Facebook Check In Deals finally launches

Facebook launches its anticipated Check In Deals today, with Commonwealth Bank, 7-Eleven, KFC and Westfield signing up as inaugural advertisers.

Facebook Check In Deals is finally here after it was was tipped last year to launch sometime this year. It allows a user to check in to a brand’s Places page on their mobile device when they are nearby to “unlock” special deals and discounts.

Commonwealth Bank is offering the first 2200 customers who check in and sign up for an Everyday Account monthly movie vouchers for a year while convenience store chain 7-Eleven is offering up a bottle of Coke for $1. Fast food chain KFC and Westfield are also offering launch deals.

Commonwealth Bank general manager, consumer marketing, Mark Murray, said: “We see this as an exciting opportunity to reward customers. People already connect with each other through Facebook Places and this is an extension of that, allowing customers to connect with our branches.”

7-Eleven head of marketing, Julie Laycock, said: “Facebook Check in Deals will be a game changer in the Australian retail space. While there are many websites offering coupons and deals, Facebook Check in Deals highlights deals available where smart phone customers shop and play.”

KFC Australia chief marketing officer, Nikki Lawson, said: “We’re proud to be one of the first brands to give customers real-time access to great discounts via Facebook Check In Deals. We are always looking at ways to provide our customers with quality products at value for money prices, and this is a great way to reward not only our Facebook fans, but Aussies across the country for their loyalty.”

Westfield general manager of marketing, John Batistich said Facebook Check In Deals is a significant step forward for retailers. He said: “Retail, and particularly the way we can now target shoppers with special deals and discounts, has changed dramatically over the past decade.  With tools such as Facebook Check In Deals we’re now able to communicate to our shoppers in relevant and localised ways.”

Facebook head of Australia and New Zealand Paul Borrud told AdNews: “We’re really excited, we’ve got four great brands leaping forward in this space. It’s a natural extension of what our product does.”

Borrud said the launch of Check In Deals in the local market several months after other Western markets can work to Australia’s advantage, with data, case studies and insights available from the earlier launches.

Media buyers had been briefed about the program over the last few weeks.

Initiative Sydney digital director, Andrew Davis, told AdNews: “I think Places by itself has struggled, so it’s a great opportunity to get some value from it. It’s positive for both consumers and businesses. Deals will dominate the market where Foursquare has had limited success.”

Facebook has almost 10 million active users in Australia, while Foursquare has 10 million users worldwide. It’s unclear how many users Foursquare has in Australia.

Davis said Facebook is adamant the deals offered to consumers through Check In Deals has to be compelling. He said the social networking site won’t accept a paltry 2% off deal, it has to be worthwhile for the consumer.

Businesses will be able to offer four different types of deals to users, individual offers or discounts, group offers for up to eight people, loyalty offers, and charity offers.

Check In Deals is launching in beta phase today with no firm date yet on a full roll-out.

Facebook Deals launched in the US in November last year, while the program has been operating in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK since January.

Have something to say? Send us your comments using the form below or contact the writer at wenleima@yaffa.com.au

Share and Enjoy

Facebook Pal Buddy Media Raises $54 Million

Buddy Media Announces $54M in Series D Funding From Leading Late-Stage Investors

Social Media Management Software Company Secures Growth Capital to Fuel Continued Rapid Expansion

New York, NY – August 15, 2011 – Buddy Media, the social media management software of choice for eight of the world’s top 10 global advertisers, today announced that it has raised $54 million in Series D funding from a group of leading late-stage investors.

The capital will be used to more than double its product, sales and support staff in the next year as well as fund additional global offices and acquisitions.

Current Buddy Media investors GGV Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and Bay Partners, as well as new investor Insight Venture Partners participated in the round. GGV partner, Jeff Richards, led the round and has joined the Buddy Media Board of Directors.

The investors each bring a wealth of knowledge and proven success to Buddy Media. GGV’s portfolio includes household names such as Pandora, SuccessFactors and Alibaba Group. Institutional Venture Partners has funded 300 companies since its inception, including Twitter and Zynga in the social space. Insight Venture Partners has been recognized by Red Herring Magazine as one of the Top Ten venture investors globally. And Bay Partners has had over 250 successful exits (IPOs or $250M+ acquisitions) over 35 years and have been investing around open social graph APIs since 2007.

“Buddy Media is at the center of the largest two-way communications revolution that the world has ever seen,” said Michael Lazerow, CEO and Founder, Buddy Media. “Our new funding ensures we have the resources necessary to accelerate the growth of our large, fast-growing software business. I am truly ecstatic to be working with such an amazing group of investors, and believe it’s a testament to our success thus far.”

The latest investment comes on the heels of massive growth and expansion for Buddy Media, including the following milestones:

· The company has added close to 200 new customers in 2011, including some of the world’s most recognizable global brands, retailers and media companies such as Ford Motor Company, Hanes, ESPN, Hearst Corporation, and Virgin Mobile USA.

· The company’s revenue has more than doubled since the end of 2010.

· The company has maintained a net promoter score of 75 in 2011.

· Employee headcount has grown from 40 employees in 2009 to almost 200, with continued massive hiring plans for 2011 and beyond.

· The company acquired social commerce and analytics leader Spinback in May 2011 and plans to complete its integration and roll out this month.

· The company opened its European Headquarters in London last month and hired Luca Benini, a senior executive from Comscore, as Managing Director, Europe.

· The company won the TechCrunch “Crunchie” Award for Best Enterprise application in January 2011.

· CEO and Founder Michael Lazerow was named New York Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year in June 2011.

· The company recently hired Dennis Morgan as Chief Financial Officer. While at Yahoo!, Morgan led corporate finance efforts for more than $5 billion in acquisitions and business development deals .

· WPP, the world’s largest communications services group, announced a $5 million investment and global partnership with Buddy Media in October 2010.

Buddy Media’s technology is web-based (SaaS) software that provides companies global scale, secure architecture and straightforward administrative tools to connect with their current and future customers using the power of social media.

“Social media is now embedded in every aspect of the customer journey — from ratings and reviews to ‘like’ buttons to tweets. The opportunity for interactive marketing has evolved from building individual social applications to using social media to enhance a wide variety of marketing channels…” wrote Sean Corcoran in the April 2011 report by Forrester Research Inc., “Embedding Social Media Into The Marketing Mix.”

With the exponential growth of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, Buddy Media’s new investors understand that the largest businesses in the world need powerful software to market globally.

“Buddy Media has a proven management team, sustained revenue growth and a massive market opportunity. The company is the market leader in a category that sits at the intersection of social media and software-as-a-service (SaaS), two of the largest and fastest growing markets in the technology industry,” said GGV’s Jeff Richards. “We are very excited to continue to support the company’s rapid expansion in the US and globally. Buddy Media has more than proved itself in terms of building the best team and product in the business. The numbers speak for themselves and I can’t be more excited to work with the entire team.”

“I have known the Buddy Media team for more than two years and have been very impressed with their ability to build innovative products that far surpass those offered by others,” said Insight partner Deven Parekh, who will be a Buddy Media board observer. “And the company has out marketed all others while providing stellar customer service. Buddy Media has what it takes to be a massive business.”

In conjunction with the announcement, Buddy Media has also announced that Kevin Colleran has joined its board of advisors and Michael Kassan has been named special advisor to CEO Michael Lazerow. Colleran previously served as Facebook’s first advertising sales executive, and was the company’s longest tenured employee outside of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Kassan is an internationally recognized business strategist, and currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Medialink, LLC, the leading advisory and business development firm.

Share and Enjoy