GoSpooky! How teenagers disrupt Snapchat marketing

21

October

2016

4.67/5 (3)

And again I missed an opportunity to become a millionaire! At the moment millions of people around the world are watching ‘snaps’. For the elderly amongst us (>25): a snap is a photo/video on Snapchat. Snapchat started five years ago as a joke of a few students at Stanford, but today it’s one of the most popular mobile apps among the youth. A unique feature of this app is that snaps are only temporarily available. Snapchat is currently preparing for an IPO that is expected to value the company at $25 billion! That’s even more than for example Facebook ($16 billion) and Twitter ($18 billion).

But how can companies make use of Snapchat? This platform is particularly interesting, because it enables (big) companies to reach teenagers, a target group which barely uses traditional media (e.g. TV, newspapers). But these companies have a problem: they have no idea of how to run a campaign on Snapchat. Two Dutch boys (Tim, 18 and Liam, 19) jumped into this gap and started a company called GoSpooky: the first Snapchat marketing agency in Europe. GoSpooky creates Snapchat campaigns and strategies for advertisers. These lads expect a turnover of €150.000 for 2016 thanks to campaigns for e.g. ABN-Amro, Hema and Albert Heijn.

You might think that their young age is a disadvantage in doing business, but I have some bad news for you guys (BIM/marketing students). According to these chaps, graduates who begin with their job at a big company are chocked up with theories and models. Moreover, they are often not familiar with Snapchat (unless they learned it from their little brother/sister). A mistake that is often made by big companies is that they want to run the exact same campaign on all platforms, but it’s not a bad idea to do it slightly different on Snapchat. It is important to tell a story and to keep it personal.

We can conclude that Snapchat is one of the most interesting platforms of this time. It offers new opportunities for advertisers and the boys of GoSpooky did a great job by taking advantage of this knowledge gap.

Sources:

http://binnenland.eenvandaag.nl/tv-items/69923/waarom_is_snapchat_25_miljard_waard_

http://dewerelddraaitdoor.vara.nl/media/365691

http://leijp.nl/snapchat-bedrijf/

http://gospooky.com/

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Digital Transformation Project – Capital Sports (team 43)

21

October

2016

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Capital Sports is an independent fitness center in the city of Zwijndrecht, ZH, The Netherlands. They offer several facilities and personal attention to their members, in order to maximize customer satisfaction. In this blog, a new technology will be introduced to serve Capital Sports’ and its members’ needs.

First, we take a look at their current strategy. Capital Sports’ current mission is to guide people to a healthier and better lifestyle through its activities in their fitness center. Capital Sports enables members and aspiring members a way to maintain a sporty and healthy lifestyle by offering multiple ways to participate in sports activities. Capital Sports tries to differentiate itself from competitors through the personal touch it offers its members. Emphasis is put on the attention and guidance employees give the members of Capital Sports, in order to maximize customer satisfaction. But do they also make use of IT? Capital Sports makes use of a website, CapitalSports.nl, which showcases the basic information about the facilities, activities and the option to become a member through the online portal. The company also has a presence on social media through Facebook and there is a Capital Sports app.

The new technology proposed to transform the current business of Capital Sports is video on-demand. This entails that Capital Sports’ live lessons will be recorded and posted online. Members can log in through the portal on either the website (capitalsports.nl) or the Capital Sports application. The lessons can be joined in either real-time or at a time convenient to the member. All lessons for which limited or no equipment is necessary will be made available in the on-demand service. In addition to providing online videos of lessons, it will create an online community. Members will have the opportunity to rate lessons, mark their favorites and ask questions pertaining to the lessons. Creating this online community is the first step for Capital Sports to create an omni channel experience for their members.

The on-demand nature of the video streaming has a twofold effect. On one side it offers members to join a lesson they cannot attend, either live or at another time of choice. This is because offering lessons online increases reach for Capital Sports and accessibility for members, both in a physical manner and because the video streaming is available outside Capital Sports’ regular opening hours. This ensures Capital Sports’ 24/7 customer focus. On the other side, consumer experience is enhanced by offering the possibility to repeat a lesson they have participated in before. An important aspect for Capital Sports is that by offering lessons through a video channel, it is possible to employ the use of analytics. Several trends can be analysed, for example the most popular lessons/instructors/hours.

We recommend for Capital Sports to do a survey amongst its members, in order to get a grasp on how many members are willing to participate with the online streaming service, and how much they are willing to pay for this extra service. Second, we recommend Capital Sports, to discuss willingness to participate with their instructors, as they might object to being exposed online. These recommendations will help them make a more educated guess with regards to the financial risks of undertaking the project.

We would like to thank Capital Sports and all the ones involved in making this analysis possible. More information can be found in the accompanying video: https://youtu.be/6VE1naqE8jk

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Airbnb: Disrupting Your Neighbourhood Since 2009

7

October

2016

4.67/5 (3)

Airbnb is a well-known example of a company that promotes the sharing economy. This platform markets itself as a company that enables house owners to share their house, make money and meet new people. Sounds very promising, right? But things might be less auspicious than it seems…

I have to admit: the founders of Airbnb did a great job, they disrupted the hotel industry within a few years. But the founders probably didn’t expect that the social structure of a city would change dramatically due to a growing number of Airbnb stays. An example of such a city is Amsterdam, the documentary ‘Slapend Rijk’ of VPRO Tegenlicht gives an excellent overview of the situation in this city.

The popularity of Airbnb caused huge problems in the city center, the property prices increased with an average amount of €100,000. The consequence is that Chinese and Russians are buying these properties as an investment, their only intention is to rent the property on Airbnb. The balance between tourism and residents is disturbed and also nuisance is increasing (think about screaming tourists and clanging trolleys). In order to reduce nuisance, Airbnb signed an agreement with the municipality of Amsterdam in 2014. This agreement should reduce illegal rentals (limited to 60 days/year) and would force Airbnb to pay taxes (5%), but Airbnb didn’t want to share the data of their 18,000 owners.

The agreement didn’t solve the problems, so the residents and municipality are seeking other ways of reducing nuisance of Airbnb renters. They are e.g. hiring detective agencies to catch owners who rent their property illegally. Furthermore, GroenLinks Amsterdam (a political party) started a website called ‘Fairbnb’. This website pays attention to the problems in Amsterdam regarding Airbnb. It’s also possible to report a complaint or to come up with possible solutions to solve these problems.

The easiest solution for tourists, residents and investors is: go to Rotterdam! Another idea is that Airbnb changes their way of doing business. They need to take the social structures of a city into account by monitoring the rentals and by adhering the agreements with important Airbnb cities. The municipalities could improve the situation by forcing owners to register their house if they want to rent it (on Airbnb). There is nothing wrong with renting or sharing your house, but it should be done correctly.

Sources:
http://www.vpro.nl/programmas/tegenlicht/kijk/afleveringen/2016-2017/slapend-rijk.html
http://www.vpro.nl/programmas/tegenlicht/lees/bijlagen/2016-2017/slapend-rijk/airbnb-in-nederland.html
https://www.groene.nl/artikel/een-luchtbedje-met-ontbijt
https://www.fairbnb.amsterdam/

 

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