Author: Passworks

How are you communicating your offers this Christmas?

Passworks-Christmas-Newsletter

With Passworks, you can easily communicate into your customers’ smartphones.
Create a digital coupon with your offer and distribute it by Email, SMS, Facebook or printed ads.

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Your customer can click on a link or scan a QR code to download the coupon into the smartphone.
This opens a new communication channel for your brand.

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Remind your customers about the offer when they are near your store due to the location-based notifications.

And remember, you can send push notifications at any moment and even update the content in real-time after Christmas to communicate Winter Sales!

Passworks-Christmas-Newsletter-4   Passworks-Christmas-Newsletter-5

Passworks Mobile Marketing is ready for iOS 9! Are you?

 

The new iOS 9 is here and running on your iPhone, bringing impressive new features and refinements at every level. With iOS 9, Passbook has been rebranded as Apple Wallet, bringing the whole mobile wallet concept into your iPhone.

Passworks newsletter iOS 9-03

What´s new on Apple Wallet?

 

  1. Passworks newsletter iOS 9-04 From Passbook to Apple Wallet

The evolution of Passbook to Wallet offers full Apple Pay integration bringing to front and center the idea of a wallet on your phone, allowing iPhones to make secure and effortless payments at contactless points of sale, by combining ground-breaking NFC technology and Touch ID. Currently, Apple Pay is already available in the US and UK.

 

 

  1. Passworks newsletter iOS 9-05Digital Loyalty Cards Integration with Apple Wallet

Passbook already allowed to store your boarding passes, tickets, rewards cards, and more. With Apple Wallet, exists a new intelligence layer, which means that passes and Apple Wallet will better work together to provide users a more convenient system for coupons and digital loyalty cards.

With the help of Apple Wallet, Apple Pay will know exactly what card you need when you are in a store and automatically presents the right option. These new features are already being supported by Dunkin´Donuts, Walgreens Balance Rewards, MyPanera, among others. Soon, you will also be able to use your store credit cards whilst getting all the benefits by using Apple Pay.

 

This integration between Apple Pay and Wallet creates an opportunity for brands that invest in mobile wallet marketing because these digital coupons, store cards and loyalty cards will become much more relevant. With Passworks, you can easily integrate your loyalty or store cards with Apple Wallet.

Passworks newsletter iOS 9-06

 

Passworks newsletter iOS 9-07

  1. Passes supporting EAN 128 Barcode (1D Barcode)

One of the biggest changes with iOS is that it allows the usage of 1D barcodes with the support of the EAN 128 barcode format. This was one of the retailers’ major requests, due to most of them only having 1D-capable barcode readers, which would imply an investment into 2D-capable barcode readers, if 1D was not supported.

 

Passworks newsletter iOS 9-08

 

 

Passworks has already upgraded its platform to allow for the creation of passes that leverage the 1D barcode format. Now, customers can create passes with the EAN 128 barcode for iOS 9 and above users, while choosing a fallback barcode for users with iOS 8 and below, which cannot display 1D barcodes.

 

 

Passworks newsletter iOS 9-09

  1. Integration of mobile wallet content with iAD

Another great news for marketers is that Apple Wallet will now allow companies to send mobile wallet content through iAD, Apple’s mobile advertising platform. This new functionality is called Offers.

As mentioned on Apple iAD news, “Offer is a suite of services for marketers who want to develop customized dynamic messages, such as mobile coupons, that consumers can save to Apple Wallet, which is pre-installed in every iPhone”.

 

Currently, using Passworks platform, marketers can already distribute their mobile wallet content to their target audience through their ad campaign on Facebook or Twitter, via email or messages. With this feature, consumers can easily add their Pass into Apple Wallet by just clicking a button.

 

Learn more on how you can start using mobile wallets for your business and engage with your consumers in real-time, with location relevant targeting, here.

Chic by Choice went mobile (marketing)

Chic by Choice just created a pass* for Vogue Fashion Night Out, on the 10th September 2015, in Lisbon. To have access to the discount, just install this pass on your smartphone.

A Chich by Choice criou um passe para a Vogue Fashion Night Out, a decorrer amanhã, dia 10 de Setembro, em Lisboa. Para aceder ao desconto, apenas instale este passe no seu smartphone.

Facebook Ad Chich by Choice

Have fun!

Divirta-se!

