FunMobility has launched its Mobile Retail Rewards solution for its AppWidget mobile engagement platform, which can be used to deploy and manage ongoing location-based mobile campaigns and promotions. 

“The AppWidget platform helps retailers move from ad hoc campaigns towards enhance the overall customer experience” FunMobility Adam Lavine told Mobile Marketing. “Everything – from surveys to newsletters, coupons to minigames, all customised to your brand or message – is built in html5, so it can be launched or pushed to any iOS or Android app.”

AppWidgets can also link to the usual selection of social media, and connect up with legacy CRM. The aim, Lavine says, is to create mobile experiences that are fun, rewarding or both for customers.

AppWidgets first campaign was for Chiquita. The fruit brand ran sweepstakes, which enabled users to win prizes by using its app, and by using its location-based functionality at Chiquita-stocking stores. A solid 28 per cent of users who downloaded the app used it to check in at a participating store.

“There are other people doing pieces of what were doing,” Lavine admits. “Companies like Urban Airship do good push messaging, analytic companies like Flurry that provide usage data, and Adobes Phonegap provides a HTML5 development kit – but we combine those three parts. The hard part is putting them all together.”