In this report, senior executives from five start-ups, ranging from beta-stage groundbreakers to multimillion-dollar darlings of venture capital, offer insights on the shape of things to come in mobile marketing.

1. Q2
Mobile Start-Ups
to Watch 2011 Q2

2. Introduction: The Mobile Age
Digital innovation takes nerve, verve and an undaunted entrepreneurial spirit. In this report,
we talk with senior executives of five gutsy upstarts (and maybe even the next Twitter) at the
forefront of mobile. Though their companies are developing distinctly different technologies,
they all share a common vision of a not-so-distant future where mobile serves as a powerful
nexus of the online and offline world for consumers – and a critical driver of brand success.
Major brands are finally – if fitfully – beginning to embrace mobile marketing. Though Apple’s
iAd mobile advertising network and Google’s acquisition of AdMob have given mainstream
credibility to mobile ads, the strategies of many marketing organizations can still be
characterized as cautious experimentation and one-off campaigns. Jeff Hilimire
President and Chief Digital
From casual gaming to group messaging to SMS-based payments, the insights from these Officer, Engauge
start-ups suggest that mobile platforms present valuable opportunities for forward-thinking
brands today. Those options continue to expand with new and emerging technologies. In
particular, anticipation in the tech community runs high for near field communication (NFC),
the wireless technology that will turn next-generation iPhones and Android phones into mobile
wallets, allowing consumers to tap-and-pay at checkout lanes and retail kiosks.
These start-ups offer a compelling perspective on how consumers will connect with brands on
mobile devices – assuming marketers are ready to meet them there.

3. 04
Kiip
Real-world Rewards for Mobile Gamers
How did a teenage whiz kid win the support of major brands?
A conversation with Founder and CEO Brian Wong.
08
Yobongo
Group Messaging for Sociable Strangers
Could this early stage start-up be the next Twitter?
A conversation with Co-Founder Caleb Elston.
12
BOKU
Leading the Race to Monetize Mobile
Can telcos and texts compete with credit cards?
A conversation with VP of Business Development Kurt Davis.
16
Immersive Labs
Intelligent Signage Observes Shoppers and Optimizes Ads
Is mobile the missing link to revolutionize in-store displays?
A conversation with CEO Jason Sosa.
20
Scoutmob
Flash Commerce for the Locally Inquisitive
Why is GPS the next big thing in group deals?
A conversation with Co-Founder Michael Tavani.

4. 4 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Real-world Rewards
for Mobile Gamers
How did a teenage whiz kid win the support of major brands?
As anybody who’s overcome an addiction to Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja can certainly attest,
mobile games have an uncanny ability to claim inordinate amounts of our time and attention
in return for the most ephemeral, fleeting rewards. Thanks to Kiip, players can now supple-
ment their virtual achievements with real-world loot ranging from free flowers to a free burger
to a free Sony tablet computer.
Kiip (pronounced “keep”) is a rewards network that provides redemption offers from major
brands to players who reach an achievement in mobile games, such as clearing a level or
A conversation with Founder and
setting a high score. This cleverly conceived start-up is the brainchild of Brian Wong, a techie
CEO Brian Wong.
wunderkind who skipped years of high school and landed a job at Digg at age 18, only to be
www.kiip.me
laid off the following year. Now 19, he’s attracted $4 million in venture capital and a strong
showing of brand partners. Kiip debuted in April 2011, and its network of 15 mobile games
already reaches an estimated 15 million players.

5. Q: What is Kiip and how does it work?
A: Kiip is a rewards network. We are creating what we believe is a new category in mobile
advertising that is based on a completely different perception of how people pay attention
to and interact with their devices. Right now, with the current mobile ad model, we have
banner ads that are being ported to a smaller screen. Banner ads are just getting smaller
and more annoying, arguably. Ninety pixels on your mobile screen are now taken up by
something you really don’t care about.
Brian Wong
In gaming, when you level up and attain top scores, the moment when you hit that Founder and CEO, Kiip
achievement is actually a very powerful one where you feel like you’ve accomplished
something significant. So instead of putting a banner ad there, which would be a major
buzz kill, we decided, what if a brand was there to provide you with actual, tangible
rewards?
“In gaming, when you
Q: You’ve attracted interest and participation from brands such as Sony, Carl’s Jr., Dr. level up and attain top
Pepper, GNC, Homerun.com, popchips, Sephora and 1-800-Flowers. What’s in it for
advertisers?
scores, the moment
when you hit that
A: They realize that there are a lot of people playing these games and reaching them is very achievement is actually
difficult to do. Our value proposition is very simple. Our model allows them to reach an
engaged audience – a truly engaged audience – which is the holy grail for marketers. a very powerful one...”
Kiip

