When I say “Blockchain”, you (probably) say “Bitcoin”. It’s true, in spite of its prominence in business and marketing media over the last two years there still seems to be mystery around the benefits of blockchain technology in marketing.

We’re not talking cryptocurrency here either. So, for this blog, we’re going to avoid using the word bl*ckch*in and focus on the user experience for marketing purposes, to show how you can almost instantly reward fans anywhere in the world.

Here’s a hypothetical but relevant brand challenge:

You need to create a campaign that instantly rewards fans for physically engaging with it all over the country/world.

You can immediately feel your brain working overtime to find the solution: social & digital advertising, data capture, brand teams, logistics, merch/product deliveries, redemption, troubleshooting, costs… the sheer mass of obstacles to overcome can be overwhelming.

Stop. Breathe.

Now picture a Google Map or the entire city. Like this one.

Now imagine yourself dropping your products all over the city and giving your fans the map to go collect them all. Seems simple right? Cool, now you’ve got to consider you only want each person to be able to pick up one sample, so some greedy so-and-so doesn’t spoil the fun for everyone else. Limiting people to one sample per person can be a headache, especially for brands or products, ie; alcohol brands, where you want people to engage but not be allowed overdo it.

Using the Blockv platform you can create icons or “Vatoms” which you drop all over the city as per the image above. These icons can look like anything you want - badges, statues, tokens, products, tickets.

You then use your comms (digital, OOH, print, broadcast) to let the world know you have dropped them, prompting people to go and collect them. Without getting into the technical background detail – people then walk to the locations on the map, and pick them up, digitally. That icon is then theirs and theirs only. Once picked up, it’s gone.

Outdoor icons can be picked up as close to 3m with 10m for indoor, with an option to see the icon in Augmented Reality when you get close enough. They register their personal platform using either email, phone number, social profile, and add it to their own online ‘wallet’. No app download necessary. 

Still confused, here’s a demo video on how Blockv works:

This is where the redemption kicks in.

Let’s imagine you’re a new cool healthy drinks brand which wants to give people the chance to grab a free drink. In your comms you can explain that once the drink icon is picked up and shown to the nearest café/shop/brand team it can be redeemed immediately. They pass the icon on to the cashier using the same platform or a simple scan of a QR code. You’ve started a veritable and measurable product drop and “scavenger hunt” with close to instant redemption, and you’ve reduced your logistics headache immeasurably. Winner. 

Here’s a snapshot of the user journey using a made-up music brand who want you to get excited about their music release, creating a redemption mechanic tied to a Spotify listen.

What if you were a beer brand who wanted to give fans a free pint – limiting it to one person each – in their nearest local? You drop pint icons on the map. Prompt people to go pick them up. They pick them up, (with an added “Over 18 verification” step), and take them to participating bar or off-license where they can redeem. These can be limited to one per person in the back-end design where the online ‘wallet’ will only accept the type or icon once then it’s locked (not that type of locked!)

If brand sampling, rewards and redemptions are high on your agenda – Blockv provides a bulletproof platform for audience interaction. It’s also a whole lot of fun, and because it negates the need for a standalone app, the user journey couldn’t be cleaner. Food for thought. 

If you have any questions on the above or if you think this is something your brand could really benefit from, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

 -          GC