January
29, 2002
Barter
Company Providing Complimentary Hotel Rooms For Families In Need
Innovative
Travel Marketing (ITM) President Jody Merl and Michael Stoler, President
of the investment banking/management consulting firm Princeton Commercial
Corporation, have teamed up to create the ITM Hospitality Fund to
provide complimentary hotel rooms for patients and families in times
of need.
They
are donating lodging to needy patients and families who are undergoing
treatment at various area medical centers in metropolitan New York.
The ITM fund was modeled after the Ronald MacDonald House concept.
The
impetus for creating the ITM Hospitality Fund was to devise an additional
outlet to make barter work for a socially charitable cause. The
fund is the quintessence of barter--enabling the optimal use of
excess inventory to aid the less fortunate during a critical time
in life. For further information, log-on to www.itmhospitalityfund.com.
Airline
Currency Expanding
What
started out in 1981 as a marketing tool, when American Airlines
introduced its AAdvantage frequent flier program, has become a massive
new alternative currency that over 100 million people (members)
use to acquire numerous products/services in addition to flying
trips.
The
airline industry now has an $80 billion currency--4 trillion air
miles at 2¢ each--and the frequent flyer currency, already
dwarfing the commercial barter industry, is making a move toward
expansion that will give it greater value for the millions who hold
the currency.
Leading
the way is Northwest Airlines, which has announced that blackout
periods will become a thing of the past beginning March 1. Northwest
will be the first U.S. airline to take the step but it's expected
other carriers will follow suit.
Randy
Petersen, publisher of Inside Flyer magazine, cites a parallel
situation that happened in the lodging sector a few years back.
Then, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide relaunched its frequent-guest
program without blackout dates. It was a huge success with customers,
and was later matched by other big hotel chains.
The
changes are taking place because airlines have gotten better at
forecasting demand and managing their inventory (seats) than they
were 20 years ago in the infancy of frequent-flyer miles.
Northwest
is also going to provide 250 miles of award credit when members
travel on deeply discounted CyberSaver fares. Additionally, it plans
to let members purchase up to 7,500 miles a year as gifts or for
their own accounts to redeem travel awards. Before long the airline
industry, aggregately, will have a currency that's larger than many
countries around the world.
Here
And There. . .
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Now, more than ever, promoting barter will pay off. Trade exchange
owners looking for the proven way to motivate their client
base and stimulate more trade activity among their clients can
obtain a copy of the 15-year-old, proven, informational marketing
tool--The Competitive Edge newsletter.
The
Competitive Edge is mailed to clients, prospects, etc. because
BarterNews research, among the exchange owners, shows that only
a third of the members of a trade exchange receive e-mail. For
more information E-mail bmeyer@barternews.com for a sample copy
and details. (Be sure to include your complete mailing address
and phone number in your e-mail.)
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Correction:
Last week we reported the top five traders through the BANC
(inter-trade exchange currency for members of NATE) did $1.5
million in BANC sales...that figure was an aggregate total of
the five traders, not a total for each individual trading through
the BANC.
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Myanmar,
one of the worlds' poorest nations, having limited infrastructure
and funds is going to barter its timber, rice, and fish to Russia
for the country's first nuclear reactor. Myanmar's foreign minister
stresses that it will be used purely for peaceful purposes.
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Another
avenue for an immense amount of advertising is coming on-stream...
35,000 post-office lobbies across the country! A new Postal
Service initiative will allow (the sale of) advertising in post-office
lobbies, on mail-delivery trucks, and even on mail-collection
boxes.
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STMicroelectronics,
Europe's largest chip maker and No. 3 in the world for 2001,
is spending $2.5 million to plant 550,000 pines on a vast tract
of former pastureland in Texas. ST's planting plans are aimed
at obtaining gas-emissions credits which can be bartered (exchanged)
against any future pollution taxes.
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Landlords,
pushing for occupancy rather than having an empty, or half-empty,
building with uncertain cash flow are busily bartering heretofore
valuable external signage rights, naming rights, or both to
secure tenants. (Tenants will typically pay for the cost of
the signs, their installation, maintenance, and removal once
the deal ends.)
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Orlando,
Florida, has the largest share of troubled hotel loans in the
U.S.--around 25% of the nation's total--as delinquencies on
hotel loans have soared due to the recession and a continued
reluctance to flying.
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Webmergers.com
reported that almost $40 billion was spent in 2001 to scoop
up dot-com firms at bargain basement prices. Technology led
the way, with web sites falling off dramatically as investors
soured on content and e-commerce over the Internet.
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Gotcha
Brands, a leading global beach-lifestyle brand for more than
20 years, has signed a new five-year renewal with Hawaiian TV
producer and event promoter Reid Inouye, to sponsor his long-running
"Backdoor TV." Inouye will provide Gotcha with 30-second
commercial spots, which will be bartered to local radio stations
for promotional time.
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Steve
Case, of AOL fame, says he is always focusing 5 to 10 years
in the future, thinking about what's ahead rather than getting
buried in the day-to-day stuff.
"I
spend most of my time thinking about the world that is coming,"
Case told the Wall Street Journal recently. What's he
thinking about now? Two things: convergence of technologies
and placing a bet on globalization.
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Two-way
trade (business) between Canada and the U.S. amounted to an
astonishing $475 billion last year--$1.3 billion a day. Canada
is the largest trading partner of the U.S., and it's the number
one export market for 37 of our 50 states.
NAFTA's
removal of trade barriers and obstacles to growth, along with
executives on both sides possessing unquenchable faith in the
future, will see continued economic relations being cemented.
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The
American Express Small Business Network reports that 99% of
all U.S. businesses are small businesses. Question: Why are
only 2% of the 27 million small businesses members of trade
exchanges?
Send
your opinions to: bmeyer@barternews.com.
Note: Small business is defined as under $10 million in annual
sales, and/or under 100 employees if a service business; 500
employees if a manufacturer.
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U.S.
trade (imports and exports) now totals over $2 trillion a year!
That's about 26% of the $8 trillion of international business
done between the 200+ countries around the globe. And countertrade
approximates 10% of the $8 trillion figure.
