Archive for April, 2009

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Sin Tax Economic Stimulus

April 6th, 2009

Sin tax debateOn April 1st the federal cigarette sin tax rate increased from $.39 to $1.01 a pack. It is estimated that the sin tax will lead to a decrease in youth lighting up and an increase in the number of adults who quit smoking. Always one to be interested in the data behind the numbers, I took a deeper look into the tax revenue potential of the sin tax increase by state.

I loaded the percentage of smokers by state into an online database and used calculated formulas to determine what the revenue impact would be if these smokers smoked a pack a day or a pack a week. By my rough estimates, the annual federal revenue potential would be $22 billion if all U.S. smokers smoked a pack a day or $3 billion if they smoked a pack a week.

Below is the list of the top ten states with the greatest number of smokers. If you’d like to look at a more comprehensive list of all 50 states, click here.

This got me thinking. What would the revenue potential be if the sin tax was assessed on cigarettes sold in two of the countries (China and India) with the highest number of smokers?

Any way you slice it, the numbers are staggering. Sin taxes are nothing new and have been around since the 1500s. The Freakonomics blog had an interesting conversation on taxing video games. I’m curious. What do you think will be taxed in the future as a sin tax?

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Ten Benefits of an Online Database to Public Relations Agencies

April 2nd, 2009

With the launch of the new MediaOnTwitter database generating enthusiasm in the PR community, I thought I’d share ten benefits an online database provides PR professionals:

1. Track media contacts from third parties. Excel import allows agencies to easily import media lists obtained from third parties. Firms can even update existing records via an Excel Import.

2. Better manage agency workflow. Email alerts will notify appropriate team member when a change is made and requires follow-up (i.e. press release has been approved by client and requires posting to wire).

3. Streamline the approval process. No need to send emails back and forth to your client. Simply grant the appropriate permission levels to your clients so they can access the latest revisions real-time.

4. Stay on top of editorial calendars. Date field type and calendar format allow you to easily create an editorial calendar. Distribution schedules can be set up so no editorial deadline is missed.

5. Communicate with journalists, clients and prospects. Built-in email campaign tool allows agencies to merge database fields and send newsletters or mass emails to their media contacts or clients.

6. Easily locate media contacts and prior agency work. Use the Internet like search functionality to locate a niche journalist or past release in your database.

7. Maintain integrity of media contacts. Keep contacts clean and up-to-date via the find duplicate feature that makes it easy to find duplicate contacts by name, publication, email, or any other field you specify.

8. Powerful way to segment media and clients. Slice and dice your contacts using custom views to filter data based on criteria most relevant to your client (i.e. location, beat, etc.).

9. Create an online media archive. Flexible field types allow you to upload podcasts, videos, images, documents and create hyperlinks to press mentions.

10. Experience anytime, anywhere data access. While on the road, easily access the latest press release or media contact information.

These are ten of the benefits we have heard from our PR and creative agency clients. If you’d like help getting your agency on track with TrackVia, give us a call. Don’t forget – continue to submit media contacts to the MediaOnTwitter database for your chance to win a Kindle 2. Stay tuned for a future post that describes how TrackVia’s database powers MediaOnTwitter.

Additional Reading:
Advertising/PR Agency Uses TrackVia to Increase Efficiency

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TrackVia Announces Data Randomizer Feature

April 1st, 2009

TrackVia, the leading provider of online database software, today announced the launch of their new Data Randomizer feature. Designed for customers who are bored with their same-old, same-old data, the Data Randomizer injects spontaneity and hilarity into data management tasks by randomly changing unknown fields in unknown records. “What’s more fun than mistakenly referring to a customer named Bob as Bob-Boberan?’” asked TrackVia CEO Chris Basham rhetorically. “Or mistaking product number 1144332 for 1133442? I mean, 1133442?? Ha!”

The Data Randomizer uses genetic algorithms developed in collaboration with Caltech, NASA, and the National Association of Improv Comedians. It uses a proprietary Mishap Factor, a scaled numerical score ranging from seventeen to infinity, to decide where data randomization can be injected most enjoyably. For example, the Data Randomizer algorithm can deduce that “routine check-up” is funnier if changed to “invasive colon surgery.”

The new feature is available immediately to existing TrackVia customers for an additional monthly charge of $1,999.99. 

To access this new feature, TrackVia users should perform the following steps:

  1. Go to the Database Overview page of the database to be randomized.
  2. Search on the phrase “data randomizer.”
  3. On the no results found phrase, right-click four times.
  4. Left-click six times, hit Enter five times, and reduce the brightness of your monitor.
  5. Search a second time on “invasive colon surgery.”
  6. Call TrackVia Support at (800) 673-3302 and ask for the 87-digit access key. 

Separately, TrackVia announced that the following new features will be beta-tested with select customers in April:

  • The Animal Noises feature announces the logging in of one’s colleagues by playing moooo and baaaa sounds.
  • The Self-Chat feature is an embedded single-person instant messaging client that allows users to send messages to themselves, such as “Go get ‘em, Tiger!” and “I have intrinsic worth!”
  • The Space-Time Wormhole feature enables customers who send an Email Campaign to an address being monitored by TrackVia’s Email Collection feature – with auto-reply – to create an infinite loop and thereby travel backward in time.  

For questions or concerns about these features, please click here to contact TrackVia Support. 

 

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