6. 6 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Q: A player in a game succeeds in getting to the next level, then the game pauses for
a brand interaction. What are the actual mechanics of that experience and how the
rewards are redeemed?
A: We are trying to be as frictionless and non-interruptive as possible. When you hit that
moment, there’s a natural break in play. We show a small interstitial ad that says, if you’re
interested in this real reward from this brand, feel free to tap, and if they tap, a screen
comes up describing what they’ve won. They enter their email address, we send them an “Mobile devices are
email with the redemption information, which they can review when the game is over. We
never take them out of the game. And if they don’t tap on the ad, it goes away and they
severely misunderstood.
go right back to playing. People think of them as
Q: Why is mobile gaming the first focus?
handicapped because
the screens are small.
A: Because mobile devices are severely misunderstood. People think of them as
But there are a lot more
handicapped because the screens are small. But there are a lot more opportunities
beyond what the eye can see. opportunities beyond what
And also because of the general competitive landscape. In social, you have Zynga… the eye can see.”
and everybody else – it’s skewed. If you want to do something in social games, you
have to have a partnership with Zynga. And it has to apply to their scale, which can be
dangerous. Companies like appssavvy and SocialVibe are essentially tied to Zynga, and
it’s a bit unfortunate.
In mobile, the field is more distributed. You can work with more game developers who
have a very large audience. There are 15 or 20 we can work with.

7. Q: You’re coming out of seven months of stealth mode. What did you learn while in beta?
A: We did as much as we could to make it as complete as possible before we began talking
with partners. They made it even better. We heard a lot of great ideas and the product
evolved. A lot of the brands we’ve worked with had a good hand in shaping the service as it
grew.
Q: What demographic groups are the Kiip advertisements currently reaching?
A: It’s all across the board. Mobile gaming has become quite ubiquitous and appeals to a great
“We’re trying to
variety of people.
preserve the sacrosanct
Q: There’s a question of what rewards people are really seeking when they play games –
nature and intrinsic joy
the satisfaction is somewhat ephemeral, it’s not a free bag of chips. When you provide
real-world rewards for virtual achievements, doesn’t that change the psychological of getting a reward.”
experience?
A: We’re trying to preserve the sacrosanct nature and intrinsic joy of getting a reward, which
is, by the way, why we didn’t announce the game titles when we launched. We didn’t want
people to start playing those games for the sake of getting rewards. We preserve the
serendipity, the joy of why those games were being played in the first place. That’s very
important.
Also, we try to ensure that the rewards will be relevant to the game genre and the person
playing the game. We won’t give a Sephora reward to a guy, for example, unless there’s a
clever play where he can re-gift to a girl.
Q: I’d read that redemption rates for the initial Kiip offers were over 50 percent. That’s
amazing. Is it true?
A: That rate is based on good rewards. And that’s something we’d like to preserve. Ultimately, if
you get a free tablet device from Sony, of course you’re going to redeem it. There’s a range
of rewards, beginning in the $5 to $20 range and going up. We don’t do 50-cent coupons.
Kiip

8. 8 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Group Messaging
for Sociable Strangers
Could this early stage start-up be the next Twitter?
The group messaging space has drawn an exciting slate of new start-ups such as GroupMe,
Fast Society and Beluga, but for users looking to make new connections, Yobongo stands at
the front of the crowd.
Yobongo is an iPhone app that creates location-based chat rooms to facilitate new social
connections among like-minded strangers within the same city, the same neighborhood or
even the same coffee shop. Imagine a mashup between Twitter, Chatroulette and Match.com. A conversation with Co-Founder
Caleb Elston.
Still in beta mode, the service has launched in Austin (where it was a recent hit at SXSW) as www.yobongo.com
well as San Francisco and New York City. Founders Caleb Elston and David Kasper, formerly
of Justin.tv, are planning to expand to new markets, while considering the best way for
advertisers to join the group conversation.

