Kent Cashing in on Beacons and Bluetooth
By Alexandrea Rehner and Mike Mann
Kent is officially the pilot city for the new City 2 City application that uses beacon technology to interact with locals’ smartphones.
In a few months, anyone in downtown Kent will be just a tap away from being a savvy shopper with the nearest dining discounts and retail sales.
With the installation and technology fully maintained by City 2 City, the three-year agreement costs Kent nothing upfront with hopes of future revenue going back into the city. The deal outlines the city receiving 15 percent of the revenue the company makes from local advertising through its technology (paid quarterly).
As predicted by Advertising Age, marketers across the United States are using “behavioral and geolocation signals to find new audiences on mobile devices,” and City 2 City’s beacon technology appearing in Kent is a prime example of this trend for 2016.
How This Technology Works
Founder and CEO of City 2 City Inc., Jon Zeit, is a long time Kent native who wants to set up headquarters in the city along with the new devices. The company plans to install 100 beacons and 10 geofences on utility poles around the city. The map for the network layout is still being drawn out as it may be subject to change to optimize coverage during the first months of release.
Using Bluetooth technology for the beacons and GPS for the geofences, these devices will create a network that City 2 City and business owners can use for advertising to current and potential customers right outside their doors.
Zeit describes the beacon technology his company uses as simple in the sense that the beacons are low energy and aren’t advanced enough to be prey for hackers. As well as the company will monitor all of the message content that is uploaded and broadcasted.
“These beacons don’t interact with your phone,” Zeit said. “Without the app it doesn’t do anything.” Once downloaded the application works with the Amazon cloud to send messages to users in the area through a secure network.
Through an interactive app and the new installations appearing around town in March, Zeit hopes to bring a great experience for all parties involved.
“The whole point of this is so that you can have an app on your phone that no matter what town that we’re in…you kind of feel like you’re a regular in that town,” Zeit said of his main objective for application users.
The devices allow businesses to get real time analytics of how many people opened their message, how many used it, and how many acted on it. City 2 City will also offer marketing assistance in the graphic design of messages and/or strategizing on the best way to reach new customers.
Through trial-and-error in the startup months City 2 City intends to find the most effective device placement and recommended advertising designs for local businesses. The ultimate goal for Kent being that the economy will eventually get another boost by increased sales correlating to the increase in app users.
One of the major advantages to the deal was that, “businesses can reach mobile,” Zeit said. As well as “the local economy is going to get a boost, because we’re giving them a profit share,” Zeit said.
The City’s Side of Things
Economic Development Director, Tom Wilke, is optimistic for the future success of the application in Kent through its interaction with residents and businesses.
“In this case it really was a no-lose proposition to us [the city of Kent]. There was no upfront cost to us. And it was an option, or it was an opportunity for us to share in the revenue as they start to generate it through advertising,” Wilke said.
Wilke also mentioned that Kent officials also have the potential to use the network for free to broadcast public messages once the app has gained more recognition with locals.
“So let’s say there’s some kind of parking ban, because of a winter snowstorm coming. We might choose that” option to warn those in the area, Wilke said.
Wilke admits, however, that “we’ll all just have to see together how well it does,” since the technology and application are still new.
While the final pricing on the marketing packages offered hasn’t been announced just yet, the early figures of $25 per day or a minimum of $200 per month for unlimited broadcasting comes during a time where advertising and promotion via social media is free. An option with no cost at all might be the only way to fit into some budgets.
Justin Heiser, manager at UniversiTees, said, “Most of our advertising would be focused on interacting with the freshmen primarily during orientation over the summer so there’s not going to be much left for any apps.”
“There’s a lot of apps, and things like that, that come through,” Gwen Rosenberg, owner of Popped! in downtown Kent said. “They’re all really interesting and I like learning about them, but it isn’t something I’d be an early adopter of, a paid app like that.”
Popped! has been open in the heart of Acorn Alley for just over four years. Throughout that time, Rosenberg says the business has done most of its promotion through Facebook, where all new flavors and recipes are unveiled first to the 2,101 people that like the page.
Social media could very possibly be the biggest obstacle for Zeit and the city when looking to grow with the City 2 City app. With any time spent in downtown Kent, it’s easy to notice the Twitter handles and Facebook pages of companies plastered in their storefront windows.
Most smartphone users may already have an app like Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram installed and maybe even integrated with the local businesses by following their account. Finding an incentive for new users and students on campus is something Zeit is already looking ahead to.
Upsides for Users
“Consumers win because they can get deals,” Zeit said.
“We’re also going to have interactive things consumers do,” Zeit said, “We’re going to actually end up giving away a lot of money, especially during the introductory period.”
Zeit describes having scavenger hunts involving the beacons and having users interact with a specific one to win a prize.
“The first person to scan the image wins $100, and maybe [we’ll] do that every day for a year on our rollout,” Zeit said. “Especially with college students here, I know I would have been down there doing it.”
With so much planned in the upcoming months Zeit says students and residents both will be well aware when the technology launches in the area.
“We’re going to try to surprise people,” Zeit said. “There will be traditional advertising and a lot of social media presence. And you know, when you start telling people you’re going to give away money, people start listening.”
The City of Kent and its officials have hopes just as high as Zeit does for the upcoming network downtown which City 2 City expects to fully launch by the end of April.
Wilke added, “I think we’re excited and we want to encourage people to try new things. And we’re always open to new and innovative ideas,”
