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Two years ago mobile phones were used primarily for making phone calls on the go. One brand, 225,000 apps and five billion downloads later, the App Store has transformed the mobile phone into a device that can do virtually anything you need it to. But since its release in 2007, the iPhone’s five senses (multi-touch interface, accelerometer/gyroscope, GPS, camera and mic) have lost their novelty benefit, and today’s developers need to do more than just create "an app for that", they need to use the senses creatively.
Once the preserve of sat nav, GPS has opened up a new class of apps. If you want some examples look at the new range of geo-location based social networks - Foursquare, GoWalla, Rummble or Everytrail
. The degree to which they are geographical or social differs from platform to platform, but the features they display generally fall into one of these two categories. Typical features within these two types are as follows...
1. Location data - outlets (shops, bars, etc), reviews, information, photos, people
2. Social features - Friends, updates, Integration with other social networks (Facebook/Twitter etc), games
The use of games in these apps have helped transform what was once niche into a very fast growing technology. Pioneered by Foursquare, users of the network can collect and unlock virtual badges for actions around the site. Members can also claim outlets as their own by checking in there more than anyone else. By doing this, they become 'Mayors' of the outlet. However these bragging rights are under threat - because if anyone else manages to check in more than them they lose their title to the incumbent.
This may seem trivial but it makes the service entertaining (one of three metrics used by the App Store for determining an app’s success alongside its utility and social value) - even when users don't know many people, which is always a challenge for new social networks. They also give users a connection to the site and a reason to keep coming back - to gain new badges and above all to retain their mayorships. These also provide two ways for brands to interact on site, promote themselves and add value to users.
Even without the social side, the use of geo-located data provides some interesting opportunities. For example Everytrail allows users to track their routes on hikes, bike rides or walks, and add notes and photos to these trips. These can then be recorded and shared. Everytrail users therefore have access to thousands of these trips in hundreds of locations, focused around a wide variety of interests - from horse-riding to photography.
For brands there is a real opportunity here and many are already finding real value. We've just used Foursquare to roll out a nationwide offer for Dominos which you can read about in the box to the left, but other brands already working here include The History Channel, Zagat, Starbucks, Intel
, Pepsi,
The FT and H&M.
The story is just beginning. Despite the privacy concerns, the numbers joining these networks is growing incredibly rapidly. Foursquare, for example, is currently gaining 100,000 new users every week. For marketing managers we see the use of them fitting into these eight categories:
1. Geo-located offers
2. Treasure hunts
3. Rewards for the Mayor
4. Data aggregation
5. Special badges
6. Discovery
7. Loyalty schemes
8. Announcements
Contact Xanthe (xanthe@vexeddigital.com)
or Richard (richard@vexeddigital.com) to find
out more about how we can help you.
Vexed
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Dominos Foursquare
Foursquare is growing by 100,000 users every week and so far attracts a young technologically engaged audience. Dominos has a young demographic and much of the growth in recent years has come from technology channels. As Vexed has an existing relationship with Foursquare and it happens to be the biggest location based social network in the UK it was the perfect fit for the campaign. In addition to this, Foursquare's API allowed us to solve one of the first challenges of the initiative - getting all 600+ of Dominos branches on the site. Once this was achieved we were then able to apply the offer - a free small pizza for all current Mayors.
The response to the offer since it's gone live has been almost overwhelming. We've seen coverage in Campaign, Mashable, The FT, New Media Age, Forbes and Clickz to name but a few and there were over 4000 tweets from the public in the 48 hours after the offer went live. We've also seen countless Mayor competitions as the public eagerly competed to gain redemptions.
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