9. Q: What is Yobongo – and how does it work?
A: The Yobongo experience is very simple. Upon opening the app, you’re connected
with about 12 people in your city and you use texts to communicate with them in real
time.
There are a lot of sites and apps that help you stay connected to the friends you
already have. But technology hasn’t really done a good job in helping people make
new connections. Our goal is to help make many, many billions of new connections
Caleb Elston
in the world.
Co-Founder, Yobongo
Q: How do people who connect on Yobongo typically continue those conversations?
A: They can just tap on the other person’s photo and send them a message, which
then creates a private conversation. If the recipient is not online, they either get a
push notification or email alert. Yobongo seamlessly transitions from asynchronous
communication to synchronous communication.
Q: How tightly linked are these users in terms of location? Can you chat with
someone sitting next to you at Starbucks?
A: If there are only a few people using Yobongo in your city, then you’ll probably be
talking to people all across the city. But if, for example, there are many thousands
of people using it at a baseball stadium, then you will be talking to other fans at the
ballgame. We automatically add or remove groups based on the density. We have
an algorithm that takes into account how many people are using the app, how many
people are coming online, how many people are leaving and who you’ve talked to
in the past. We try to put you with people you might already have some affinity for.
Yobongo

10. 10 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Q: What is the significance of affinity? How do you measure that – and what are you
learning about people in the process?
A: We don’t care what you say. We don’t analyze the actual texts – we just know that
there was a message sent. We go to the very simple and core root: if people talk
to each other, that’s a strong signal we should put them together again. An even
stronger signal is when two people leave a public chat in order to have a private
conversation. “Technology hasn’t really
We allow people to provide context about themselves. You can add a short bio, but done a good job in
you don’t have to pick settings or list your interests. We don’t buy that just because helping people make new
people have the same interests that they’re necessarily going to be friends.
connections.”
Q: Mashable hailed Yobongo a breakout app at SXSW. What was the response at
the event?
A: We saw exceptional usage during early mornings when people were discussing
where to go for breakfast and which sessions to attend. But the heaviest usage
happened at night, when people were deciding which parties to attend. In the
past, people at SXSW used Twitter or Foursquare to have those conversations, but
Yobongo is unique because it is completely real-time. You could ask how many
people were at a party or how long the wait is at the door – and you’d receive an
instantaneous response from someone who’s there.
We saw many tens of thousands of downloads in Austin. But what we really care
about – and what we’ve continued to see – is that more than 50 percent of people
are coming back every single day, which is really exciting.

11. Q: Have you figured out what the role for brand marketers and advertisers will be with
Yobongo?
A: We saw an inkling of what’s possible when some wineries from Napa participated in the
app. They’ve been helping people understand the difference between wines and the
various local vineyards, while also offering discounts and inviting them to come and hang
out. Theirs was an authentic participation in the conversation.
“One of the most
Q: Yobongo is riding an emerging trend of new group-texting services and related apps.
fundamentally important
What’s driving that trend?
things for human beings
A: One of the most fundamentally important things for human beings is to be connected.
is to be connected.”
Communicating with someone else in the universe – and knowing that they’re giving you
attention – is wildly satisfying and something that people crave. So in the bakeoff between
playing an iPhone game all by yourself or being able to talk to people and comment on
what’s going on around you, the human connection tends to win.
Q: In terms of privacy, how does social networking change when you’re all sitting in the
same room?
A: If you are sitting inside a Starbucks, everyone can see you and could come up to you and
cause you problems, but generally they don’t. Being inside an app where you can see
other people isn’t fundamentally different, it just feels different.
Yobongo

