coBRANDiT social media video

Geo-location Based Mobile Services & Marketing Uses Thereof, June 2010

How does it work? Gowalla (250k users, Austin TX based) and Foursquare (1.1mm users, NYC based) have reward systems in place whereby users earn "badges" or "pins" or titles (such as "mayor"). Badges, pins, and titles are so far not officially redeemable for anything, but business are beginning to create incentives and rewards for users to check in and earn these honors.

Current mktg. uses in Foursquare include:
--Branded badges: Earned (or “unlocked”) with a certain number of check-ins at given locations, showing a badge may result in a special gift, experience, or bragging rights.
--Rewards for Mayors: Mayors are top location visitors, and may be comped meals or allowed past the velvet rope, etc. Bragging rights are also hotly contested!
--Check-ins often prompt a special offer (discount, glass of champagne) that may be broadcast to friends (either through Foursquare or twitter/facebook/etc.)
--Somewhat random give-aways to users who check-in: gear, special invite, etc. (choose a well-known blogger for greater spread, this takes coordination).
--Foursquare allows “tips” to be included in location info, retail stores seed their locations with tips, facts, stories. They also use the “to-do” function to drive traffic to other venues or provide fashion pointers.
--The “Swarm” badge is tough to unlock...50 people need to check in simultaneously. Create an opportunity for people to earn the badge, PLUS get some sweet special.
--Lucky magazine has gone heavy into Foursquare. Are they your demo? Partner with them or a similar tuned-in property to offer promotions or sneak peaks at new gear/demos/behind-the-scenes.
--Leaderboard sponsorships: Leaderboards show top activity in a given market. In November ‘09 Pepsi sponsored the NYC leaderboard to raise $$ for a non-profit. At the time Foursquare users in NYC generated some 150k points on the leaderboard, Pepsi donated 4 cents per point to charity.
--Jimmy Choo ran a treasure hunt in London. Shoes were left at specific locations and users were sent out to find them. Finders keepers! Great press and WOM virality.
--Diesel ran a more sophisticated campaign in NYC to promote a sale at it’s flagship store: Users who checked in within a 3 block radius of the store were notified of the sale. Users who checked in at the store received a free t-shirt and were invited to participate in the Be Stupid campaign.
--Coach Men’s Store Cologne Giveaway: For opening weekend of their Men’s Store in NYC, Coach gave away free cologne ($85 value) to the first 200 customers who checked into the store. 10% of the traffic to the store that weekend came with Foursquare check-ins.
--MTV has set up “celebrity mode” Foursquare accounts that let fans know where reality stars are temporarily located. Great word-of-mouth, great turnouts.

Articles on specific campaigns run on Foursquare:
mashable.com/fashion-foursquare-diesel
mashable.com/2010/04/foursquare-jimmy-choo
mashable.com/fashion-location-based
mashable.com/foursquare-brands
http://ht.ly/1SHnH (21 case studies, Foursquare, Gowalla, Whrrl, and MyTown)
blog.foursquare.com/as-you-may-know-every-checkin-on-foursquare

Possible issue: Foursquare relies on user input for physical address locations. People game the system by entering addresses they're not actually at, thereby claiming false points/mayorships and creating user outrage. In comparison, Gowalla locations are gps based, this makes it easier to check-in, and you can't cheat on your location.

Gowalla allows virtual goods to be left or "dropped" at locations, and then picked up by others, kind of akin to virtual geocaching. Histories attach to these items (user X dropped item Z here yesterday). Branded virtual goods can be redeemed for real goods.

Possible business uses include scenarios such as: Retailer creates a virtual item and seeds it in various physical locations. It can be redeemed only on a given day. Gowalla sends out an announcement to its’ users, and then everyone goes to retailer on that day and gets the item or experience.

Like Foursquare, Gowalla offers custom event and place stamps (instead of badges) which show up in “passports”. Holders of these custom pins and stamps may show them for special treatment of some kind. Gowalla also allows brands and users to set up “trips” that guide others from one place to another. Pub crawl? City hot spots? Completing a curated trip and gathering all the stamps could earn the user gear or some other reward.
techcrunch.com/gowalla-business-models

FWIW, Foursquare seems to have more WOM virality, more discussion and updates (via twitter, Facebook) and is the darling of the SXSW crowd, but many think the Gowalla user interface is better. Both services are used almost exclusively on iphones, though android apps exist with others in the pipeline, notably for BB. If one of these services was used for a temporary event/location it would be smart to move users/the experience to a local, more permanent spot when the temporary event closes. Foursquare and the others are beginning to mine user data on behalf of brand marketers, creating a new, physical graph of customers and their movements.

