Category: Partner spotlight

Partner Spotlight: Cubify

Posted on by Lab Team

Winner of the Best Emerging Technology award at CES 2013, Cubify is a consumer-friendly 3D printing system that scans, sculpts, and synthesizes any design.

What is the Cubify system?

Cubify’s scanning products are portable and lightweight — there is an iPad accessory model and a freestanding handheld version. Once a 3D scan is completed (and you can scan anything, from objects to people to events), the file uploads to Cubify’s cloud. It can be edited and modified like a traditional image using the company’s suite of modeling apps. The latest app is Cubify Design, which enables professional-grade 3D assembly for $199.

So once the design is ready, what happens next?

The real fun starts with Cubify’s 3D printer, which can print straight from a mobile app or the cloud. There is a basic model, which is geared toward all ages and starts at $1000, and a pro version, which can print in ultra-high resolution in three simultaneous colors (as thin as 70 microns — pretty thin!). There are also higher-end models for professional prints. Cubify’s color system uses 24 colors, two of which glow in the dark.

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What’s next for Cubify?

It’s still a bit pricey, but expect the Cubify system to get more affordable as 3D printing becomes commonplace. Cubify is now printing everything from luxury shoes to customized Star Trek figurines. 3D printing is an increasingly exciting space, and IPG Media Lab is looking forward to seeing how the consumer side will develop.

What does this mean for the on-demand economy?

As 3D printing becomes easier and cheaper for the average consumer to use, customers will have near-instant access to goods. Consumers will be able to dream up their own ideas, and print them at home, such as a parent creating and printing a toy for their child by the time they get home from school. Ultimately, brands may be able to market direct to consumers without the need for retailers, completely reinventing the way people shop.

Partner Spotlight: Placed

Posted on by Lab Team

There’s a reason VentureBeat calls Placed the “location-analytics standard”: it tracks over 175,000 users worldwide via a series of opt-in apps, and catalogues their movement through over 200 million locations daily. That staggering amount of intelligence netted it $10 million in its latest round of funding this summer.

How does it work?

To acquire the data, Placed uses a variety of approaches. One notable system is Placed Panels, a mobile app that offers rewards through location-based surveys. Users, known as “Panelists,” complete surveys throughout the day, as their devices are continually tracked in the background. The Panelists are then entered to win gift cards, sweepstakes, or other incentives. There are also opportunities to use the Placed data on mobile sites or partnered apps, and with other publishers.

What happens with the data?

Placed tracks the location data from its users and packages it in helpful, easy-to-understand analytics. Retailers and advertisers can measure locations based on how many users visit, and which sort of user goes where. The data can also measure ad campaign effectiveness by counting how many users walk into a physical store.

The goal is to provide real-world information on movement, identifying which consumers move where, when, and how often. Placed has even published research connecting its data to categories like television network preference, and half of the 25 largest ad networks use Placed data.

How does Placed address privacy concerns?

Given its large and far-reaching collection of data, Placed commits to privacy best practices, early and often:

  • Explicit consent is always obtained before any data is tracked. Users may opt-out easily by uninstalling the app.
  • Placed creates a value exchange by offering incentives in return for location and device information. That way, users get something in exchange for their data.
  • Placed also anonymizes each user. It only understands the info collectively, and third parties are not able to glean specifics on any aspects of the user pool.

So users always have to opt-in, are never revealed to third parties, and get something in return. It’s a good way to ensure their data gets used correctly, and keeps everyone happy.

Partner Spotlight: Higi

Posted on by Lab Team

Higi is  reinventing the in-store health kiosk experience with a hardware solution aimed at bringing quantified self to the masses.  We first met them at SXSW over a year ago and they’ve expanded rapidly, most notably closing a deal this month with IZ-ON Media that will put their hardware stations in 10,000 locations— including 4,100 Rite Aids and 1,800 Publix stores.  Higi refers to their target market as “Pre-Quantified Self” consumers.

What is Pre-Quantified Self?

The Quantified Self movement is exactly what it sounds like: people using technology to gather data about themselves throughout the day so they can improve their own lives.  We’ve seen a number of wearables and apps catch on in this space to measure fitness, sleep, and more, including products from Fitbit, Jawbone, GeoPalz, Withings, and Basis.  Consumers adopting these technologies tend to already be tech savvy, but Higi’s goal is to onboard less gadget-minded people into the world of quantified self by introducing them to the category in supermarkets and pharmacies.  They refer to this broad target audience as “Pre-Quantified Self.”

