iome Launches Plotstar

iome has launched Plotstar, a digital media service that enables consumers to discover, plan ahead and share events, activities and plans, based on their current or intended location. Plotstar, which is available via any Internet-connected device, will also enable individuals to book restaurants, cinema and theatre tickets through the service, share event plans with friends via social networks, and access relevant discount vouchers and offers that are personal to them. The Plotstar platform has the ability to learn consumer behaviour, likes and dislikes, in order to deliver a highly personalised and relevant service. It provides access to over 2.5m locations and listings, 500,000 events and many online and mobile vouchers, all of which are geo-located.
The service is initially being launched as a white-label offering to businesses that wish to deliver highly targeted digital services, offers and advertising to their consumers’ device of choice. Iome says it has seen initialinterest in the service from coffee shop chains, who see potential in the servive for deepening their engagement with their customers.
Plotstar lets individuals discover places, events and activities based on their current or planned location and create plans around these. Discount coupons are also integrated to give consumers the ability to make savings as part of their personal plans. Plans can be shared with friends via Facebook, Twitter, SMS or email. Plotstar users can also add their own content, including photos from the event, venue ratings and messages.
iome CEO, Phil Eames, says brands are able to monetise the service through ads, and commissions on items such as theatre ticker sales and discount vouchers, with iome taking a share of the revenue as payment for running the service.
“There are 180 million visits to London every year and 94% of them are planned in some way, so there is great potential for a service like this,” says Eames.
Eames adds that iome hopes to have three clients up and running with the platform by February. One is British Telecom, for whom iome has been running a ‘Lite’ version of the service for several month, another is a multi-shopping centre operator, who is interested in the platform’s ability to distribute discount vouchers and drive footfall into its tenants’ shops.
“Plotstar is the first service of its kind to bring together social networking, discount coupons and location-based services and fills a gap in the market,” says Eames. “By delivering this interactive service to its customers, businesses have a more detailed understanding of their behaviour and are able to provide tailored offers and services as a result."

Comments

[Stefan Hohmann]

The trouble with Bluetooth, as with any and every other media opportunity available to advertisers, is that it can be done badly - and thus viewed as intrusive and annoying - or indeed extremely well, with the consumer experience at the heart of it's execution. Bad TV, cinema or radio commercials, sponsorship bumpers, web banners are all rude intrusions on the viewers consciousness - no medium is intrinsically virtuous and beyond the abuses of lazy sub-standard execution.
Back on Bluetooth, we at Bluepod Media create a destination-branded user experience, with advertiser content available on a purely opt-in basis, that proves extremely popular and effective, not just in research but also in the week-in, week-out, audited unique download numbers: 1.9 million downloads for XBox, 1.3 million for Channel 5, Yahoo!, Nokia, COI and more have all benefited from our demonstrably effective model.
It is evidently as far removed from annoying spam as ANY advertising is likely to get.
In fact it is BEYOND advertising, being pure opt-in brand engagement.