Other Geo services include:

Brightkite, 2mm users:
Brightkite is less reward focused, and seems primarily geared to pure social networking, with location based photo and text posting and none of the game play of Gowalla and Foursquare. However Brightkite does offer “local promotions” and has signed up 100 plus brands to drive traffic and offer rewards in local stores: They just inked a deal for all 11,000 Starbucks locations, and have begun offering Starbuck’s badges like Foursquare. They also recently launched the nation's first augmented reality ad campaign with Best Buy: point your phone at a participating store, and receive special location-based offers. Brightkite is working with Layar, a technology which lets users see posts and comments thru their phone cameras overlaid on real world landmarks.

marketingvox.com/twitter-brightkite-push-ar-closer-to-mainstream
techcrunch.com/brightkite-2-million-users
thenextweb.com/fly-a-brightkite-into-a-starbucks-near-you

Loopt, 3mm users:
“Before there was Foursquare or Gowalla, Loopt was the original smart phone service for sharing your whereabouts with friends. The point is to let buddies know where you are so that they can join you, and to find hour-by-hour listings of all the cool stuff going on in your neck of the woods. However, while you can check in to locations, rewards are limited to coupons from nearby retailers.” Not user-editable, no game mechanics. laptopmag.com/loopt.aspx

Whrrl, ?? users:
“Whrrl is all about communities of people inspiring each other to take real-world action, and we’ve thought deeply about how to channel that for causes...At the core of Whrrl are Societies, groups of people who check in to the same kinds of places, who care about the same kinds of things. The whole experience is wrapped in an “influence” game, in which you gain points based on how successful you are at inspiring others to do your real-world recommendations. As you gain points, you level up in your Societies, and that unlocks higher-level “Social Offers” from merchants as well as special privileges in Whrrl.” Yet Whrrl lacks compelling case studies, and has changed it's business model and communications a few times in the last couple of years.
techcrunch.com/whrrl-3
blog.networksolutions.com/whrrl-increases-the-gamesmanship-of-location-based-services-by-inspiring-your-real-life-friends

MyTown, 2mm users:
Real estate based, MyTown is “like monopoly in the real world”. Check-ins at physical locations earn points which can be used to buy or improve properties (and ultimately towns). A MyTown user could “own” a given retail store, or stores. The more improvements to a piece of property you “own” the more rent (points) you make when a user checks in. While there are virtual goods exchanged by users, MyTown is more purely game based, there’s less of a social aspect: people play for the points, not for the community or for real-world rewards. It’s been called “the Farmville of location-based gaming.” See techcrunch.com/mytown-3

Facebook Geo: Massive potential, currently not available. Could launch any day or not for awhile. Much speculation as to whether Facebook Geo would play nice with other platforms or destroy them. See this AdAge article.

FYI Foursquare is hosting global MeetUps on June 16th...check it out and get involved here. Cheers!

