Author: Press Release

NEW YORK, NY, JANUARY 23, 2014 – For the first time ever, fans will have the power to unlock exclusive content and rewards from authors by using image recognition technology to turn regular book covers into interactive media experiences. Author and TED speaker Sunni Brown has partnered with mobile tech company, BestBuzz, to leverage their proprietary technology and mobile app for her latest book release, The Doodle Revolution: Unlock the Power to Think Differently , published January 9 by Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Brown is ranked one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business and one of the 10 Most Creative People on Twitter by Fast Company, and her TED Talk on doodling has drawn more than a million views. Her book was recently named an Amazon Best Business Book of the Month and CBS Sunday Morning aired her story.

“This is an exciting and connective breakthrough for readers and authors. It gives me the ability to have direct touchpoints with my revolutionary doodlers. The BestBuzz platform is innovative, and provides exciting, visually rich tools to deliver relevant and valuable content to my readers, like infodoodles, webinars, exclusive sneak-peek chapters, how-to videos, special offers, and rewards you can’t get anywhere else,” says Sunni Brown, author of The Doodle Revolution. “It’s empowering.”

To trigger the image recognition experience, smartphone users can download the free BestBuzz mobile app or text the word DOODLE to the number 63566. Upon opening the BestBuzz app, users align the target shown on their screen with the book cover of The Doodle Revolution, which will buzz when the experience is triggered. Doodle fans will unlock exclusive content and advocates are prompted to support the author by sharing with friends on social media to help spark the Doodle Revolution movement.

Image Recognition technology has received steady buzz from top media outlets and tech blogs and is one of the hottest trends for 2014. Founder and CEO of BestBuzz, Carrie Layne, says, “Image Recognition technology is the latest addition to the BestBuzz platform, which gives our partners the ability to select the mobile activation triggers that best align with their marketing strategies and overall campaign goals. Another function of the platform is that our partners can connect real-time marketing content to social media rewards, making it simple for them to deliver an exciting and valuable experience to customers through print media, in-store displays and even product packaging.”

Sunni Brown says, “My team and I are leading a global campaign for visual literacy, what we refer to as a Doodle Revolution, and BestBuzz has built a revolutionary tool that helps me communicate and amplify my movement to reach new audiences and engage more deeply with established audiences. I love watching the buzz spread around the world from my dashboard in real-time, and it’s been an extraordinary experience discovering the BestBuzz team’s impressive capabilities.”

About The Doodle Revolution: Unlock the Power to Think Differently (published by Portfolio/Penguin Books January 9, 2014)

What did Einstein, JFK, Edison, Marie Curie, and Henry Ford have in common? They were all inveterate doodlers. These powerhouse minds knew instinctively that doodling is deep thinking in disguise–a simple, accessible, and dynamite tool for innovating and solving even the stickiest problems. Sunni Brown’s mission is to bring the power of the Doodle to the rest of us. She leads the Revolution defying all those parents, teachers, and bosses who say “Stop doodling! Get serious! Grow up! “She overturns misinformation about doodling, demystifies visual thinking, and shows us the power of applying our innate visual literacy. The Doodle Revolution was named an Amazon Best Business Book for January, 2014, and was recently featured in a CBS Sunday Morning story on Sunday, January 19.

About BestBuzz

Ranked as one of the Top 10 Hottest Startup companies by Startup America and Tech Cocktail, BestBuzz is a social amplification platform that helps businesses create, manage and deliver real-time content to fans that scans mobile activation codes from product packaging, in-store displays and print media. Users can download the free BestBuzz mobile app to discover and unlock rewards from their favorite local businesses, brands, media publications, and consumer products. Start scanning QR codes, UPC barcodes, images and logos marked with the BestBuzz icon to instantly earn points and unlock exclusive offers from partners.

To learn more visit: http://sunnibrown.com/ and http://bestbuzz.bz/or follow @sunnibrown and @best_buzz.

 

 

 

Resources and Tools to Help Merchant Technology Ecosystem and Companies Capitalize on Mobile Commerce

NEW YORK CITY – November 21, 2013 – Isis®, the mobile commerce joint venture created by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA Inc. and Verizon Wireless, today announced the launch of the Isis Alliance Program. The Isis Alliance Program supports merchant technology ecosystem partners with exclusive tools and resources to help them capitalize on the opportunities created by mobile commerce.

“We created the Isis Alliance Program to serve as a resource where companies looking to deploy mobile commerce solutions have access to tools and information,” said Jim Stapleton, chief sales officer, Isis. “The Isis Alliance Program will help companies harness the competitive advantages created by mobile commerce and better serve merchant customer needs.”

The Isis Mobile Commerce Platform™ offers merchants the ability to deliver a richer, more personalized relationship with their customers through the Isis Mobile Wallet®. It leverages the existing payments infrastructure, which means any merchant with a contactless payment terminal can accept payments via the Isis Mobile Wallet.

“Merchants depend on the retail technology industry to deliver the latest, most innovative technologies to grow their businesses,” said Joseph Finizio, president and CEO, Retail Solutions Providers Association. “We’re pleased to support the Isis Alliance Program and believe the critical tools it delivers will help retail technology providers future-proof their offerings and advance the solutions hitting the marketplace.”

Leading payment terminal manufacturers and software partners are integrating near-field communications (NFC) mobile payments and Isis SmartTap capabilities into point-of-sale (POS) offerings to ensure merchants can fully maximize the business opportunities created by mobile commerce. This enables Isis Mobile Wallet™ users to pay, present loyalty cards and redeem offers in a single transaction, effectively creating a new platform for merchant marketing campaigns and streamlining the customer experience.

“We applaud Isis for the launch of the Isis Alliance Program. Industry innovators like Isis are capitalizing on strong consumer and merchant interest in mobile payments, and the Isis Alliance Program recognizes the ISO and POS solution provider channel is a powerful pathway to get new technology to merchants,” said Jason Oxman, CEO, Electronic Transactions Association. “With relationships with more than eight million merchants, ETA member companies are uniquely positioned to introduce their merchant customers to new payments technologies. We applaud Isis for utilizing the merchant services channel to drive business, provide technology leadership and create new opportunities.”

The Isis Mobile Wallet is available nationwide and accepted in a range of merchant environments such as mass transit, vending machines, fuel pumps, taxis, restaurants, grocery and retail stores. The Isis Alliance Program supports companies representing all aspects of the merchant technology ecosystem, from hardware and software to service and technology providers.

“We firmly support the Isis Alliance Program – it aligns with our goal of advancing the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director, Smart Card Alliance. “By partnering with merchant payments acceptance providers, Isis is taking all the right steps to deliver secure payments and mobile commerce capabilities to merchants.”

To learn more or join the Isis Alliance Program, visit www.IsisAllianceProgram.com.

About Isis

The joint venture is between AT&T Mobility LLC, T-Mobile USA, Inc. and Verizon Wireless and is based in New York City. The venture is chartered with building Isis, a national mobile commerce venture that will fundamentally transform how people shop, pay and save. The Isis Mobile Commerce Platform™ will be available to all merchants, banks, payment networks and mobile carriers. Isis, Isis Mobile Wallet, Isis Ready, Isis Mobile Commerce Platform and the associated logos are trademarks of JVL Ventures, LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos, product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. For more information, visit www.paywithisis.com.