How Whrrl and other technologies are changing the face of the automobile retail industry
Eric Miltsch posted a great blog post this week on Headlight – a digital automotive trends blog from Razorfish – about how six technologies are changing the face of the automobile retail industry. We were very pleased to see Whrrl and our Merchant Program was mentioned as one of these breakthrough technologies!
The article talks about geo-location services whereby you can offer an incentive for consumers to visit and engage them with new discount/promotional ideas. That got us thinking, and we have an idea.
How about having customers check in on Whrrl, take a picture of the hot new car model, and then tweet it out for a chance to win a prize from the dealer? Or, you could have customers share details and pics from their test drive, creating a “virtual test drive” for other customers, which would lure them take their own test drive?
We’re fired up with ideas- what are yours?
Here’s the article:
Check in on Whrrl at the Blissdom Conference to win big!
Whrrl is very excited to support this week’s Blissdom Conference, put on by the lovely duo of Allison Worthington and Barbara Jones, held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.
In case you’re not familiar, Blissdom is a conference for women who “find and express their bliss by publishing online.” While the Whrrl crew can’t specifically make it out to Nashville this year, we still wanted to plan some fun things for the attendees. That’s right; we have a bag of tricks gifts up our sleeves. Literally.
We’re purchased a ton of items that we think you’d love – and laugh – about owning, and we’re going to give them away during the conference at random. Simply check in everywhere you go during Blissdom for a chance to win. Be sure to add #Blissdom tag and tweet your update. We’ll choose winners from Twitter at random and send a DM to the winner, so don’t forget to follow us on Twitter too! We’ll be announcing what you won in the form of a riddle, and you won’t know what it is until you’ve picked up your prize from Whrrl Ambassador Jyl Johnson Pattee.
What are the prizes, you ask? Well, 25 lucky ladies will win items that can or might do the following: Spice up your marriage, make your Snuggie seem SO last year, launch the biggest idea since Google, make the man in your life’s HD TV look like chump change, shed hours off of time spent cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year, make Snookie jealous, and more…
To make your Whrrl experience at the conference even more special, there’s a custom Blissdom Society we created for the 2010 attendees. Just check into two of the following places, and you’re in!
- Blissdom Opening Night Party at Opryland
- Fuse
- Jack Daniels Saloon
- Volare
- Soles4Souls Dropoff (one special prize for the check ins here!)
Three lucky Blissdom Society ladies will be the winner of one of the seriously coolest tech gadgets – the Powermat (a wireless charging station & battery cover valued at approximately $150), which was listed as one of the five best products at CES this year! So what are you waiting for? Check in for a chance to win! We’ll notify who the winners are on Friday evening via Whrrl, and once again, you can pick up your prize from Jyl.
We can’t wait to “virtually” share in the fun with you this year!
Blissfully Yours,
The Whrrl Team
Joy to the Whrrld – v2.3 is here!
Last week, we announced Whrrl v2.3 for the iPhone launched in the Apple App Store. We’re very excited about this latest upgrade because it includes several new features that we think you’ll really enjoy. This release is also a major step towards fulfilling our product vision. If you missed Jeff Holden‘s blog post about our vision, you can read it here. (You can also read what TechCrunch wrote about the new Whrrl here).
Today, Whrrl v2.3 launches in its entirety, including the introduction of Whrrl Societies and Fun Facts. Now with Whrrl, you’ll be able to:
- Check in to the places you go and put yourself on the grid. At happy hour? At brunch? At the mall? Check in anywhere.
- Discover Fun Facts about your social relationships with the places you go. Think about the places you regularly visit. How often have you been there relative to your friends? Where do people go next?
- Unlock memberships into Societies with people that have real-world patterns like yours. Have you ever wondered who else goes to the same places you do? How often? When? Find out who else is a member of your societies and share with people who have the same interests.
- Share and Like Individual Slides. You can now share out individual notes and photos. Your friends can also “like” your individual check-ins, photos and notes in real time while you’re out and about. Ask your friends what bag to buy, what to eat for lunch. Put anything up towards a vote.
But that’s not all. We’ve also taken the red ribbon off Whrrl.com. Now you’ll be able to view and sort your check- ins by people, places and neighborhoods. See what societies you and your friends are in. View a live feed of your friend’s activity. Whrrl makes it possible to search within your life!
What do you think of Whrrl v2.3 and Whrrl.com? We’d love to hear! Email us: feedback@whrrl.com.
Happy Whrrling!
John Kim
John Kim is Vice President of Product Management & Marketing at Pelago, makers of Whrrl. You can read more about John here or friend him on Whrrl here.