Posted by Owen in News on Jun 3, 2010 | Permalink

Geo-locational services tie the link between digital and offline: Unlike a Facebook fan or Twitter follower, you actually know when a geo-location user has entered your store or other target location. All geo services rely on users "checking in" to physical locations where (depending on service) they can find other users, append data (tips, posts, pictures, etc.), find out about local happenings, and earn points. The top geo-location services include elements of game play into their offerings; savvy marketers are creating new experiences for these environments and driving foot traffic, earned media, and word-of-mouth. The top two geo-location services for marketers seem to be Gowalla and Foursquare, but others have more users and Facebook is poised to enter the fray. How does it work? Gowalla (250k users, Austin TX based) and Foursquare (1.1mm users, NYC based) have reward systems in place whereby users earn "badges" or "pins" or titles (such as "mayor"). Badges, pins, and titles are so far not officially redeemable for anything, but business are beginning to create incentives and rewards for users to check in and earn these honors. Current mktg. uses in Foursquare include: --Branded badges: Earned (or “unlocked”) with a certain number of check-ins at given locations, showing a badge may result in a special gift, experience, or bragging rights. --Rewards for Mayors: Mayors are top location visitors, and may be comped meals or allowed past the velvet rope, etc. Bragging rights are also hotly contested! --Check-ins often prompt a special offer (discount, glass of champagne) that may be broadcast to friends (either through Foursquare or twitter/facebook/etc.) --Somewhat random give-aways to users who check-in: gear, special invite, etc. (choose a well-known blogger for greater spread, this takes coordination). --Foursquare allows “tips” to be included in location info, retail stores seed their locations with tips, facts, stories. They also use the “to-do” function to drive traffic to other venues or provide fashion pointers. --The “Swarm” badge is tough to unlock...50 people need to check in simultaneously. Create an opportunity for people to earn the badge, PLUS get some sweet special. --Lucky magazine has gone heavy into Foursquare. Are they your demo? Partner with them or a similar tuned-in property to offer promotions or sneak peaks at new gear/demos/behind-the-scenes. --Leaderboard sponsorships: Leaderboards show top activity in a given market. In November ‘09 Pepsi sponsored the NYC leaderboard to raise $$ for a non-profit. At the time Foursquare users in NYC generated some 150k points on the leaderboard, Pepsi donated 4 cents per point to charity. --Jimmy Choo ran a treasure hunt in London. Shoes were left at specific locations and users were sent out to find them. Finders keepers! Great press and WOM virality. --Diesel ran a more sophisticated campaign in NYC to promote a sale at it’s flagship store: Users who checked in within a 3 block radius of the store were notified of the sale. Users who checked in at the store received a free t-shirt and were invited to participate in the Be Stupid campaign. --Coach Men’s Store Cologne Giveaway: For opening weekend of their Men’s Store in NYC, Coach gave away free cologne ($85 value) to the first 200 customers who checked into the store. 10% of the traffic to the store that weekend came with Foursquare check-ins. --MTV has set up “celebrity mode” Foursquare accounts that let fans know where reality stars are temporarily located. Great word-of-mouth, great turnouts. Articles on specific campaigns run on Foursquare: mashable.com/fashion-foursquare-diesel mashable.com/2010/04/foursquare-jimmy-choo mashable.com/fashion-location-based mashable.com/foursquare-brands http://ht.ly/1SHnH (21 case studies, Foursquare, Gowalla, Whrrl, and MyTown) blog.foursquare.com/as-you-may-know-every-checkin-on-foursquare Possible issue: Foursquare relies on user input for physical address locations. People game the system by entering addresses they're not actually at, thereby claiming false points/mayorships and creating user outrage. In comparison, Gowalla locations are gps based, this makes it easier to check-in, and you can't cheat on your location. Gowalla allows virtual goods to be left or "dropped" at locations, and then picked up by others, kind of akin to virtual geocaching. Histories attach to these items (user X dropped item Z here yesterday). Branded virtual goods can be redeemed for real goods. Possible business uses include scenarios such as: Retailer creates a virtual item and seeds it in various physical locations. It can be redeemed only on a given day. Gowalla sends out an announcement to its’ users, and then everyone goes to retailer on that day and gets the item or experience. Like Foursquare, Gowalla offers custom event and place stamps (instead of badges) which show up in “passports”. Holders of these custom pins and stamps may show them for special treatment of some kind. Gowalla also allows brands and users to set up “trips” that guide others from one place to another. Pub crawl? City hot spots? Completing a curated trip and gathering all the stamps could earn the user gear or some other reward. techcrunch.com/gowalla-business-models FWIW, Foursquare seems to have more WOM virality, more discussion and updates (via twitter, Facebook) and is the darling of the SXSW crowd, but many think the Gowalla user interface is better. Both services are used almost exclusively on iphones, though android apps exist with others in the pipeline, notably for BB. If one of these services was used for a temporary event/location it would be smart to move users/the experience to a local, more permanent spot when the temporary event closes. Foursquare and the others are beginning to mine user data on behalf of brand marketers, creating a new, physical graph of customers and their movements. Other Geo services include: Brightkite, 2mm users: Brightkite is less reward focused, and seems primarily geared to pure social networking, with location based photo and text posting and none of the game play of Gowalla and Foursquare. However Brightkite does offer “local promotions” and has signed up 100 plus brands to drive traffic and offer rewards in local stores: They just inked a deal for all 11,000 Starbucks locations, and have begun offering Starbuck’s badges like Foursquare. They also recently launched the nation's first augmented reality ad campaign with Best Buy: point your phone at a participating store, and receive special location-based offers. Brightkite is working with Layar, a technology which lets users see posts and comments thru their phone cameras overlaid on real world landmarks. marketingvox.com/twitter-brightkite-push-ar-closer-to-mainstream techcrunch.com/brightkite-2-million-users thenextweb.com/fly-a-brightkite-into-a-starbucks-near-you Loopt, 3mm users: “Before there was Foursquare or Gowalla, Loopt was the original smart phone service for sharing your whereabouts with friends. The point is to let buddies know where you are so that they can join you, and to find hour-by-hour listings of all the cool stuff going on in your neck of the woods. However, while you can check in to locations, rewards are limited to coupons from nearby retailers.” Not user-editable, no game mechanics. laptopmag.com/loopt.aspx Whrrl, ?? users: “Whrrl is all about communities of people inspiring each other to take real-world action, and we’ve thought deeply about how to channel that for causes...At the core of Whrrl are Societies, groups of people who check in to the same kinds of places, who care about the same kinds of things. The whole experience is wrapped in an “influence” game, in which you gain points based on how successful you are at inspiring others to do your real-world recommendations. As you gain points, you level up in your Societies, and that unlocks higher-level “Social Offers” from merchants as well as special privileges in Whrrl.” Yet Whrrl lacks compelling case studies, and has changed it's business model and communications a few times in the last couple of years. techcrunch.com/whrrl-3 blog.networksolutions.com/whrrl-increases-the-gamesmanship-of-location-based-services-by-inspiring-your-real-life-friends MyTown, 2mm users: Real estate based, MyTown is “like monopoly in the real world”. Check-ins at physical locations earn points which can be used to buy or improve properties (and ultimately towns). A MyTown user could “own” a given retail store, or stores. The more improvements to a piece of property you “own” the more rent (points) you make when a user checks in. While there are virtual goods exchanged by users, MyTown is more purely game based, there’s less of a social aspect: people play for the points, not for the community or for real-world rewards. It’s been called “the Farmville of location-based gaming.” See techcrunch.com/mytown-3 Facebook Geo: Massive potential, currently not available. Could launch any day or not for awhile. Much speculation as to whether Facebook Geo would play nice with other platforms or destroy them. See this AdAge article. FYI Foursquare is hosting global MeetUps on June 16th...check it out and get involved here. Cheers!