It wasn't long ago that we covered the Best Job in the World contest from Australia's Tourism Queensland, and now another popular destination has appeared on our radar for its own promotional innovation. Specifically, Tourism New Zealand has been using a mobile recording studio to collect international visitors' impressions of the region and then upload them to YouTube.

More than 100,000 people have viewed video "raves" posted on Tourism New Zealand's Have Your Say channel on YouTube, which now includes more than 1,400 clips of travellers from Australia, the US, UK, Japan, Germany, Canada and beyond expressing their thoughts and feelings about the country. The organization kicked off the effort in December as part of its "What Do You Say, UK?" campaign, focused on promoting word-of-mouth endorsements of the region among British travellers. Since then, Tourism New Zealand has been working closely with regional tourism groups along the way as it sent a fully equipped mobile recording studio—set up in a converted shipping container on the back of a 10-tonne flatbed truck—to about 40 towns around the nation. Within minutes of filming, each video diary is edited and posted on unpaid media channels, including the Have Your Say site and Tourism New Zealand’s consumer website; visitors can also post the videos directly onto their Facebook profile pages. The recording studio's mobile effort is scheduled to wrap up at the end of this month, after which time Tourism New Zealand will use select raves in future advertising campaigns.

Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive George Hickton explains: "Social media is used by people from all walks of life to connect with people back home while they are travelling. Add to this that word-of-mouth is one of the most effective marketing tools to promote a destination, and the 100,000 views milestone shows that the [effort] has really proven its worth."

Indeed, the effectiveness of traditional mass-media ads is already debatable during the best of times, but during a recession? The cost of a mobile studio for a few weeks could seem like a bargain! ;-)

Website: www.tourismnewzealand.com
Contact: www.tourismnewzealand.com/tourism_info/about-us/contact-us/en/contact-us_home.cfm

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau

After all the attention cupcakes have received over the last few years, one could say they've had their share of time in the proverbial sun. We covered Fru Fru and Sprinkles back in 2007, but recently we were alerted to a new alternative: Tennessee T-Cakes.

Billed as "the ultimate Southern confection," Tennessee T-Cakes are diminutive delicacies with a big, romantic story behind them. They resemble cupcakes in size and shape, but feature a texture more like that of a brownie and a dusting of powdered sugar in place of the heavy frosting. Available by the box with prices starting at USD 10.95 per dozen, T-Cakes come in four variations—Key Lime, Luscious Lemon, Chocolate Truffle and Original—with Raspberry and crunchy Brittle coming soon. The closely guarded recipe for Tennessee T-Cakes dates back to ante-bellum Tennessee and a young belle's culinary talent—reputed to have won a Civil War captain's heart.

The world will never tire of interesting new desserts, just as it will never tire of a good story to go with them. Need some directed motivation? Find an old or little-remembered delicacy from your own region, upgrade and adapt it to modern tastes, and garnish with some skillful storytelling and a heaping helping of (still) made here appeal. Next, breathe deeply, for you will soon savor the smell of sweet success! ;-) (Related: Bakery focuses on bite-sized treats — Upgraded popsicles, Mexican style.)

Website: www.tntcakes.com
Contact: info@tntcakes.com

They keep popping up: online-offline hybrids that combine electronic mail and snail mail . Latest to appear on our radar? Quabb, a German company that offers both a free and a paid option for sending postal mail.

Users write their letter online or upload a scanned image of a handwritten text. Choosing the 'Freibrief' option, they can send it for free, accompanied by a printed ad (similar to previously featured Gratis-Post). When using Freibrief, 'Quabbers' choose their sponsor from a list to ensure a good fit between advertisement and recipient. Which, theoretically, should improve an ad's rate of success. Alternatively, users can pay as they go for each letter they send: EUR 1.19 within Europe or EUR 2,39 worldwide, which includes postage, a colour print and an envelope. Non-registered users pay EUR 1.59 / 2.79.

Quabb prints the letters and ensures their delivery. Providing added convenience, the company archives a digital version of each letter in the sender's personal mailbox. Quabb can also be used to send faxes—founder Daniel Giersch views his venture as a one-stop-solution for communication. The service is currently available in Germany and Switzerland.

How about niche versions that provide additional benefits and cost-efficient mailing options for specific audiences? Schools, doctor's offices, landlords, children, iPhone users... As long as it continues to be a communication channel for consumers and businesses, opportunities exist for entrepreneurs who can provide smart ways to handle postal mail. (Related: Snail mail sent directly from any app to any country — A paperless alternative to the postal system.)

Website: www.quabb.com
Contact: www.quabb.com/mail_form/new

Spotted by: Martina Meng

There are few things more exciting to us here at Springwise than seeing good ideas come together, and that's exactly what we had occasion to spot earlier this month. Zipcar—the car-sharing innovator we've covered on numerous occasions already—just announced a partnership with Zimride—also no stranger to our pages—to bring an integrated ride-sharing system to college and university campuses.

Debuting a few weeks ago at Stanford University, the integrated service combines Zipcar's car-sharing program with Zimride's Facebook-based carpool matching system to make it easier for college students, faculty and staff to seek, offer and share rides. Zipcar already operates car-sharing programs at more than 120 US colleges and universities. To share a ride, members reserving a car can now automatically post the date, time and destination of their trip to the Zimride campus community online. Zimride's route-matching algorithm takes over from there, finding and notifying users looking for such a ride. Zimride members, meanwhile, can now find a local Zipcar to share through a customized campus Zimride website or Facebook application, making it possible for them to carpool even if they don't own a car. Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith explains: "We chose to partner with Zimride because their innovative and scalable platform is a great foundation for building a national network of rides. Zipcar fills the car ownership gap for the Zimride model, since people most likely to ride-share are those that are least likely to own a car." The two companies aim to roll out the integrated service to many more campuses in the coming months.

Every Zipcar takes 15 to 20 privately owned vehicles off the road, while Zimride has enabled 20 percent carpool adoption and savings of more than 500,000 lbs of CO2 and USD 200,000 in vehicle operating costs, the companies say. Add to that the fact that there are some 13 million faculty, staff and students on more than 2,500 parking-strapped campuses nationwide, according to the US Department of Education, and the potential impact becomes clear. How long before something like this comes to large companies, urban areas and the rest of the congested world...?

Websites: www.zipcar.com — www.zimride.com
Contacts: universities@zipcar.com — info@zimride.com

It seems fair to say that most small business owners are perpetually in search of two things: 1) new customers, and 2) budget-friendly deals. Aiming to help them get both is Bizual, a new online community and B2B exchange aimed specifically at small businesses and freelancers.

Currently in invitation-only beta, Bizual begins by asking members to create at least one offer exclusively for the other members of the site—a discount, a free sample or something else that's not available to the world at large. Other business owners in search of such a product or service can then take advantage of that offer, thereby getting a special deal themselves while providing the offer creator with a new customer. The offers that are voted most popular get elevated to the top of the list, but members can also search by location and keyword; in addition, they can browse or take what the site calls a "lucky dip." Members can leave feedback for each other on the site, and a rating system provides reputation rankings. UK-based Bizual is free to use during its beta period, but will switch to a subscription basis after that time, with account levels ranging from a free package to an unlimited one for about USD 99.

Increasing numbers of consumers are becoming sellsumers every day, as our sister site notes in this month's briefing, making the appeal of a site like Bizual even broader than before. It's a win-win for everyone involved; one to try out or localize for your neck of the woods...?

Website: www.bizual.com
Contact: team@bizual.com