Topic: Bitcoin - Magic Computer Money (Read 10619 times)

I've gotten pretty good reactions to

"Bitcoin is Cash at a Distance"

which I wrote into this article on a friend's marketing blog. http://www.v3im.com/2012/07/interested-in-mobile-payments-bitcoin-is-cash-at-a-distance/#axzz228ZEPkeN

I think it's important to emphasize how like cash bitcoin really is. Like cash it's immediate and relatively anonymous (yes, yes, I know it's not perfectly anonymous), it doesn't expose the payer or payee to identity theft, relieves the payee of payer identity fraud, PCI costs, chargebacks, floats, batching delays, and bounced checks. The big difference between bitcoin and cash is that bitcoin can be sent over the internet directly, cash can't.

Somebody on this forum (wish I could remember who) emphasized the idea of currency authentication, as opposed to payer authentication. In other words, like cash, you the payee just have to make sure the bitcoin sent to you is good (ie, not counterfeit/double-spent), you don't care about who is giving it to you because you aren't being authorized to take money from their account later on. They actually just gave it to you just as though they put cash in your hand. I love that about bitcoin.

I sometimes describe the difference between bitcoin and other payment methods as "giving money not taking it". Checks and credit cards are ways of authorizing someone to withdraw (take) your money via a 3rd party. Bitcoin is based on depositing (giving) money directly to the payee.

I call it "Magic Internet Money."

sounds funnier.


Canada wants some of that internet money!!!

Oh, if only you knew what kind of hash I'm making.

Look at your dollar, now back to bitcoin. Sadly, your dollar isn't bitcoin.

Bitcoin: Discover the Internet Sensation Your Wife Doesn't Want YOU to Know About.

Wicked sweet net money

or

Bad Ass Money aka BAM

i don't think it will scare people, i think it will put them at ease and see no reason to be afraid of it.

right now bitcoin freaks people out because of the language associated with it: digital gold, digital money, decentralized currency, be your own bank etc.

too heavy.

let it be fun and magic for a while. if it really starts working and the right infrastructure springs up around it that it can and should be used for 'serious' financial transactions, then the tag changes along with everything else.

I fully understand the idea of marketing on an emotional level, but using "magic" in relation to anything financial is only going to evoke the emotions of being scammed.  Financial magic = SCAM.  The emotional response we should be aiming for is something that builds trust or confidence.

As others have stated, bitcoin will likely sell itself on its economic merits as long as we don't scare people off.

I'm liking the basic slogans thrown around in this thread:

"Internet Cash"
"Digital Currency"

Some new ideas that fall more into the emotional-marketing category:

"Currency of the Future"
"Modern Money" (some variation on this that sounds much slicker)

Bitcoin 'Fair Trade Money' I thought that would be a good slogan for dealing with small independent coffee shops that market fair trade coffee.

Not everyone can, wants to or has to understand the necessary power of effective marketing to increase the awareness of bitcoin into the consciousness of the general public.  However I think what this thread is bringing to light is that there are some who can and should take the lead in this area.  

+1000

Wish this forum could echo this on a daily basis.

Acapulco Gold?

+1

Santa Clause most certainly DOES exist. I have seen him every year at the mall. People line up to talk to him. He's certainly part of the real world.

And Bill Gates considered the Internet to be a fad.

i think the industry has jaded me to the point where i doubt the possibility of this.

nothing is inevitable.

Oh, I see what you are doing here.  I'm opposed to the idea that bitcoin requires any kind of deliberate marketing, and certainly doesn't need any kind of emotional sell.  The economic advantages are all that's necessary to get people to start to use it, and once we break the mainstream barrier (roughly 12% of the population has heard of it) then everything is self perpetuating anyway.  If bitcoin needs a marketing plan to succeed, than it really is just a scam & I don't want to have anything to do with it.  But that's not what it is, in marketing parlance, it just 'sells itself' on it's own merits.  The people who understand it will benefit by joining this economy earlier rather than later.  Let the late comers come on their own time.

once again:

- it is most effective to sell to emotional response.
- "cheaper way to buy things over the internet" is not an emotional sell.
- bylines and catchphrases (messaging in general) don't need to include FACTS to be effective or relevant.
- unless they are ethereal ("magic"), definitely don't make statements that you can't guarantee.

all of you guys/gals who are ignoring what I am saying about that: please ask someone you know who works in the marketing and advertising industry. convey your ideas and see what they say. i'm quite sure they'll say the same things i'm stating above.

it's too vague/non-distinctive. also, the mistake in this idea is that you're once again playing to a technical property. in this case, the liquid property of "cash" vs all the other methods of payment.

too specific, not emotional enough!

I disagree.  Simply, "it's a cheaper way to buy things over the Internet" is a winning soundbyte.