Tag: tech start-up

Kiip and the Future of Mobile Advertising

July 27, 2012
Kiip ad

I find that advertisers seem to speak somewhat highly of mobile advertising. It’s true that there are some great mobile ads out there, but for every great ad are 10 that are intrusive and unwanted. I’m not convinced that we’re anywhere close to a place where we can confidently state that mobile ads are effective. You can argue that they’re reaching a more specific demographic, but if the ad isn’t done well, it doesn’t matter who’s eyes are on it.

When I learned about Kiip, I felt like a big forward step was taken in mobile advertising. The start-up believes advertising should be based on reward and choice. Instead of simply serving an ad to a gamer after they achieve a high score or enter a new level, apps using Kiip present discounts or a free item courtesy of a brand. With this model, mobile application users will have better incentive to stop what they’re doing and pay attention to the ad.

By using this rewards system, Kiip recognizes that instant gratification may be the key to satisfying customers with branded content. It also allows users to specify whether or not they want to redeem the reward. The start-up noted that after some time, people who used apps that served Kiip ads sought out other Kiip apps. With the increased popularity, Kiip began developing its own app that customers can use to track past rewards they’ve received.

In the future, Kiip aims to create rewards for everyday life activities. It has already begun working with Secret brand deodorant to give free songs to MapMyRun users who achieved certain goals.

When looking from Kiip’s point of view, many of the mobile ads we see now are simply the beginning of the endless possibilities for advertisers. Without seeming intrusive, brands also win with this model as consumers aren’t frustrated by ads that prevent them from continuing the game. The ads are not only a part of the game, but also one of the best parts.

Privacy What?

July 13, 2012

I appreciate the idea that innovation is all around us. Technology is always changing and it’s nice to have information at my fingertips whenever I need it. I often wonder how I was able to get by without a GPS maps function on my phone.

Despite the excess data on our phones at present, developers are always looking for new ways to provide even more for us. I understand that it may be helpful, but at what point do we step back and question the necessity of such things?

Behavio is a new start-up that’s received awards from Google and at the SXSW festival for its Android platform that aims to give consumers the type of insight I mention above. The company aims to tap “smart sensor” information from smartphones and use it to give consumers control over their own data and for entities to gain actionable insight into trends in both individuals and communities. They claim this will make consumer’s lives more productive. In the picture below, Behavio shows the type of data they can obtain using the smart sensor- all of which is already being picked up by your phone whether you know or not. By streamlining this data into an interface like the one below, individuals will be able to explore data about their own lives. Other entities will too.

Behavio has all the makings of an honest, youthful tech startup. They even promise to obtain and use data ethically and to ask for consent from users before going forward with certain functions, which all sounds nice in a utopia. Maybe it’s because I’m learning about Behavio on the same day I’ve learned that Facebook is inserting political posts into users’ newsfeeds, but I doubt the public will have any trust in a concept like this.