12. 12 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Leading the Race
to Monetize Mobile
Can telcos and texts compete with credit cards?
The mobile payments market is shaping up to become a multibillion-dollar battleground
where Google, Apple, Microsoft and PayPal will compete to commercialize near-field
communication (NFC). Next-generation NFC-enabled iPhone and Android models could
transform cell phones into mobile wallets and there are many players – from tech giants to
credit card companies to telco carriers – who want a piece of the action.
BOKU, in many respects, has already pulled ahead of the mobile payments pack. This San
Francisco start-up – with offices in Asia and Europe – has attracted $40 million in funding A conversation with Vice President of
from top-tier venture capitalists such as Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures. Business Development Kurt Davis.
www.boku.com
Today, the BOKU mobile platform is primarily used to process online payments.
Consumers simply enter their telephone number at the participating website, then respond
to an authenticating text message and their purchases are automatically billed to their
phone bill. Behind this simple platform is a deep bench of mobile, payments and online
innovators with ambitions to own the mobile payments market.

13. Q: Can you give us some background on Boku?
A: The company began about two and a half years ago with the merger of Mobilcash and
Paymo. They had both been around for four or five years, independently. The acquisition
gave us good people, great coverage in 55 countries and allowed us to get more carrier
relationships. We’ve moved from doing SMS connections to doing a direct billing API,
which means we can do flexible pricing and the carriers can provide faster payouts and,
in many cases, higher payouts. Some carriers give merchants up to 90 percent payouts in
certain countries.
We’ve signed up some of the biggest merchants online, such as Facebook, Sony Online,
EA, and some of the biggest online gaming companies.
Q: Is online gaming where most money is currently being spent in the U.S. through Boku?
A: Yes, there’s a chunk through Facebook and there’s a chunk through online gaming
companies. Those are the two main areas right now.
Q: What do you think that will look like five years from now?
A: I think you’ll see several lines of businesses and I think [online] will be a very small part of
the overall pie. There’s a much bigger world out there.
Q: There’s been a surprisingly slow uptake in mobile retail, partly because people
are frustrated with filling out credit card forms on their phones. What’s the
solution?
A: In the future, we’ll be seeing offline purchases with NFC phones. Retail will eventually
have a combination of mobile funding options. The phone itself could be a gateway
to the credit card, or direct debit, or a mobile wallet. Rather than handing a card to
the cashier, you’ll just tap your phone.
BOKU

14. 14 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Q: What’s a reasonable forecast for mainstream NFC adoption, in your opinion?
A: Generally speaking, NFC is just getting started. Japan is the forerunner, but almost
everywhere across the world it’s pretty much on even par. Next-generation iPhone
and Android phones will have NFC chips built in, but it’ll take two to three years to
get those phones to 50 percent to 60 percent of people. That’s the point when it’ll
really hit. In the meantime, there are a lot of changes that will need to be made to
POS legacy infrastructure.
“I don’t know the exact
Q: How will large consumer brands benefit from Boku and similar services?
answer to how it will all
A: Mobile advertisements are going to meet mobile payments, and that’s where you’ll come together. I don’t
see a significant tie-in. For example, if you check in with Foursquare and you receive
a coupon for Coca-Cola, you could get an additional 50 percent off if you pay with think anybody does yet.”
your phone. But I don’t know the exact answer to how it will all come together. I
don’t think anybody does yet.
Q: The Boku website suggests that conversion rates are higher for mobile
payments than credit cards. Is that really true?
A: In Europe, they’re very accustomed and very comfortable using a mobile phone to
check out. In some parts of Eastern Europe, where credit card penetration is low,
mobile payments are used in 60 percent of all online transactions. In Germany, 30
percent to 40 percent of all online transactions are paid by mobile. In the U.S., it’s
not as high – maybe 10 percent on a very good day. People here have credit cards
and are accustomed to using credit cards.
Carrier fees are dropping in the U.S. and merchants are getting 80 percent payouts.
But if you’re a merchant accustomed to 97 percent payouts from credit cards and
most of your customers have credit cards, then credit just makes sense, right?
So the uplift is not as high in the U.S. But the mobile phone is a very fast and
frictionless way to pay. And it’s very safe with low risk of fraud.

