Brightkite is finding its users respond well to local promotions, with many campaigns seeing response rates of more than two percent with the best campaigns achieving five to 10 percent response rates. So far in 2010, Brightkite users have benefited from a range of incentives offered by brands including free and discounted:
- Drinks
- Meals, appetizers and desserts
- Healthcare and beauty appointments
- Hotel rooms
- Movie and theater tickets
- Dry cleaning
- Car rentals
Brands of all sizes -“ from neighborhood bars, restaurants, stores and services to national retailers like Gap -“ have used the Brightkite service to make consumers aware of local events. For instance, Gap offered local customers a mobile coupon for 15 percent off in-store purchases at new store locations.
Ben & Jerry’s is offering Brightkite users close to their retail locations offers such as $1 ice cream Bars, $2 pints and $3 quarts. Brightkite users visiting Las Vegas receive discounted hotel rooms from Trump International Hotel and 50 percent off tickets to Cirque du Soleil shows. Time Warner Cable is offering users increased speeds for broadband Internet connections to promote their new service in areas as it is rolled out. In San Francisco, users get $2 off cocktails at Bliss Bar, a free glass of wine at Mezes and $2 off burritos at El Toro.
“Everyone likes a good deal, and its great to see Brightkite users benefiting from the great offers brands are giving to our users,” said Brightkite founder and CEO Jonathon Linner. “It’s really exciting to see businesses waking up to the new possibilities with local advertising. We are seeing a notable increase in inbound inquiries -“ both from large national retailers like Gap to local businesses who want to promote a single location.”
The majority of Brightkite’s advertisers are local brands that care only about talking to customers in their neighborhood. For these companies, Brightkite constructs a geo-fence around the location and only target users checking in within the desired area. Local merchants can set up their campaign at http://brightkite.com/pages/bk_ad_local_promos.html..
To date, all the local advertising campaigns have been run in the US, but Brightkite is looking for partners to help bring the same service to other markets where it has a significant number of users such as Japan, Europe, Canada and Australia.
