The music industry has long been putting fans to work for help with promotions and sales, and now it looks like Domino's Pizza is getting in on the action as well. A new widget launched last month lets consumers serve as affiliate marketers for the brand through their social networking pages and blogs.

Domino's UK is apparently the first brand to test the new widget, which comes from UK agency BLM Quantum, part of Arena BLM. All consumers need do is install the widget on their website, blog or social networking page, start promoting Domino’s on their personal web space, and then wait for the cash to roll in. The widget tracks all orders placed through their site and rewards consumers with 0.5 percent of every purchase.

All the marketing experts in the world can't hold a candle to the persuasive power socially connected consumers have over each other; the key is harnessing that power and putting it to work for your brand—with rewards, of course, for the consumers in question. Who will be the first brand in *your* industry to leverage the virtually limitless marketing muscle of sellsumers?

Website: www.dominos.co.uk
Contact: www.dominos.co.uk/about/contactus.aspx

Spotted by: MarketingWeek via Rick Edgars

We've seen numerous social networks for travellers in recent years, including KLM's location-specific Club China and Club Africa for connecting people who do business in those parts of the world. Taking a slightly different tack is British Airways' Metrotwin, which focuses on comparing and contrasting city “twins” instead.

New York and London are the cities paired on the main Metrotwin site, which provides recommendations for the best neighbourhoods, businesses, attractions and places to visit on both sides of the pond. Rather than connecting travellers, it strives to be more of a social utility for time-starved, novelty-seeking urbanites living in or travelling between the two cities. Same goes for Metrotwin Mumbai, a like-minded arm of the effort that pairs London and Mumbai instead. The site explains: “Do you know where to find the Breach Candy of London? What about the Tate Modern of Mumbai? Metrotwin makes these cross-references useful by asking people like you to suggest Mumbai and London ‘twins’ for neighbourhoods, businesses, attractions, places and people.” Rather than reviewing any and every cafe in those cities, then, it focuses on comparable “best of” destinations, drawing from local online communities and bloggers—who, incidentally, get rewarded for their content with British Airways miles.

Now in beta, Metrotwin puts an interesting spin on travel review sites by focusing on equivalent attractions in very different cities. That's how people often learn about new things, after all—by comparing them with what they already know—so the approach makes intuitive sense. One to emulate for travellers in your part of the world, or to apply to a different product category?

Website: www.mumbai.metrotwin.com
Contact: support@metrotwin.com

Spotted by: Louisa Redshaw

Image credits: Deepa and obo-bobolina

It's been a while since we've come across any new efforts involving vending machines, but recently a nice one in the Paris Métro caught our eye. A week before Valentine's Day, fragrance retailer Sephora installed a series of machines at various Métro stations dedicated to selling Calvin Klein's CK One scent in a special, portable size.

From February 7 through February 20, visitors to the Métro's La Défense, Charles de Gaulle-Étoile, Montparnasse and Miromesnil stations could buy a special 15ml size of CK One at an on-site "CK One Pocket Store" by Sephora. Priced at EUR 10, the limited-edition pocket size is also available through Sephora itself. The vending-machine concept was created by Paris agency Nouveau Jour, which says it expects to use it abroad as well. A video on Daily Motion shows the campaign in action.

Another option, of course, would have been for Sephora to use the vending machines to give out free samples of the fragrances, much the way Fosfor's Boobox does. Either way, however, the approach is sure to generate far more interest and trials among trysumers than a traditional advert ever could. Keep the vending-machine ideas coming! (Related: Upscale vending machine sells curated luxury goods — Vending machines sell after-party shoes — Vending machines sell bathing suits at hotel pools — Touch-screen machine for interactive vending — Best Buy starts vending at airports.)

Website: www.sephora.fr
Contact: serviceclients@sephora.fr

Much the way Spot Runner and Spotzer aim to make local television advertising easy and affordable, so PlaceLocal strives to deliver a similar result on the web.

The PlaceLocal platform, from Connecticut-based advertising technology company PaperG, allows online publishers to automate local ad creation, sales and management. Aspiring advertisers need only type in their business name, and PlaceLocal will automatically search the web for relevant information—including logos, photos, reviews, awards and other information—and then use it to create a customised online advert. Advertisers aren't required to have their own website in order to create an advert—in fact, if they don't have one, PlaceLocal will create one for them. Once generated, the ad is fully editable by the user. The ads can then be booked to appear on partner websites in the same geographic location.

In addition to the obvious benefits for advertisers, PlaceLocal can also be used by publishing sales reps to increase new advertising opportunities, PaperG says. Publishers can bill their clients directly or use PaperG's credit card billing system, and a PlaceLocal account provides real-time stats for any ad. (Related: Local TV advertising made easy — Marketplace for custom advertising images.)

Website: www.paperg.com/publishers/placelocal.php
Contact: www.paperg.com/contact.php

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Companies are catching on to the fact that bloggers can provide an effective way to create buzz about their brands. We've seen several efforts that explicitly recognise that fact, such as TasteCasting for restaurants and YokmoK's free travel giveaways. Bringing the notion into the world of new consumer products is Swagapalooza, an invitation-only event that gives influential bloggers free samples of new products.

Created by Bay Area startup Launch Hear, Swagapalooza aims to give entrepreneurs a way to get their producs in front of the most-followed bloggers and tweeters from across the United States. The first event was held in New York in September last year. At it, brands including Surprise Industries, Idea Paint and Switch2Health—which, coincidentally, we just covered—had the chance to make presentations to the select audience of 100 bloggers, 20 Twitterers and 5 Redditors. In exchange for their participation, the audience members were entitled to free samples of any of the products being presented. A detailed review of the event is available on AdAge.

Swagapalooza's next event will occur in March in San Francisco, and Launch Hear is currently seeking both bloggers and companies with new products to show off. One to try out in your next promotional campaign? Or how about launching something similar elsewhere? (Related: Blogger helps connect consumers and brands — Food blogger turned intermediary & purveyor.)

Website: www.swagapalooza.com
Contact: alex@swagapalooza.com

Spotted by: Jody Turner