How does Higi work?

Higi stations typically live in the pharmacy department and allow you to weigh yourself (by sitting on the unit’s bench), take your blood pressure, and input basic information like height and age.  Once your information is collected, you’re given a Higi score— a number that indicates the general state of your health.  You set up an account at the machine and are encouraged to download the companion mobile app to continue tracking and improving your health in the future.  The app allows you to include information about a variety of activities, including your dietary habits.

What opportunities do Higi stations present for advertisers?

With a regular flow of people taking their blood pressure in-store, Higi stations literally deliver a captive audience, and advertisers have the opportunity to serve video ads on two screens within the station— one at the eye level for people sitting and another at eye level for shoppers walking by.  Higi’s deal with IZ-ON Media will allow brands to easily target consumers at scale while they interact with the stations.  The machines are also outfitted with the capability to print information, and in the future it’s likely that brands will be able to offer coupons to users tailored to their health needs.

Partner Spotlight: Soldsie

Posted on by Lab Team

Editor’s note: This marks the first entry of our new publishing series “Partner Spotlight”, where we profile a startup that the lab has been closely working with. Stay tuned for more weekly updates.

Social commerce provider Soldsie has been in the news recently for all the right reasons. First, they raised a new round of funding from leading VC’s, then they forged a partnership with eBay backed e-com provider Magento.  We’ve been monitoring Soldsie closely since 2013 and it’s time for their close-up.

What is social selling?

The concept is as simple as it sounds: it brings commerce to social media platforms. All social media are jumping on this: Twitter is teaming up with Amazon while Pinterest is using Browsy to make its platform shoppable. In Soldsie’s case, this means Facebook and Instagram, with rumors of Pinterest support swirling. Social selling is increasingly appealing today because search as a discovery tool is declining while social is on the rise. For e-commerce companies who have primarily relied on traditional search to drive sales, this shift is troubling.

How does Soldsie work?

Soldsie powers e-commerce on Facebook and Instagram using comments. Users who register with Soldsie can then add products to their Soldsie shopping cart by commenting “Sold” or other branded terms. Users then receive a confirmation email that links them to a checkout process to purchase the products they selected. Is it an ideal frictionless in-stream payment experience? Not quite, but it’s good start.

Is social selling the future of e-commerce?

Media publishers have already acknowledged and taken advantage of the power of social to drive eyeballs (see BuzzFeed), and we’re betting e-commerce companies are not far behind. That positions Soldsie and other competitors in the social selling space on a path to have a positive outcome. Influencer marketing, make way for influencer commerce: friends are becoming store fronts!

Partner Spotlight: LevelUp

Posted on by Lab Team

It’s always a good sign when a startup’s technology keeps popping up in your favorite places.  We’ve been tracking mobile payments company LevelUp since 2011, but recently it’s become part of our everyday lives as the platform has been adopted by our go-to coffee and salad spots Gregory’s and Fresh & Co.

LevelUp’s mobile application leverages QR technology to enable local businesses to process mobile transactions via smartphones.  Stores place a small box shaped LevelUp scanner at the counter, and customers scan a QR code within their app to process their payment.  LevelUp also allows businesses to activate loyalty programs with the platform to reward consumers for repeat visits, first time visits, or spending significant time in a location.

For now the technology is deployed in a number of major cities including Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco and Seattle. Based on feedback from clients in those cities, LevelUp is seeing increasing demand for white label integration into brands’ existing apps.  Data indicates the white label solutions also are most effective for engagement— businesses using LevelUp’s app see 11-14% of users using the platform for payments, while those integrating it into their own apps typically see 24% adoption.

Results like that are competitive to forward-thinking brands like Starbucks, and make LevelUp a great potential solution for any brick and mortar location looking for a plug-and-play payment and loyalty solution.  LevelUp is also finding great success with a “Re-Engagement” targeting feature, which allows businesses to lure customers with offers if they haven’t made a payment at a location for a certain amount of time.

The company offers a pay-for-performance model for campaigns reaching out to consumers– typically businesses pay a 25% fee based on the redemption of offers (if a consumer redeems a $10 offer, LevelUp would get paid $2.50). For now Food Services drives most of its businesses, but expect to see Retail follow suit as the company continues to build traction.

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