MacHeist
2006.12.11 08:21
So today is the day the final bundle has been revealed from the folks at MacHeist. If you have not been following, MacHeist has been a bit of an online scavenger hunt to get great deals (read: free) shareware apps for your trusty old OS X. The bundle they are releasing is a great list of popular software that many folks would be happy to add to their Mac. They are also donating 25% of the bundle price to a charity of your choosing, from their selected list.
I had participated in the "heist" since it started and think it is a great idea at viral marketing. However, I do think that the directorate, the folks running the show, need a bit more practice to bring something this complex off without the many hitches this one certainly had. With each heist, there were a series events and tasks that needed to occur; many of those events coming out of the directorate were not always timely. There are actually many folks who had not received certain pieces of information needed in order to complete their heists; I for instance never received the first email response needed for the first heist.
Despite the glitches it is a good proof of concept for this type of viral marketing and certainly will mature as it is used by more companies hoping to reach their target markets with effective and unique messages.