Location-based services + consumers = Black Friday deals explosion
Thanksgiving has passed, and with it, another Black Friday. Here at Pelago, we saw a lot of Black Friday deals cropping up everywhere from our community… from Target and Old Navy to WalMart and Best Buy… tis the season for great holiday deal. It’s also the season to share these deals with consumers, across all social networks. Our friends and partners, Collective Bias, posted an interesting recap about Black Friday on their blog:
Who won Black Friday? In many cases, the answer is consumers. Thanks to the confluence of social networks and mobile web connectivity, consumers are able to share not only deals and finds, but real time information about the status of inventory and shopping conditions at their local stores. Those following their stories could more efficiently plan their shopping trips thanks to the contributions of the community. Location Based Marketing (LBM), a new form of communication that delivers specific messaging based on the recipients’ location (generally determined by a mobile phone GPS) is in its infancy however, many interesting trends are emerging that will have significant impact on brands and retailers alike.
With over 60% of mobile web traffic passing through some type of social network, it’s rational to assume that shopper behavior would naturally be affected. As part of a participative shopping experiment between Social Shopper Marketing Agency Collective Bias and Pelago’s Life-streaming application Whrrl, 20 bloggers were asked to join a private community by Courtney Velasquez of GiftfullySimple.com and Melissa Garcia of ConsumerQueen.com, and share their Black Friday experiences via the Whrrl platform. From planning to Cyber Monday, the group discussed and networked the best deals and offers from all channels of retail. Additionally, their shopping experiences were woven together though various social media linkages including Twitter and Whrrl hashtag #BFdeals, Facebook and linked through the blogs of the participants.
Walmart was voted as having the best deals by Whrrl users followed closely by Target and Old Navy. While not scientific, the poll mirrored commentary in the community. Most participants found that Walmart had the best prices on items they were seeking. The primary pain point was the inventory level of promoted items. Many shoppers found hot items already gone when they arrived even when their arrival time was very early which they quickly shared via mobile web. This phenomenon also was reported for online retailers. Most also used a combination of online, circular and social shopping to build a shopping strategy (and the majority made lists). Cyber-Monday seemed to have less appeal to the group as most were already well informed of deals and didn’t see any additional benefit, although some commented that many sites were having site specific sales on Monday that required a visit to see the deals (these are likely to be quickly disseminated by social networks).
Combining high-reach social media contributors with location based services creates some powerful opportunities for brands and retailers to connect with consumers in ways that benefit all parties. Lori Falcon, author of acowboyswife.com created her own crowd sourced gift guides and leveraged her shopping experiences to create additional context. The small group had a large impact as well generating millions of impressions of savings and deal finds via Whrrl stories, images, comments etc. Tweetreach.com showed 124,000 impressions from just 50 tweets using the #BFdeals hashtag.
The potential benefit for brands and retailers participating in this conversation is promising. The ability to provide deeper context and content both at the store shelf and beyond coupled with the advocacy of inspired communities creates new opportunity to not only market but truly converse with consumers.
All #BFDeals on Whrrl:
http://whrrl.com/search?q=bfdeals&c=all
Related Articles:
http://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/article.php?id=1510&na=1
http://mashable.com/2009/11/20/black-friday-social-media/
Who do you think won Black Friday? The consumers or the retailers? Let us know your thoughts, or the best Black Friday deals you scored, in the comment section below.
Share and view gift guides on Whrrl!
So, whether we’re ready or not, the holidays are upon us. I saw a quip on a blog the other day – pretty soon Thanksgiving is going to be the new Groundhog’s Day, “the forgotten holiday,” because Christmas seems to be pushed on us earlier and earlier each year. I feel we barely passed Halloween, and holiday decorations are already down the isles of Target, grocery stores, etc. Each year we might be forced into thinking a little too earlier about the holidays – but I’m okay with it when it comes to gift giving. In my opinion, it’s never too early to plan for the perfect gift; it leaves me feeling less stressed once they actually approach and I have all my gifts squared away! After all, I’m prefer gift giving over receiving. It’s just so exciting to watch someone open the exact gift you know they’ll love, isn’t it?
Which brings me to gift guides, gift guides, everywhere! We’ve seen a ton of them cropping up on Whrrl. Lori Turk (@TipJunkie) has been sharing her holiday gift ideas (handmade by women!), like guide for gifts under $25:
If you can’t see this Whrrl story, click here.
And Audrey McClellan created a HUGE gift guide, which covers gifts for sporty moms, little girls and boys, “socially conscious” dads and more. Holy cow, Audrey’s gift guide is awesome! It might be the Bible of all gift guides.
If you can’t see this Whrrl story, click here.
How great is it to check into some of your favorite stores to shop at, and bring up a gift guide right on your iPhone! Or create a gift guide to share on your blog! Tell us the gifts to buy from your favorite place to shop for the holidays! A local craft store… the mall… T.J. Max… you name it! We want to see it! You can tag your holiday guide with #holidaygifts or #giftguide, and search all gift guides on Whrrl too!
Happy (pre Thanksgiving) Holidays! :D
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