15. Q: Do you think those carrier payouts will eventually come more in line with the
credit card payouts?
A: It’s possible. I think in the offline world, the carriers will find a way to fund the
accounts, so that they can compete with credit cards. But online, the carriers are
still going to take their 10 percent cut. I just don’t see them going after the online
market as aggressively.
Q: With mobile payments, telco carriers serve as intermediaries between merchants
and consumers – more of a platform than a service provider. What’s their
reaction?
A: The carriers have realized that their networks are being commoditized and that
they need to be offering something other than voice and data. The carriers have
definitely seen the light. We have AT&T and Verizon in the U.S., and Vodafone in
the UK and all the German carriers. So it’s getting there.
BOKU

16. 16 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Intelligent Signage Ads
Observes Shoppers and Optimizes
Is mobile the missing link to revolutionize in-store displays?
Silicon Alley start-up Immersive Labs has pioneered new advertising technology that makes
digital signs smarter – and far more attentive – to their audience. When equipped with
an optional web camera, Immersive Labs-enabled digital billboards can detect faces of
passersby and determine their age, gender, attention time, number of glances and distance
from screen. This data is then used to optimize selection and rotation of the ads.
Since debuting at the Pearl Street Mall in downtown Boulder, Colorado, the people-watching
billboards have begun appearing in New York City and will soon be observing travelers at
A conversation with CEO Jason Sosa.
JFK Airport.
www.immersivelabs.com
According to founder Jason Sosa, the company is also considering how to integrate the
interactive billboards with mobile phones and near field communication (NFC). NFC is
an emerging wireless technology that allows consumers to make transactions, exchange
content and connect devices by simply tapping their mobile phone against a card-reader.
He describes mobile phones as a powerful nexus of the online and offline worlds and
expects digital display ads to grow increasingly interactive and intelligent once NFC gains
mainstream traction within the next two to three years.

17. Q: What does the Immersive Labs system do for digital signage?
A: The software learns what ads perform best, based on the attention time of the
viewers. The camera can track up to 25 feet away with a 90 percent accuracy rate. It’s
a self-learning system. If it’s a male viewer or a female viewer, it adjusts accordingly.
The system calculates the probability of success for each ad, based on second-by-
second analysis. You just upload the ad assets and it automatically determines their
best placement.
Q: The camera sounds essential. Why do you say it’s optional?
A: Even without the camera, we can use other data to make a better determination of
what impressions to display. For example, we can incorporate weather, time of day,
day of week, tweets and Foursquare check-ins. In large crowded environments, like “Our goal is to bridge
subway terminals and Times Square, we can gather information from a number of the gap between the
sources.
virtual online world and
In general, though, we encourage use of the camera. We think it’s the best way to the physical world, and
gather performance metrics and take full advantage of the system, because it creates
a feedback loop that lets us learn which advertisements work best. mobile could be a big
part of that transition.”
Q: You’ve indicated that the company is considering innovative ways that
interactive billboards could be synchronized with mobile phones. Can you
explain?
A: Our goal is to bridge the gap between the virtual online world and the physical
world, and mobile could be a big part of that transition. Mobile phones are a
private interface where you feel comfortable entering your credit card information
and email address, while a large touch screen can provide the public interface that
aggregates information according to that location. So you could have an Amazon-
like recommendation experience at shopping malls and grocery stores.
Immersive Labs