 

*campaign valid for Portugal

Destaque-se na Vogue Fashion Night Out

A Vogue Fashion Night Out está quase a chegar e, com o Passworks, pode facilmente comunicar de um modo inovador as suas ofertas através de um passe digital geo-referenciado que é instalado no telefone dos seus clientes.

Deste modo, pode gerar mais tráfego para as suas lojas, enquanto que os seus clientes ficam a par das suas ofertas e onde as pode encontrar nessa noite especial.

Passworks-for-Vogue-Fashion-Night-Out

 

Posteriormente, pode continuar a usar esse cartão como meio de comunicação e interacção em constante actualização. (Para além do mais, apenas paga os passes instalados!)

Quer saber mais? Temos todo o prazer em explicar melhor, contacte-nos!

My Summer Internship at Passworks

I have finished my degree in informatics this year, in June, and I always wanted to find out how it is to work at a startup. Searching for an opportunity, I applied to the Faber Ventures Summer Internship and I got accepted! I selected Passworks as the startup where I wanted to pass my Summer working because it was the one that I most identified with.

During the first week of the Internship, things where going a little bit slower. I was getting familiarized with what was already made and with the technologies that were being used. However after that I got full autonomy to work in the project, which is great because not only it gives a lot of responsibility and empowerment but also provides me a sense of ownership of the project.

My Summer Internship at Passworks

It has been a great experience and it has exceeded my expectations. I like the atmosphere and the team is pretty awesome. Right from the first day they helped me feeling integrated within the team and since it is relatively small I got the opportunity to meet everyone.

So far I’m working with cool technologies that where unknown to me such as Beacons, Ruby and some Big Data tools like Apache Spark, so that I’m learning a bit more everyday, which I find challenging.

The pressure is constant because I like to show results, but most of the time I spent is searching and trying the different approaches to solve the problems I face, which sometimes it’s a hard task since the technology is relatively recent.

To sum up, I found out that working at a startup is something that I really like, besides I got the chance to work around a theme that is also related with the MSc that I plan to follow.

 

by Luís Alves

Why Passbook will be renamed Wallet

— Passbook —

Apple launched Passbook App in September 2012. Passbook is a pre-installed App with the purpose of dematerializing physical cards, tickets and coupons into mobile passes and storing them into one single place.

Since 2012, the passes have been gaining awareness among several industries, with a high focus on air travel and retail. Marketers caught the eye on a huge digital marketing potential by using Passbook to engage via mobile with their customers.

However, the commercial roll out and adherence, mainly from the brand´s side, of Passbook at the beginning was slow which let to a low usage and awareness. If Passbook was like a normal wallet why couldn’t it support payments? What was the point of it?

— Apple Pay —

In September 2014, Apple announced that it was partnering with Visa, MasterCard and American Express, which allowed consumers to store their credit and debit cards and to pay through their iPhones. In October 2014, with the official launch of Apple Pay at the United States for iPhones 6 and 6 Plus, all the messages and doubts were simplified as each Apps had their own roles. Just 6 months after the launch, Apple Pay acceptance and usage was growing fast, giving consumers access to contactless payments with Apple Pay in more than 700.000 locations.

On July 2015, and after a huge success on the US, Apple Pay was launched in the UK, supporting about 70 percent of all British credit and debit cards, and services such as Post Office and other popular stores and restaurants.

— Wallet —

A physical wallet contains all types of credit and debit cards, store cards, membership cards and papers, such as coupons or boarding passes. So, it´s natural that a mobile wallet, where all the above is also stored together uses the Wallet name to communicate the same purpose: commercial transactions and relationships between the consumer and the brand. Consequentially, in 2015 with the release of the new iOS 9, Apple merged both Passbook and Apple Pay Apps into one only brand named Wallet.

With the launch of IOS 9, there is a major change which is the possibility of having a new code: EAN 128. This will allow Apple Wallet to grow faster driven by both brands and POS acceptance. In addition to this add-on, thanks to the location-based features linked to Passbook and the new iOS Maps, Wallet now knows which card you need when you’re in a given store and presents the right option. Also, these passes can now be distributed through Safari or scanned using the built-in scanner inside the App.

Starting this fall, Apple Pay will support Walgreens Balance Rewards, Kohl’s, Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera Bread, and Wegmans.

 

Altogether, Apple Wallet presents itself as the main mobile wallet competitor. This statement translates in offering a stronger mobile marketing opportunity for brands, with a higher reach and effectiveness that no brand should refuse.