(cc) Liberty Bell MusicCard????
What following is a "card" proposal for municipalities that i shared with the former Mayor of Philadelphia and current Democratic Party Chairman Ed Rendell. After a couple meetings that Ed arranged for me with the arts/culture and mkt'g departments of the City of Philadelphia, the idea wasn't followed through on. This idea though again is shared with you here just to demonstrate what one could do with a "card".
=========================================================
1/18/99
Mayor Ed Rendell
Hand Delivered
Dear Ed:
First let me start with an aside, I continue to be excited about development in the City of Philadelphia. The pace has certainly quickened and has kept me pretty busy. I'm pleased that a new hotel chain has taken over Craig Spencer's project. This new Ritz Carlton location, I personally feel is the key component in connecting the Convention Center and East Market Street to the Avenue of the Arts and Restaurant Row. Plus this hotel is also a key opponent to further reinvigorate Chestnut Street. I'm also very pleased that Chestnut Street is going to be finally treated like a street for retailers, and in the Disney, Jump Street, RPAC, and Rittenhouse Ritz theater projects. I will be a vocal supporter from the CCRA community for this Ritz Theater. All of these projects will reinvigorate the Urban nature of Philadelphia that other cities are now to emulate.. However, I am still greatly dismayed with the design of the projects for Penn's Landing. What could be a great destination has been treated as a quasi-suburban destination, that places a 55 ft shade creating wall along Penn's Landing's greatest asset , the River. I strongly feel all the same objectives could be better achieved at Penn's Landing if the hotel is located on the North end, and the current Sea Port Museum is torn down. If $250 million is going to be spent on these two projects, they should have not be limited by the existing constraints of the site.
Anyway so much for my "speech", my real reason for writing is to present you with a revenue producing source of income for cultural projects and organizations for the City of Philadelphia. Please note that I'm also sharing this correspondence with Meryl at GPTM.
The idea is simply and fittingly the "Liberty Bell Music Card."
What is the music card?
First, I've included a "Music Card" in with this letter to share with you.
The "Music Card" is a marketing tool to direct traffic to the web sites of a company called Teleservices Internet Corporation and then retain them as customers without paying high advertising costs. TeleServices Internet Group, Inc. is a provider of fully integrated global teleservices to companies focused on selling products and services through toll-free numbers and the Internet. The Company's wide array of teleservices includes telephone sales/order capturing, customer service and product support as well as direct-response advertising. The $10 card allows the Card holder to visit TSIG's web site and buy his next 20 compact disks, during any period of time, for $10.99 per CD without any other obligations. This price is the least expensive price, by far on average, on the Internet and includes new releases Let me succinctly state that this not a "music club".
Before I go into how and why this can be a revenue generating engine and marketing tool for the Philadelphia, let me just mention that Dick Clark, who started Band Stand here in Philadelphia, is a spokesperson for the company.
Attached to this letter are some press releases. One release briefly discusses the relationship TSIG has formed with the Babe Ruth League. 900,000 little league players play in the Babe Ruth League. This year instead of selling cookies or candy bars, some of these aspiring Sammy Sosas an Mark McGwires will be selling "Babe Ruth League Music Cards" to raise money for uniforms and their teams. TSIG splits the profits from the sales of the $10 card (approx. $5 ea. per card) with the league. The league's name and logo is on the card along with TSIG?s web address and teleservice's phone number.
Now Philadelphia could do something similar selling cards at convention events, sporting events, and for special events plus celebrations. The profit per card is small but the big bucks are made through volume. Plus the cards can be printed as "collector" edition cards with a standard "Liberty Bell Music Card" and logo or cards memorializing significant events like the Year 2000 Republican Convention. Therefore, the City gets a built in little reminder of the City of Philadelphia to the purchaser every time that purchaser is a customer to TSIG's web page.
I should note right now that TSIG's web site is being redone by one of the Internet's leading web page designers Cohesive Systems. Cohesive has worked for the likes of Microsoft and Netscape. This new web page is scheduled to be debuted at the beginning of March '99.
If you are interested in pursuing this further or just have some questions, you can contact me at 215-xxx-xxxx or you may contact the. CEO of the company, Rob Gordon.
Thank you again for your time and much sought after attention.
Sincerely,
z |