18. 18 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Q: Immersive Labs’ technology has been compared to the special effects in Minority
Report, where camera-equipped billboards target consumers by name, peppering
them with personalized pitches from Lexus, The Gap and American Express. How
far away is that future?
A: We are excited about the future and where things are going. Initially, however, we’re
going to focus on making the current display ads smarter and then we’ll be looking at “Near Field Communication
adding more interactive features down the road. Near Field Communication will be
coming out in the next 12 to 18 months and that will usher in an era of even greater
... will usher in an era of
connectivity between devices and things and people. even greater connectivity
That said, we take personal privacy very seriously and our goal is not to invade personal between devices and things
space, but to enhance the shopping experience. Our systems collect purely numerical and people.”
data, no images are ever saved or recorded. In fact, this is a lot less intrusive than
Facebook, Amazon or even a cell phone. They collect a lot more personal information.
The software was designed to work with digital signs today. It utilizes existing hardware
that’s already out there and available right now. We believe that by bringing the online
experience to offline stores and digital signs that a whole new world of possibilities will
emerge.
Q: What was the initial inspiration for Immersive Labs?
A: In 2006, I visited an American-style restaurant in Shanghai, China that had an infrared-
based floor projection of rippling water that reacted to your body’s movements. I
realized I wanted to create a more intelligent machine that would interact with humans
in a new way. It became an obsession. I began exploring computer vision-based
multi-touch solutions in combination with face detection, and eventually built a team
around the concept. Our CTO, Alessio Signorini, brings years of machine learning,
being the former director of technology from Ask.com, and Christopher Piekarski,
VP of engineering, has been focused on embedded systems. They have both added
significantly to the evolution of this technology.

19. Q: How has the idea evolved since your eureka moment in the Shanghai
restaurant?
A: Back then, the infrastructure wasn’t in place and the technology was just emerging.
The industry has really, really matured since then, and the cost of the hardware
continues to plummet. Right now, digital signage is about one-third of total
industry out-of-home ad spend, and it’s growing at a 20 percent annual rate. So
within five years, it will represent nearly half of all out-of-home spending.
Q: The first retail launch of Immersive Labs billboards occurred late last year in
Boulder. Where else have you deployed the technology?
A: We also tested our optimization and targeting technology at the Sony Style store
in New York City. We saw a 60 percent increase in consumers’ attention time when
we created relevant and contextual display advertising, as opposed to the random
rotation that was previously used.
Q: What was the reaction from consumers?
A: They were totally unaware. They had no clue whatsoever that the system was
intelligent. There’s nothing to indicate that it’s optimizing, or learning, or anything
like that. It looks just like a display ad, similar to what you would ordinarily expect
to see there.
Immersive Labs

20. 20 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Scoutmob for the
Flash Commerce
Locally Inquisitive
Is GPS the next big thing in group deals?
The only way to really get to know your city is by getting out, being curious and exploring the
scene for all it’s worth. That’s the premise behind the popular flash commerce site Scoutmob,
which sends unbeatable daily discounts to local businesses via email, text or mobile app.
Atlanta-based Scoutmob has grown exponentially since its launch in January 2010. While it
has been compared to other popular deal-of-the-day coupon sites like Groupon, LivingSocial,
Gilt and Woot, there are actually several features that differentiate this quirky start-up from
other group-buying sites.
A conversation with Co-Founder
Michael Tavani.
www.scoutmob.com

21. Q: For those that don’t know, tell us what Scoutmob is.
A: We are in the flash commerce space, utilizing emails and social media to get
consumers to act in a short period of time and respond to a deal. Groupon was
really the first major player in this space, but Scoutmob does two things that are
drastically different.
First, for consumers, there’s no payment upfront. It’s absolutely free. People love that
and it creates a lot of viral buzz, growth and signups for our site. Our whole process
is friction-free for the consumer.
Secondly, on the merchant side, we use mobile apps to guarantee location. We use
GPS to prove that somebody showed up at a participating business to redeem the
deal.
Michael Tavani
Q: Sites like Groupon and Woot typically have a 24-hour window. They do one deal Co-Founder, Scoutmob
a day. But Scoutmob offers lots of different options, correct?
A: That’s right. Consumers usually have three months to claim the deal. If you have an
iPhone or an Android, those deals will remain in the app until the expiration date.
And if you have a different phone, you can still receive, store and redeem the same
deals via text messages.
Q: How do you find all of the deals? Do you have a team of people that go out or
do the businesses come to you?
A: In developed markets, such as here in Atlanta, we joke that our salesman has the
easiest job. We’re getting a lot of incoming calls literally say, “Where do we sign
up?” In markets that have recently launched that are less established, we’re going
out and seeking more contacts. We like to kind of uncover spots that have, you
know, a meatball that’s a homemade recipe that has been in the family for 75 years.
We like to tell their story and then explain why this is a unique deal.
Scoutmob

