Trending Media Companies: Linkable Networks, Wendr, ShopSocially, Karma

This is part 5 of my tenpart series on the most important digital advances in which I39m sharing exclusive insights on trending companies that are among the media industry39s hottest and most interesting To read the full series visit httpwwwjackmyerscommediabusinessreportLinkable Networks wwwlinkablenetworkscomAs the only cardlinked offer company that can provide merchant and individual product SKUlevel offers Linkable Networks brings innovative technology to the couponing universe In 2011 more than 300 billion coupons were distributed in the US Seventy percent of them were SKU based and 89 were paper The coupon industry is one of the last markets to go digital due to technical complexities of enabling SKUbased offers Linkable with its ability to linkenable all forms of coupons has broken the code on digitizing the 4 billion coupon industry Based in Boston Linkable Networks offers cardlinked offers and discounts called MyLinkables which include a variety of advertising forms such as print banner text mobile ads television radio and video These forms of advertising are then supported by the majority of credit and debit cards Consumers and advertisers have a multitude of benefits from Linkable Networks linked offers including offering consumers a way to save on products they regularly purchase and giving advertisers many more opportunities to reach out to their potential customersLinkable Networks Goes Above and BeyondAccording to Tom Burgess the founder and CEO of Linkable Networks quotOur technology allows consumers to link storelevel and itemlevel offers directly to the credit or debit card of choicequot Burgess further explains quotFor consumers Linkable delivers oneclick access to meaningful savingsquot This marks the end of clipping printing and organizing coupons Linkable Networks is the only SKUenabled cardlinked company of their kind with individual linked offers for credit and debit cards In addition to the consumer benefits brands and retailers gain significant value from Linkables purchase behavior reporting and direct to consumer interaction Competitors for storebased card linked offers include Cartera Cardlytics and EDO Interactiveamp160Linkable offers go directly onto whatever credit card is registered which will be recognized when an offer is quotlinkedquot and the same card is used at a retailer Offers can be found in ads across all media types as well as on MyLinkablescom and MyLinkables mobile apps The customer receives an email or text confirmation once the offer has been applied to the card and discounts are listed on the shoppers monthly creditdebit statements Offers can be applied privately avoiding the need to present coupons at participating restaurants and other retail venuesLinkable Networks Partners with 247 Real MediaLinkable Networks has also partnered with 247 Real Media to tap into consumers39 quickly growing desire to utilize digital coupons that are directly linked to their debit and credit cards quotWe are dedicated to providing innovative and effective marketing technologies to our advertisers and view the Linkable Networks39 platform as a perfect fit with our current capabilitiesquot said Ari Bluman President of North American Sales and Operations at 247 Real Media quotLinkables facilitates a level of interaction with brand marketing that has not previously existed When added to a display or banner advertisement running on our Global Web Alliance this new functionality gives the consumer a financial incentive to clickthrough and engage I39m excited about all the different ways we can integrate Linkables into our clients39 campaignsquot While the 247 relationship has been slow to expand as cardlinked offers gain public awareness and usage marketers will seek solutions and opportunitiesLinkable Networks Benefits AdvertisersOffers and rewards that are cardlinked by Linkable Networks include nearly any form of advertising allowing for multimedia broad advertising capabilities This includes radio television video text mobile ads print and banners Advertisers can take advantage of this technology by reaching out not only to a larger audience but to consumers interested in your products and brands specifically Obviously online activation is the most advantageous connection since users can easily register and simply click once to apply an offerdiscount to their credit card for future useInvestors in Linkable Networks include Bain Capital Ventures Bostonbased CommonAngels Kepha Partners Citi Ventures and a yet to be named additional financial services company Founders and senior executives are Tom Burgess founder and CEO who was the founder of Third Screen Media which was sold to AOL in 2007 David Chapman is Chief Financial OfficerWendr wwwwendrcomWendr is one of several companies competing in the advancing world of social media discovery applications with placebased marketing opportunities Wendr founded by Sam Zises former Ogilvy ampamp Mather marketing and business development manager lets users discover their friend39s plans each night by allowing them to set a status color Green indicating quotGoing outquot orange for quotOpen to suggestionsquot and red for quotStaying inquot Zises says quotWendr solves an everyday problem very directly We39re about making your real life more social Instead of wasting time calling texting and messaging all of your friends to see what they39re doing tonight Wendr allows you to coordinate plans with your friends more efficiently so you can stop 39checkingin39 and start hanging outquot Privacy is very important to the creators of Wendr and the user has full control over which friends can see their plans each night Wendr also allows friends to be added to groups called quotCrewsquot which are private so friends don39t know which one they39re inAt a recent AdAge Digital conference Budweiser held a competitive search to find a technology startup to partner with Wendr won beating out five other finalists with flying colors by introducing their quotBuds by Budweiserquot app concept Wendr presented an idea leveraging its technology where friends could quotTap a Budquot to hang out then quotCheck in with a Budquot at a bar and quotWin a Budquot on the house Wendr landed a 25000 partnership with the beer company and plans to announce exciting news about their deal soonWendr Stands Out from CompetitorsWhile there are several competing apps and services in this space Wendr39s advantages are in its clean and simple user interface its sole focus on tonight and its leadership