Category: Percolate

How Puma Is Using Twitter’s New “Flock To Unlock” Feature

Posted on by Lab Team

Twitter has added a new feature to its multimedia ad platform “Cards,” and Puma just became the first brand to try it. The newly introduced “Flock to Unlock” feature enables marketers to reward followers with branded content that is unlocked by tweeting. Progress towards the goal is shown as a percentage graph rather than a specific number. 

Puma is testing this new feature with their “Faster Forever” campaign that encourages fans to tweet at the sportswear brand to unlock its new ad spot 2 days prior to its TV debut. The reaction so far has been lukewarm, possibly due to the lack of a true incentive. Rewards that are either beneficial (like coupon codes) or enticing (like exclusive content) would be better suited. Nevertheless, “Flock to Unlock” opens up a new way to facilitate interaction between brands and their fans on social media.

Why Square May Be The Herald Of Next-Gen Credit Card Tech

Posted on by Lab Team

Square, maker of the popular smartphone-supported credit card reader, is embracing the trend in card payment tech by moving away from the good ol’ swipes to the far more convenient taps. As all major credit card networks, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover, start urging merchants to accept cards that work via embedded chips rather than the traditional stripes primarily for security reasons, this transition seems like a smart move for Square. But to take full advantage of the impending change and prove itself as a true herald, Square would be wise to quickly adapt the PIN-based security measure that will soon come with the new cards, also know as “chip-and-PIN” cards outside U.S..

Why HP’s New Smartwatch Is Good-looking But Problematic

Posted on by Lab Team

HP has offered a sneak peek of its new smartwatch, and it actually looks pretty good. Following the current trend of marrying tech with fashion, this new gear, set for release later this fall, is born out of a collaborative effort of HP, fashion designer Michael Bastian, and digital retailer Gilt.

Looking past its well-designed good looks and charm, however, the fact that HP is self-developing a third-party companion app compatible with both iOS and Android to control the smartwatch seems potentially problematic. Primarily positioned as a wearable extension for easier access to notifications, a smartwatch may function best when it is seamlessly incorporated as a native part of the operating system. After all, trying to please everyone usually just ends up alienating everyone.

Skype Teams Up With Xbox For An Innovative Real-Time Campaign

Posted on by Lab Team

Microsoft wants people to know that Skype and Xbox work great together, and what better way to promote this message than using Skype on Xbox to conduct a real-time comedy/gaming battle with interactive reality show features? In partnership with CollegeHumor, Skype’s new campaign “Level 48” will run for two days and feature five games and 48 levels of play, presumably one for each hour.

Designed to showcase many new features of Skype, this joint effort will be live-streamed through Twitch to encourage heavy audience involvement. By combining entertainment, gaming, and comedy all into one big spectacle, this innovative campaign aims to make using Skype on Xbox look so natural and fun that it elevates the brand value for all three parties involved. If proven successful, this campaign could open up a new path for branded content or even native ads to be incorporated onto gaming platforms.

RFID Tracking Chip To Be Placed On Every NFL Player

Posted on by Lab Team

You get a tracker. And you get a tracker. Everybody in the NFL games is getting a tracker! Oprah jokes aside, the trend towards big data has made its way to another stats-friendly domain: sports. The National Football League announced today that it is teaming up with Zebra Technology to deploy in-game player tracking chips in 17 stadiums for the 2014 season, effectively generating a myriad of proprietary new statistics in real time.

Two RFID chips will be place on each player’s shoulder pads and will provide various data, including positioning velocity, acceleration, distance run, and impact measurements, to Zebra’s real-time location system (RTLS). This move could transform the way teams and fans evaluate the personal performance of every NFL player, potentially changing the way America watches its favorite sport.

Tinder Looking To Monetize

Posted on by Lab Team

Tinder, the popular mobile dating app that has been “growing like a weed”, according to chairman of IAC’s Match Group unit Greg Blatt, is looking to make some money from all its active users who are constantly swiping left and right on their smartphones in hope of finding the one. Aiming to reach $75 million in annual earnings, Tinder has been warming up to advertisers this year. Now three approaches are reportedly in consideration for generating revenue: subscription, advertising, and “freemium”, as in “free to use with paid premium features”.

Considering that OKCupid, another successful online dating platform that also hails from IAC’s Match Group, employs the latter two approaches, it looks most likely Tinder would follow suit. But given the inherently distinctive user experience of Tinder, incorporating ads and premium features will no doubt require some careful thinking. As with all good marketing efforts on mobile, monetizing effort should not come at the cost of hindering the Tindering.

Snapchat Reportedly In Talks With Alibaba, Valued At $10 Billion

Posted on by Lab Team

Is a messaging app that let users send evaporating photos and videos really worth 10 billion dollars? This is the question that got the industry wondering when news broke earlier today that Snapchat is currently in funding talks with an array of investors, notably including China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba. And this round of financing has reportedly placed an enormous $10 billion value on the company. Whether the evaluation is justified or not, this funding round would to an interesting one to follow, especially with Tencent, Alibaba’s No.1 competitor in China, being a covet investor in Snapchat.

This Portable Projector Can Turn Any Wall Into A Touchscreen

Posted on by Lab Team

TouchPico Projector from TouchJet aims to offer a new twist on the portable projectors by turning the image it projects into an interactive touchscreen. Paired with a wireless stylus, which utilizes an infrared switcher, the handheld projector can track the movement of the pen in front of its projected screen with some help from an embedded infrared camera, thus allowing users to interact with any on-screen objects. If successfully commercialized and popularized, this device could potentially be put to great use in powering a more interactive experience in OoH advertising and in-store retails.

Instagram Testing Its Snapchat-like App Bolt In 3 Intenrational Markets

Posted on by Lab Team

No longer satisfied with merely being a photo-sharing social network with pretty filters, Instagram is moving in on the ephemeral messaging territory currently dominated by Snapchat. Selecting Singapore, New Zealand and South Africa as the three initial test markets, Instagram is looking to work out the kinks before pushing for a domestic launch in the States.

For now, Bolt seems to lack a unique feature that would set it apart from the myriad of other “speed-first” messaging apps currently on the market. Even Facebook, who owns Instagram, already have a similar messaging app Slingshot, whose fate now looks troubling with Bolt entering the picture. Still, given that messaging apps are the new leading force of social platforms, it makes sense for Instagram to at least take a bolted shot at this for Facebook.

Insta Bolt

Netflix Signs Peering Agreement With AT&T

Posted on by Lab Team

After signing similar deals with Comcast and Verizon earlier this year, Netflix has now signed a peering agreement with AT&T in aim to improve streaming speed for its subscribers using AT&T’s network, which have typically ranked low on Netflix’s list of ISP speeds. Following its report of record-high subscriber number and revenue, Netflix unquestionably has the capital to keep paying ISPs to sidestep the bottleneck in connection and secure the quality of its service across different networks. But as the leader in OtT video market keeps growing stronger, it is entirely possible that one day the ISPs would be the ones paying for Netflix’s service, just like the way they are paying the cable TV providers for their content now.