Yahoo: Free Coffee For Default Homepages
Andy Beal reports that Yahoo is going to run a promotion this Friday that gives everyone who sets Yahoo as their default search engine a free cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts. This could be the start of a really stupid war, where Google or Microsoft or Ask or AOL introduce a new promotion, followed by another one and another one, with the same users switching search engines every week in exchange for coupons (and none of the companies getting its money’s worth).
- Week one: Yahoo offers free coffee
- Week two: Ask offers free Twinkies
- Week three: Microsoft offers free ketchup
- Week four: AOL offers free floppy disks (with limited success)
- Week five: Yahoo offers free DVD of some TV show episode
- Week six: Ask offers free volume one of a dictionary (following volumes cost money)
- Week seven: Microsoft offers free ketchup
- Week eight: AOL offers free rotary phone (with limited success)
- Week nine: Yahoo offers a chance to meet Tom Cruise
- Week ten: Ask offers a chance to lunch with Barry Diller
- Week eleven: Microsoft offers free ketchup
- Week twelve: AOL offers chance to win ten million dollars from Publishers Clearing House (with limited success)
- Week thirteen: Yahoo drops out of race, giggling, and whispering something about ketchup
- Week fourteen: Google offers to sell ad space on front page to any other search engine for $100 million a day
- Week fifteen: Microsoft offers Google ketchup
This promotion is an interesting idea, basically either relying on (a) laziness or (b) users liking Yahoo so much that they never switch back. Assuming they don’t have an incredibly low view of their users, Yahoo might be better served by a promotion that gets users to actualy use their services. How about getting really creative: Make users go on a scavenger hunt through various Yahoo services, and give them a really, really sweet prize, like a free movie DVD from one of their Hollywood friends, or an entire dozen donuts.
But what I’m wondering, is how they can verify that someone sets it as their homepage? Looks like a publicity stunt to me….
Comment by Jonathan Dingman | September 18, 2006
Well, usually they have some javascript you can click to set your homepage. I’m not a good enough coder to know for sure, but there has to be a way to detect if the user ran the javascript, isn’t there?
That, or their using a real low tech honors system. Which means some fun blogging on Friday
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | September 18, 2006
Yeah, definately, the scavenger hunt is a really good idea.
Comment by Friedbeef | September 18, 2006
I think you missed a few.
- Ask.com releases free smiley packs that you’d think contain spyware, but really don’t (http://smiley.smileycentral.com/download/index.jhtml).
- Yahoo offers free non-DRM-encumbered music (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5203146.stm).
- AOL offers free search history data, from everyone for everyone (http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/07/2022244).
- Microsoft releases a free update to Windows Media Player that adds a DRM layer to all your MP3 files (going to be simultaneously released with the Zune, http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/2662).
Okay, so not all of it is 100% true, but I hope I gave you a bit of a laugh.
Comment by Tim | September 18, 2006
About the javascript thing;
Yes, I’m quite sure you can detect if the javascript has run, but you can’t know how the user responded to the “change homepage” prompt. For all you know, the user clicked the “no” button.
I also think this is the right way to do it, but in IE7, Microsoft is messing up a bit; there’s a way to tell which search engines you have installed in the search box, which I think is a very, very bad decision. After all, it’s MY search box, and noone has the right to know which search engines I have installed (and no, I don’t even want Google knowing they are/aren’t in my search box).
I personally have Wikipedia set-up in the search box. I already use the Google Toolbar, so what’s better than having a Wikipedia search box, when you can’t even remove the box itself?
Comment by Tim | September 18, 2006
I can easily imagine coders scattering around with the code to get that coffee, and remain google set as their homepage! Google Logo is the first I see when I wake up!
Comment by Joseph | September 18, 2006
[…] Yahoo: Free Coffee For Default Homepages - Yahoo is going to run a promotion this Friday that gives everyone who sets Yahoo as their default search engine a free cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts. […]
Pingback by Recommended articles for 18.09.2006 » chrisekblog | September 18, 2006
Who said that this is costing Yahoo! a dime? I doubt that it is… it isn’t just a publicity stunt for Yahoo!.
Comment by Ryan Mickle | September 18, 2006
[…] Inside Google did a pretty funny what-if on this: […]
Pingback by The Last Podcast » Free Dunkin Donuts Coffee from Yahoo | September 18, 2006
I think they want you to take your monitor into DnD to verify.
Comment by jbroome | September 18, 2006
I already have yahoo as my homepage, where is my coffee?
Comment by zahid | September 18, 2006
[…] read more | digg story […]
Pingback by Yahoo: Free Coffee For Default Homepages « Engineering a New World | September 18, 2006
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Pingback by Yahoo: Free Coffee For Default Homepages « Digged Stories | September 19, 2006
Where is the free stuff? haha….First of all, how does Yahoo knows if their homepage is our default page, except they installing some kind of bots into our machines.
Comment by Keith | September 19, 2006
why in the post above, Microsoft keeps on offering free Ketchups ? it would spoil the market for the Ketchup industry in the US.
Comment by cutebanana | September 19, 2006
Who wants free coffee for such thing…
Comment by taco | September 19, 2006
Kinda cheap of MSFT to offer only ketchup!!! LMAO!!
Nice article man!
N7.1
Comment by nigel | September 19, 2006
I have netscape set, and all I get is a chance to post stupid posts like this…woohoo
Comment by Dan | September 19, 2006
who get the coupon today?
Comment by 8O | September 22, 2006
[…] Well, the reports were accurate. If you have a Yahoo ID, you can get a free 16 oz. cup of iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts, coupon good only for today. You don’t even have to set Yahoo.com as your home page; you just need a Yahoo ID. Head to advision.webevents.yahoo.com/coffee/ to get started. […]
Pingback by » Get Yahoo’s Free Coffee » InsideGoogle » part of the Blog News Channel | September 22, 2006
[…] Yahoo is going to run a promotion this Friday that gives everyone who sets Yahoo as their default search engine a free cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts.read more | digg story […]
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