Logia explains how its Metropolin social location game has got Israelis checking into hospital waiting rooms.
It's not even two years since Foursquare and Gowalla wowed the crowds at SXSW and kickstarted a revolution around social location.
These two companies – and others including Rummble, MyTown and eventually Facebook – have taken the idea of checking in to real-world venues solidly into the mainstream.
But there are two facets of the whole revolution that seem to be exciting the most interest.
The first is the ability to team up with real-world brands and retailers so that the check-in becomes the start point for a real-world transaction. There are obvious revenue opportunities here.
The second is 'gamification' – the ability to imbue the check-in experience with gameplay elements that keep users coming back for more.
These two ideas have proved compelling to telcos all over the world, and interesting case studies have emerged in surprising places.
One such is Metropolin, produced by the content specialist Logia, for Cellcom in Israel. The creators describe it as a combination of Foursquare and Monopoly.
ME found out more from Efi Ben Moshe, VP of product at Logia.
Tell us about the Metropolin concept and its launch.
The idea is to offer a 'mobile street game', which enables the users to check in to real locations but then take responsibility for them, just like they would in Monopoly.
They can charge rent to people, but they also have to spend money maintaining their property. We've built in all kinds of engagement and attention 'loops' to keep people playing.
Is it competition for Facebook and Foursquare?
No. In fact, the game is integrated with Facebook to encourage more participation. It's also different from Foursquare.
How successful has it been?
We've got 50,000 active users in three months – and that includes 20 per cent of Israel's iPhone owners. We're very pleased with that.
What's also been good is the frequency of play: the average per person is 10 minutes a day, but some play for two hours.
We have a user that is at level 200 of the game, which requires an hour of play a day for three months.
What sort of locations can you check into?
You use the GPS to check into any location you like, and 200,000 locations have been registered so far.
The most popular are coffee shops and bars, but we've had hospitals and doctor's surgeries too. People check in when they're waiting to see the doctor.
Has Metropolin been designed to make money, or to improve loyalty to Cellcom?
I think initially Cellcom wanted to create something interesting and different to present to their users. There's no advertising, for example, because they wanted to keep the services 'clean'.
Also, the service is available to users of other networks, although it's only Cellcom users that have a dedicated web site and app. In time, though, there are some clear opportunities to work with brands.
Are there already retailer partners?
Yes, we have 15 offering coupons with 'buy one get one free' type offers. Obviously we hope to extend this and explore new types of promotion.
How about expanding outside Israel?
Yes, we talking to other operators and hope to launch soon.
Logia delivers content services to more that 50 operators. There's more about Metropolin and other stuff here.
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