The New York Watertaxi has a new route: the Westside Ferry Service, runs from Pier 84 in Hudson River Park at West 44th St, to the World Financial Center.

The first week May 19-23, 2014 will offer free fare! free coffee! free donuts!

More info:
http://www.nywatertaxi.com/tours/westside-ferry

Rachel's exotic yogurt

Welcome back after a year's hiatus!

In Times Square at 43rd st, a popular giveaway location, Rachel's [tm] was giving out "EXOTIC pomegranate blueberry" lowfat yogurt with "probiotics" which "support a healthy internal balance and help naturally fortify the body's defenses" and "omega-3 dha" which "helps support the heart, brain and eyes". Boy, those 6 ounces of yogurt sure provide a lot of support!

They conveniently handed out plastic spoons with the yogurt, making it a nice free breakfast. The yogurt had a mild berry flavor, not at all tart, perhaps due to the evaporated cane sugar (3rd ingredient listed). The texture was very creamy and smooth.

Along with the cups of yogurt, they were handing out coupons for a free 5 ounce cup of Rachel's Cottage Cheese. The 2 flavors pictured on the coupon are "cucumber dill" and "pear mangosteen". Seems like they are introducing their cottage cheese packs, but were wisely not giving out the product. If you were handed a yogurt-like cup only to find out it was cottage cheese, would you give it a try or dump it directly in the trash?

Rachel's[tm] is one of the sponsors of the free all-day yoga sessions for Solstice in Times Square to celebrate summer solstice.

LIFEWATER

Again in Times Square, they were giving out this new Lifewater, that comes in various flavors including Orange Tangerine (left) and Blackberry Cherry (right).

I took a few sips of the Blackberry Cherry flavor, and it tasted so artificial and syrupy that I threw the rest out. I don't drink VitaminWater (the obvious competition), but even things like Snapple are tastier than this. IMHO, if you are concerned about calories, drink plain filtered tap water, add a slice of lemon or some fruit juice if you want flavor. If you want tons of flavor, then drink natural fruit juice. No need to drink this chemically-concocted flavored "water".

PEPSI and amazonmp3

This giant monster, made of stuff you can get with PepsiPoints, appeared in TimesSquare one day around the SuperBowl. Folks were giving out Pepsipoint cards of 10 points each, I believe, redeemable for 1 free mp3 at Amazon.com

I don't buy digital music often, because I prefer CDs, but in the rare occassion that I do, I use iTunes because it is quick and convenient. Amazon digital downloads only take a few more clicks and are actually better (higher quality sound and DRM-free) but iTunes just seems easier. Why? because iTunes has a higher profile with all the iPods out there, the iPod/iPhone/iTunes commercials, Starbucks giveaways, American Idol cross-endorsement, etc. If Amazon wants to seriously move in on the digital download market, they need to market / promote / media-blitz to make itself known. A handful of free mp3s and one Pepsi monster just isn't gonna do it.

free money

A small promotion army was handing out flyers wrapped around one dollar bills this morning in Times Square. The flyers read:
Anything FOR SALE by owner . com
You Keep the Profits.
It's always greener on our side of the fence.
List your item for $1 FREE until 12/31/07
And enter to Win an iPhone
www.AnythingForSaleByOwner.com

Great promotional idea for consumers - who doesn't love free money?? However, it doesn't seem like such a good idea for this new company, who won't be drawing any revenue until next year! A cost of $1 per flyer handed out seems like a lot compared to the other samples we've received. Also, this new website with the ridiculously long URL address is basically a new online classified ads site, with a prettied-up interface. Why bother using a new website when craigslist is already free with many users, and much faster with its text-only links?

There were camera crews getting footage of these promoters, with suits observing the activity from the center median. Yesterday there was a different kind of frantic promotion on the next block, also with camera crews, and the rumor is "The Apprentice" celebrity season is currently taping.

We shouldn't be too surprised about a free money giveaway associated with Trump's TV show. Recently at Donald Trump's NYC book signing, according to the New York Times:

The Learning Annex gave each of the first 100 people in line a $100 bill. According to the ad, the next 200 people were to get $50 each and the next 1,000 people were to get $10 each

Location: Times Square at between 43rd & 44th Street, both sides of the street!
More information: http://www.AnythingForSaleByOwner.com or AFSBO.com

Smithsonian's Museum Day - Saturday, September 29th

Smithsonian Magazine is offering free admision to numerous museums across the country on Saturday, September 29, 2007.

Units obtained: each admission card is good for 2 people
More information: http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/museumday

MENTOS Fruit

This week I got samples of Mentos, fruit flavored. The samples were normal-sized rolls. I haven't tasted them yet, but I bet they are fresh and fruity!

Location: Times Square at 44th Street, NW corner
Units obtained: 4 (2 from each distributor who were standing 4 feet away from each other)
More information: http://www.mentos.com