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Change Your Life Challenge

The Change Your Life Challenge -- for women only -- appears to be an intriguing multidimensional tvo. On further exploration ... is it merely a slick repackaging of FlyLady?

DeClutter Club: TVO Potential

The DeClutter Club evidences fantastic potential as a TVO concept. Will it be realized? Or, will it get stuck offering stuff?

Hat tip: IconoCulture.

Email Transformers

Today's WSJ has a nice piece on personal training via email. This approach to delivering TVO's appears to be promising:

The biggest benefit of online training and e-coaching is the price. A typical session with a personal trainer can cost from $50 to $75 an hour, but many online training programs cost as little as $5 to $10 a week. E-training also eliminates the hassle of scheduling an appointment with a trainer, many of whom are already booked during the most convenient training times.

Questions remain about whether the benefits of e-training can make up for the loss of face-to-face interaction with an exercise expert. Face-to-face exercise trainers not only monitor your form and progress, but they also force you to stay committed to an exercise program and prevent you from slacking off.

But a study this spring in the Journal of the American Medical Association has boosted hopes among the exercise community that online training can produce results. Researchers at Brown University studied dieters who used Internet weight-loss programs, comparing those who simply read information from Web sites with those who received weekly email advice from behavioral therapists. In the study, 45% of dieters who took part in structured programs with continual contact and email feedback lost at least 5% of their body weight, compared with 22% of those in the education-only group. Logging on more frequently was associated with better weight loss in both groups.

Long Tail: The Enabler of TVOs?

Hmm ... I've been wondering: is the long tail phenomenon the enabler of TVO's? This post at Digito Society seems to suggest the connection.

The Long Tail

It seems that the Long Tail concept should have implications for TVOs. I need to cogitate on this a bit. For example.

BootCamp for Dads

Boot Camp for New Dads what a neat TVO!

A better sandwhich shoppe?

Brand Autopsy: Making the Common Uncommon:

"For example, Starbucks took the common cup of coffee and made it uncommon by focusing on higher-quality beans and a higher-quality experience. Whole Foods Market took the common grocery shopping experience and made it uncommon by focusing supremely on natural and organic groceries that not only taste good, but also makes one feel good. And, Mini has made the common compact car uncommon by adding a dash of style and performance.
And now Which Wich is making the common sandwich uncommon � and uncommonly good at that."

Read the rest. BA does a nice job diagnosing how these key dimensions are at play:

Remarkable Aspect #1: Customer Engagement
Which Wich reduces labor costs and increases customer involvement by having customers be their own order-taker. To order a Which Wich sandwich, customers choose a brown paper bag from one of 10 categories (turkey, ham, beef, chicken, seafood, vegetarian, saladwich, classics, and breakfast).

The customer then chooses their bread, cheese, spread(s), and spices by marking their choices directly on the bag. Customers complete the order by writing their name on the bag.

Remarkable Aspect #2: Low-Tech | High-Touch
Ain’t nothing fancy about how a customer’s order is communicated to Which Wich sandwich makers. The cashier takes the brown paper bag, attaches it to a zip line, and zooms it along the sandwich assembly line. No computer printouts, no computer monitors … just ink on a brown paper bag. Once the sandwich is prepared, a Which Wich expeditor calls out the order to be picked up, “Turkey on Wheat for Wynter.”

Remarkable Aspect #3: Simplified Pricing
All Which Wich sandwiches cost $4.00. Extras like avocado, bacon, more meat, and jalapenos cost $0.75 cents each.

Remarkable Aspect #4: Personalization
Because your order has your name on it, Which Wich workers can more easily establish a rapport with customers. Not to mention, calling out your name for pick-up helps to solve for any sandwich stealing shenanigans that may occur during busy hours.

Indeed. A great example of how the a simple business can be positioned to seem fresh and compelling. Execution, of course, is key, too.