Closing the “Gap” in Social Promotions
I admit it, I am a smart phone newbie. According to my teenager, my old phone was from somewhere in the Neolithic age – you know 3 taps to get the letter “o” in a text. So I joined the millennium with some trepidation – as I experimented with geo-location applications. My first experience was the new “Facebook Places” mobile application. Similar to Foursquare and Gowalla, users ‘check in’ on their phone when they arrive at a destination to let their friends know where they are, as well as take advantage of special deals the location may be offering. The Gap was one of the first major retailers to experiment with FB Places, offering free jeans to 10,000 customers to check into their store using the app on Nov. 5th. After so much bad press, I was rooting for a win for the beleaguered brand. I like Gap merchandise, and now I was armed with a smart phone, and hey – we all need pants.