Combined with a massive ad campaign launched a few months ago now, the site allows Amex to support its customer acquisition by providing an added-value to the travel assistance services that has fueled the company's reputation in this category.

The site's value proposition is to cater relevant information to members in most of the areas that relate to travel: restaurants, hotels, sports, transportation... using an interactive approach where each member can suggest a new service or comment existing ones. In other words, a closed networking platform focused on travel and controlled by Amex. Joining the site requires to have a card yet there is no clear call for action for non-members to join.

On the downside, we wish the existing client segmentation (centurion, platinum, gold...) was used more effectively to support relevance and better leverage the "mavens" / trend-setters in the process. The system has consistently proven itself offline and could have been a great support to the elitist positioning of the brand.

We first heard about Ideeli about a year ago. We remember thinking the concept was daring and innovative - but also spot on for a series of reasons.

Ideeli is an online luxury shopping community with a twist: time. Members can access authentic luxury / premium items at a lower price thanks to a "sale alert" system that invites them to buy at specific times - "early bird gets the worm".

The concept is quite powerful as it combines entertainment with aspirational purchase. In addition, the site is invite-only which ads a sense of exclusivity and trust between members and the brand.

Christiania Vodka is betting on its tag line to create an experience that is primarily social (maybe too much so) with a controlled-access network designed for nightlife fanatics and party lovers.

We recognize the effort to build a value proposition beyond the brand's products and integrate an online experience with related offline initiatives - a strategy that we strongly believe in. We just wish there was more "substance" and thematic content and just a bit less Facebook-ish content.

A good note though for the idea of using a point system ("crowns") as the currency to purchase products. Members can gain crowns by using codes stamped on the cork. In addition a strong emphasis has been put on the local experience: points of sale partnerships (restaurants, bars and liquor stores), local groups (called "societies"), and - very interestingly - the ability for "successful Christiania Ambassadors" to become company shareholders.

Mini has been extremely aggressive with community marketing lately. Their online world is deep and wide with tens of micro-sites.

We thought the "Creative Use of Space" site was interesting as it goes beyond the product's functionality (drive - go from point A to B), and involves the fan base from other angles (art, creativity, self-expression).

The usability of the site is not the best we have seen and the interface may be, in fact, overly creative to the point of becoming a little confusing sometimes. But Mini gets an "A" for user engagement and branding on this one.

This Next is a social shopping network, along the lines of Kaboodle (reviewed here). The site centered a lot of attention onto their "Mavens" (trend-setters) who are featured on the homepage. Content is also organized by city, to keep the local relevance aspect - always a good idea. Another section, featured on the homepage again, allows users to see "new discoveries" that are made on a daily basis by the most active users.

The site allows the most active "mavens" and bloggers of all sorts to use a ThisNext widget that automatically loads content on third-party sites.

We, as usual, see limitations in this model and in the idea of letting everyone and anyone decide what is best for others. We also are skeptical about how "mavens" are or become real trend-setters with a membership system open to all and where the meritocratic process is only based on being particularly active on the site.