New York -- John Sculley, marketer extraordinaire of Macs and colored sugar water, thinks he's found the next big thing.
The former top executive at Apple and Pepsi is so enthusiastic that last week he invested in New York-based Gizmoz, which developed technology that takes the failed effort of push technology and goes one better.
Developed by Israeli whiz kid Eyal Gever, the technology uses consumers to pass along marketing messages and content embedded in email to develop a "viral network."
The Gizmoz technology also leaves a visual trail behind the content, allowing marketers to see how successfully content and promotions are doing, and whether those promotions are being passed on to other users.
"If Victoria's Secret had used Gizmoz in their (webcasting campaign last year), they would have known exactly how many people clicked (on the broadcast) and how to maintain a connection to them," said Sculley.
For the user's part, a Gizmoz is a Java applet that resides on a user's desktop and automatically updates itself with the latest text, audio, sound, or data from the sender.
If the computer user likes what they're getting, they can forward it to others, much like an ordinary email.
"This is a way that anybody can be their own network," said Sculley. "Email is essentially a publishing model. Gizmos is part of a movement toward more of a broadcasting model."
A Gizmo only takes up about 13 kilobytes of space on the desktop. Users subscribe to content that is then streamed to their desktop from the Gizmoz website. Because the technology takes up so little memory, it can easily be deleted, swapped, forwarded, or embedded in other devices such as PDAs or cellular phones.
Previous attempts at push technology, such as PointCast, sparked resentment among users who found their connections clogged with bulky files or who were unable to delete the files once they were downloaded.
The company has also developed its own streaming technology that doesn't require users to download other technologies such as RealPlayer or Flash. A Gizmoz can also incorporate other Internet features, such as a chat. The idea is to get recipients to start sending Gizmoz to each other -- much like the growing number of users that are circulating Web-enabled emails called zaplets. People who send Gizmoz can communicate with other people in a specific community. For example, the technology could be used by fans of a rock band or a baseball team.
Sculley said that privacy is a key concern of Gizmoz and the company does not request nor pass on private information about individuals.
Evan Hendricks, editor of website Privacytimes.com, is skeptical about Gizmoz privacy issues. He said its terms-of-service agreement, as it appears on the website, includes a disclaimer that users should read very carefully.
The disclaimer states that users "should not have an expectation of privacy in (their) account" and should be prepared for the possibility that "we may be forced to disclose e-mail to the government or third parties under certain circumstances, or third parties may unlawfully intercept your private communications."
"There are all sorts of reasons to speculate about potential privacy problems," Hendricks said.
The company also recently announced it had signed an agreement with the William Morris Agency to seek entertainment and Internet partners to provide content.
"It was a no-brainer," said Lisa Shotland, east coast new media chief for William Morris. "Viral marketing is really important to the next generation of media. We're all barraged by so much information. To get something targeted directly to you that you can send off to your friends is very powerful."