that has a strong understanding of how to service brands through strategic content marketing Wendr strives to earn real estate on your home screen by being your dashboard for all things tonight Whether you want to catch a movie with a friend find a restaurant to eat at or browse upcoming concerts and sporting events to attend Wendr plans to facilitate itAdvertising with WendrUpon its first release Wendr was 100 adfree however soon after they established deals with various entertainment companies and nighttime event providers including Fandango SeatGeek Seamless HotelTonight Uber and NightOutcom It39s important to note that Wendr only plans to integrate relevant advertising partners that enhance the users experience within the overall application experienceWith Wendr it39s all about SoLoMo social local mobile Wendr is able to offer advertising partners a revolutionary marketing opportunity Wendr allows for these partners to access consumers at a pivotal moment for making a purchase decision Few platforms if any are more focused on consumers looking for immediate nighttime activities and entertainmentUpcoming Features ampamp PartnershipsWendr is currently in development on two major feature enhancements Foursquare powered Location and Nighttime Event Discovery which will aggregate content from you and your friends mobile phone39s native calendar Facebook Events ampamp Check ins Foursquare Check ins and Tweets with TONIGHTWendr recently signed a deal with a major mobile technology company brand and is in development on a cobranded application for their Latin American market The product is due to be released before the end of the year and more details will be announced soonWendr CompatibilityWendr is currently available on iOS for most Apple phones and devices and will also be available for Blackberry OS before the end of the year Wendr plans to release an Android version shortly thereafterShopSociallycom httpshopsociallycomAmong the many new shopping websites comes ShopSociallycom a cloudbased social commerce app and website that has many major retailers as clients A privatelyheld company based in Mountain View CA the white label service enables commerce sites and online retailers to embed social media tools without dealing with HTML or writing code Clients include Sephora CafePress Sears The Children39s Place Sport Chalet Ritz and ZalesThe builtin social apps include Getafan ShareaPromotion Viral Offer Sharing ShareaPurchase AskaFriend and more These social apps are added to the retailer39s page where a customer can benefit by receiving special discounts or promotions while browsing for products they39re looking for The social media apps provided by ShopSocially go far beyond the traditional Twitter and Facebook buttons which customers and retailers have come to expectBecause this type of social media promotion does not directly sell products or services ShopSocially enables social media to advertise new products and encourage shoppers to connect online with retailers through social commerce solutions According to Samir Palnitkar the president of ShopSocially quotWe were thrilled when one of our retailers saw an increase of nearly 1 million in revenues per year by integrating with the ShopSocially solutionquotAlthough ShopSocially launched shortly after two of their competitors with similar social commerce solutions Blippy and Swipely its automated social commerce solution allows for a private and casual method of encouraging future purchases through social interaction Retailers can promote current deals and discounts offers events videos and more Additional benefits to advertisers include improving the social integration of their website promoting products and brands virally and of course increasing salesJai Rawat founder of ShopSocially has said quotRetailers can integrate with ShopSocially39s social commerce platform to harness the tremendous power of social recommendations ShopSocially helps turn every purchase into a conversation and a social endorsement driving significant friend referred traffic back to the retailer sitequot Investors include Valhalla Partners with angel funding from Raman Khanna Ashish Gupta and Dharmesh Thakker Rawat has spent the last 18 years focusing on various investments entrepreneur projects and mentoring startups His previous startups include Obongo which was purchased by AOLKarma httpwwwyourkarmacomKarma is a revolutionary way to get wifi from any hotspot using its unique payasyougo feature By purchasing a special portable hotspot device from Karma users get to log into anyone39s wifi hotspot while getting more bandwidth for themselves as well as the person whose wifi they39re tapping into Currently Karma provides 4G service in approximately 80 cities throughout the United States using payasyougo rather than a monthly fee With Karma there39s no minimum fee Owners of the wifi hotspot don39t have to share their service with Karma users but if they do they get free data as an extra perk Aside from having access to wifi hotspots Karma also integrates social media features into their system Karma works with any Internet service provider and device including laptops and netbooks mobile phones and tablet computers Other payasyougo wifi systems exist but they don39t have the advantages that Karma offers Boingo for instance offers wifi that you pay for but it requires monthly fees which can quickly add up Boingo also has more limited connectivity options Payasyougo wifi is also available from many Internet companies but they are limited to hotspots within their network By comparison Karma works with any Internet service The social wifi Karma shouldn39t be confused with the Karma giftgiving app which Facebook recently purchased Founder Robert Gaal a Netherlands native is a product designer with little formal educationEditor39s Note Linkable Networks and Wendr are portfolio companies of Media Advisory Group parent of Jack Myers Media Business ReportYou are receiving this email as a corporate subscriber to Jack Myers Media Business Report Redistribution in any form except among approved individuals within your company is prohibited As a subscriber you have full access to all archives and reports at wwwjackmyerscom If you require your ID and password contact maryannjackmyerscom

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Trending Media Companies: Linkable Networks, Wendr, ShopSocially, Karma

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Trending Media Companies: Linkable Networks, Wendr, ShopSocially, Karma

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