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SmartyPig®: October 2008 Archive

The following posts were made in October 2008. You may subscribe to the RSS feed for this archive if you would like to take your time reading through our posts.

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October 31, 2008 • Posted by Erica Adams

SmartyPig For Your Stocking

It's projected that consumer spending will be down - way down - over the holidays. With unemployment up and credit card companies decreasing lines of credit it's easy to understand why. There is uncertainty carried on the cool winds of autumn. Winter, many believe, will be crueler than ever. And while there are no bigger cheerleaders for a brighter tomorrow than the folks here at SmartyPig, let's face it. This is not the time for splurging.  

Of course, many, if not most of us will still purchase gifts this holiday season. Obviously, the holidays are a time for putting our troubles aside and focusing on the good things in life. But in these times, why not give a gift that can help give someone you know and love a leg up, a chance for a dream to come true or just a crash course in how to handle money? SmartyPig gift cards help you Give the Gift of Saving. If ever people needed a sound financial tool in their stocking it is now.

Know someone who needs to get on the right track? Have a family member who is in dire need of a vacation and just needs a nudge to start saving for it? Need to inspire and educate your employees about how to get to the light at the end of the tunnel - and a canned ham just won't do the trick? SmartyPig Gift Cards can be your saving grace. You give. They learn the basics of creating a goal, saving for it and earning interest, as well as a head start -instead of the fruitcake. Now that's a gift that will keep on giving and giving and giving. 

 

Tags: christmas   •  saving   •  holidays   •  debt   •  gifts

0 Comments | |

October 30, 2008 • Posted by Erica Adams

October Twitter Contest Winners!

Well, we were in the spirit today when rolling the dice for the three $100 SmartyPig gift card winners!

We had 98 correct answers to our question "SmartyPig is expanding into what country next month?"

The answer: Australia. Look for SmartyPigAU on Twitter, Get Satisfaction and the AU blog, coming soon!

Watch the video:

Congratulations to bonker, jennoz and daniAWESOME! Make sure to DM us your address on Twitter, so we can send you your money!

Here are those who made it into the top 20 (we recognize all of you who continually play, keep playing, you'll get there at some point!):

carolinejones, sfedd, ALLENKELLY, nickcooper, JustinWise, trutter, marketingdojo, juliedeeds, jcollie, craftygirl7, jamsmac, spacecostsmoney, michpendergrass, michaelLibbie, jenharvey, afalker, urivle

 

Tags: smartypig twitter contest   •  twitter contest   •  smartypig gift cards

3 Comments | |

October 28, 2008 • Posted by Erica Adams

October Twitter Contest Announced

It's that time again. SmartyPig will be giving away three $100 gift cards through our monthly Twitter contest - October 30 at 3pm CST. We will tweet a question and give our followers 15 minutes to reply to us. The format:

1. After 15 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We will then be rolling the dice to pick the 3 winners.
3. We'll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!

Make sure:

1. You're following us on Twitter
2. We'll ask the $100 question on Thursday, October 30 at 3pm CST
3. Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!

Remember: if you don't already have a SmartyPig account, it's Free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.

Good Luck!

 

Tags: twitter contest   •  smartypig twitter contest   •  smartypig gift cards

3 Comments | |

October 8, 2008 • Posted by Michael Ferrari

SmartyPig Down Under

 

Today we announced our partnership with Australia New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) to provide innovative social savings to Gen Y Australian banking customers with http://www.smartypig.com.au. A-U, as we call it, will launch first of November. We could not be more excited!

Here's why: Australians are among fastest in the world to adopt new technology, and ANZ is THE bank when it comes to pushing the financial services envelope with tech upgrades. First to mobile and now first to the social side of saving - and they are seemingly poised to keep pushing to reach out to the next generation of banking customers... cool, hip savers like you. ANZ also has 6 million customers, close to AUD$400 billion in assets and is exposing SmartyPig to the largest emerging markets in the world.

That means we're working tirelessly to grow... and grow fast.

The partnership is only our first international expansion of SmartyPig, and ANZ is the perfect partner to prove the model overseas because ANZ has a clear strategy to reach a very important, very socially plugged-in demographic. And as you sit here reading this, we are planning our next move.

See, we know we can't save the world, but we know we can help the world save. It's a message that resonated from coast to coast inside of three months of our public launch and is now without borders. Why? Because people know they need to rethink how they approach their finances, no matter where they are from. This "foreign" mind-set is attracting their banks, which are, in turn, contacting us. It's flattering that it's catching on so rapidly, but it truly is little more than common sense: save up before you buy something.

People don't typically read press releases, but here's what ANZ Chief Executive Officer, Australia, Brian Hartzer, said on ours, "We know that young people have unique needs when it comes to their finances. They look for simple, efficient and secure ways to manage their money and are more likely to bank online, as they are very comfortable with the technology. We're particularly excited about launching SmartyPig in Australia, as it's a forward-thinking savings product that appeals to the tech-savvy and time-poor consumer. Partnering with companies like SmartyPig who can innovate and get to market rapidly helps us extend our point of difference."

Mr. Hartzer's claim of SmartyPig being "forward thinking," we think, hits the nail on the head. In this economy - in this global economy - you can't look back. You have to move forward, aim high, get out from under, examine things differently. See, it's all about setting goals. Goals are optimistic. Working together and sharing an experience makes it more meaningful. We at SmartyPig are ecstatic that people are taking notice, but to be honest, it is you all that are doing the real work.

Thanks for letting us be a part of it. And please help spread the word about Simple, Smart, Saving.

Tags: anz   •  smartypig   •  australia

4 Comments | |

October 2, 2008 • Posted by Erica Adams

October (September) Twitter Winners Announced

We rolled the dice to find out who won our $100 Twitter contest this month and had a blast! We had over 70 correct answers within 10 minutes to our question "Who is our new retail partner and what percent is the boost?"

The answer is Overstock.com with a 6% boost! You can read about our new retail partner on our blog.

Three lucky Twitterers won $100 today - one of whom has made it into the top 20 in almost every contest and finally won today!

Watch the video:

Congratulations to ku5h, chrispunke and soZealous! chrispunke confirmed that it pays to play and finally won!

Good luck in next months contest to all.

Here were the top 20!

ku5h, q2mobile, justbrady, mattsnyder, urvile, chrispunke, abbieshipton, 4danj, abbylaner, davereid, chewbocka, broox, jensir, ericos, jennoz, CourtneeCee, trenttsd, soZealous, dajwhite, Tony_Leo

Tags: twitter contest   •  gift cards   •  smartypig   •  video

2 Comments | |