesn't do marketing partnerships. Why? Who really knows, but if I were to take my best guess; I would say that they feel that they don't have to... that promoting other brands "takes away" from their proposition and hinders their brand. I'm not so sure that this is true, but who am I to argue with a company known for selling THE consumer electronics product (the iPod) of the decade. They don't do the 'Intel Inside' program on their PC's because Intel is not Apple. They don't promote non-Apple iPod accessories or music download sites that are not Apple (itunes.com) for that very same reason. They only focus on their brand and their propositions because they have branded themselves as a unique and stylish developer of consumer and computer electronic products (and services), and Apple does not want to risk having anything or anyone tarnish that image. It's a noble argument, but how has that helped them to sell more?

Apple computers are loaded with Intel processors, right? So, why not promote 'Intel Inside'? I recently read that Apple says that "everyone knows that their machines are loaded with Intel, so there is no need to place those stickers on their boxes". I guess they don't want to look like every other computer manufacture and want clean and uncluttered packaging, but it's that very same attitude that has them at 5% of the global market share for PC's (read more here: Apple doesn't do Intel Inside). If the goal is to increase their share of the pie, why not participate in the HUGELY SUCCESSFUL Ingredient Branding partnership known as the 'Intel Inside' program? I don't get it.....Any insights?

I can appreciate why Apple does not partner around the iPod and leave those who want to give them away 'in contests' to buy them at their local consumer electronics shop or online, but the lack of Marketing Partnerships around their PC's doesn't add up. Unlike the iPod, their PC's lag significantly in market share. It might be time to re-think their position and not take the same attitude on partnerships for all product categories. Just a thought... :)

Habs extend Partnership with RDS

My favorite hockey team, "The Montreal Canadiens", otherwise known as "The Habs" have extended their TV broadcast partnership with RDS. That is good to know, but what about an English Language TV deal? Would be nice to see someone step up to the plate (or the net) and make that happen. You can read more here.....Canadiens, RDS extend partnership.