22. 22 | Start-ups to Watch Q2
Q: How did you decide to keep all of the deals at 50 percent?
A: We are in no way tied to 50 percent. We’ve done deals that were less than 50
percent and we’ve done deals that were more. But, in general, 50 is a good,
clean number. We’ve found that 75 percent off does not attract significantly more
customers, but if you go much lower than 50 percent – say, around 25 percent – then
substantially fewer people take the deal.
Q: The Groupon revenue-split model prioritizes exposure and volume over
immediate profit with the hope that after a one-time deal, which could even
represent a net loss for the day, the newly acquainted consumers will come back
and become recurring customers. So many companies seem to only use Groupon
once. Do you find that with your partners?
A: We try to drive a ton of new customers and make it a profitable transaction for the
merchant. Scoutmob is a way to attract a lot of people who have never been to your
restaurant or business. And we encourage these customers to come back again.
We’ve introduced “return perks” on the app – that’s our early entry into loyalty. It is a
smaller discount that you automatically receive once you’ve used the big discount.
Q: How do you spread the word so people are excited for that first deal?
A: We’ve really grown by word of mouth. We do very little traditional press. We have
done some social media and that helps prime the market, but it only makes about
a 10 percent difference. Nowadays, people are so connected and there is a lot of
sharing that takes place on Twitter and other networks. People just talk about it.
Q: Where did the idea for Scoutmob come from?
A: Groupon broke a lot of ground in this market, showing the possibilities of discounts.
And you can see the kind of results driven by these types of discounts. Combining
the discount with the measureable results, those were the two big things that came
together and made us realize, “Wow, there’s something to this.”

23. In 2011 , mobile will contribute an additional $1.1
billion to the digital ad
market, which will top $28.5
billion this year. Source: eMarketer. The revenue
created from customers buying and downloading apps to smartphones and
tablets will reach $38
billion by 2015
. Source: Forrester Media. Corporations
will spend up to $17
billion creating apps for their products and working with
third-party services and companies that manage these apps. Source: Forrester
Media. 23%of consumers now use handheld wireless device to research
products for purchase. Source: North American Technographics. In 2009
, the
estimated revenue for mobile advertising — including search and display ads
delivered through tablets and smart phones — grew to between $550
million
and $650 million. Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau and Price Waterhouse
Coopers. 85% of consumers expect their mobile shopping experience to be
as good as online shopping, and yet fewer than of the top 20% 500
online
retailers in the U.S. have sites that are compatible with mobile browsers. Source:
Tealeaf, Acquity Group. Among mobile subscribers in the U.S., 68
percent send
and receive text messages, but only 37
percent use mobile browsers and
35 percent use downloaded apps. Source: comScore. Nearly 25
percent of the
234 million U.S. mobile subscribers aged 13
and older currently play games
on their mobile devices, an audience of nearly 60
million. Source: comScore.
image credit: flickr/Mr. T in DC, flickr/denisdervisevic, flickr/mrhayata

24. About Engauge
One of the nation’s largest integrated digital marketing agencies, Engauge
leverages creativity and technology to develop transformational ideas that
connect brands and people. Engauge guides a growing roster of clients on
the path to realizing the power of digital channels by focusing on driving
results and sustainable growth for brands. The agency’s client roster includes
Nationwide Insurance, DAD’S Pet Care, The Home Depot, Best Buy For
Business, Chick-fil-A, Brown-Forman, Food Lion, Van Gogh Vodka, NGK Spark
Plugs, Perkins, IHG, UPS, Logitech and more. Engauge, which has offices in
Atlanta, Austin, Columbus, Orlando and Pittsburgh, is a portfolio company of
Halyard Capital.
For more information, contact:
Scott Hildebrand
Managing Partner
404.601.4332 direct
804.363.5715 mobile
shildebrand@engauge.com
Engauge
375 North Front Street
Suite 400
Columbus OH 43215
engauge.com