Further Evolving the University Campus Experience

Over the previous 10 months we have been working with Teesside University to provide the skignz technology platform for the benefit of students, staff and visitors alike.

Due to the success of the platform, TU have been working with skignz since Freshers to find ways to build on the foundation that was in place. The focus was to find ways in which to maximise the potential of the skignz platform in as many areas of the University and its operations as possible.

Freshers Welcome Week

This proved to be quite a daunting task as it soon became apparent that skignz could actually benefit so many different areas of the University that it was agreed that focussing on a few key areas would be key to the ongoing success of skignz, whilst also allowing a period of educating the varying audiences for each key development.

We have covered various aspects of our progress with TU on previous blog posts, the opinions of the students, how it has helped them and improved their overall student experience. 

However not just at Teesside it has enhanced their experience in general of the town and now the can adventure to where they wish knowing they will be provided with skignz on all their exploring activities.

Freshers @ Teesside University SU

Now talking about exploring... 

We are focusing our main activities for launch at fresher’s week in September as there will be an influx of new students attending Teesside University, resulting in a increase in students and parent's wandering around an unfamiliar campus and the surrounding Middlesbrough Town Centre.

We have three key focus areas that we are currently developing. 

Key Focus One:- Open Day Introduction

In June Teesside University has one of their main open days for prospective/future students to attend and see if they would like to start their career at TU and if this is the right place for them. As this can be the first impression any prospective scholar has of TU, its essential that its not only the right impression but a lasting one.

Middlesbrough Central Library

 The prospective students will visit a number of campuses before making their final decision and even when their choice is made, results from their current academic institute may not allow them their first choice, second choice or even third in some cases. 

So being memorable for all the right reasons is vital!

skignz have been looking at what we can do to enhance the open day experience to further increase the chances that the impression created will help those to choose to come to TU.

When prospective students attend the open day there will be a skignz treasure hunt for them to take part in. This is to help them find their way around campus and get to see where everything is located and just what is available.

During this specific Treasure Hunt, prospective students will have focussed relevant content such as visit a shops, parks, bars, restaurants, museums, library, art gallery, halls of residence, cinema, live venues, even the estate agents should they not be successful in getting a place in Halls. 

Shopping on Linthorpe Road

It is essential to the decision making process that visitors to campus, don't only see what is on campus but also what the surrounding area is like and what it has to offer. 

This way the prospective students are not just going to a random area where they don’t have a clue where everything is, as that can be a very daunting experience! Going to University, especially away from home, is already daunting enough!

Key Focus Two:- Induction & Orientation

Now that the decision has been made and applications have been accepted, September soon comes around and students arrive on the University Campus ready for the next stage of their lives. Being in an unfamiliar place, with new people has its own challenges so if there is a way to reduce the stress, even a little less, will go a long way towards helping, speed up the settling in period and allow enjoyment to replace anxiety.

MIMA 

Simple support such as helping the new students navigate around campus and surround area in a safe yet simple way. Help them understand where all of the practical places they will need during their stay, such as doctors /dentist surgeries, supermarkets, banks, hair dressers/barbers, even cashpoints and the huge range of student support services available.

All of this is available through using the skignz technology and the app on their smartphone by placing 'virtual signs in the sky' above each of these locations so that new students will know where they are? If they do decide to come to Teesside (as it is a great place to study and live) then they will want to get their bearings and know where the important places are as soon as possible. 

TS One, Southfield Road

Cineworld, Middlesbrough

The new students can then find out where each one of these places are and then make their own decisions as to where they want to go. A huge benefit of skignz is this information is there ALL year round so its available as and when its required, regardless of location!

This Treasure Hunt will also have a physical aspect to it, in as much as, each location will provide you with a 'order to fulfil' this could be picking up a menu at a restaurant or getting the latest film leaflet from the cinema. 

Its not initially apparent but once the Treasure Hunt is completed each participant will have their own personalised 'Welcome Pack' relevant to them.

Key Focus Three:- Visiting Parents, Guardians, Family & Friends

As the two other key focus areas are student related, we felt that other key audiences visiting the University Campuses should not be ignored so we decided to look at ways to help other visitor groups. One particular group is the parents, guardians and families who also visit the campus for the open days and interview days.

The World Famous Transporter Bridge

As part of choosing a University to study at, prospective students consult not only their peers but a lot of influence is carried by the families especially parents and guardians. It is essential that parents/guardians know what the area is like too, where their loved ones are staying and familiarise themselves with it. 

In most cases the experience of 'losing a child' to University life is a proud moment it is also a very difficult one for the parents as their baby (in their eyes they still are) is off to a new place with unfamiliar surroundings, different people, environments and experiences.

One Life Medical Centre

Once a parent waves off their child to University, they will still be keen to know where they are going, where they are staying and what the area is like. 

Using skignz, parents can also download the app so they can access different content that is relevant to what they would like to know about the area. What is important for parents about this prospective University is not necessarily the same as what the students are looking to find out or what is important to each!

This approach not only allows the parents/guardians to get a feel of what the area is like but also understand where things are. This helps once their young fresher is at University and they speak on the phone, when they explain where they are, parents/guardians on the other end of the phone have a mental picture of where they are, what it looks like! This might not sound important, but to a parent this helps ease the nerves as it puts them at ease being able to envisage the place!

MIMA

In addition when it comes to visiting them, picking them up at the end of term etc... finding the way to their accommodation and knowing where to meet them is easier. Going one step further using the 'personal' aspect of skignz individuals can place their own skignz for free so anyone visiting them are able to see the skignz either above their housing or above themselves. 

Now people may think that these young people may not want you to use this, but it doesn’t have to be used as a tool to keep an eye on them at all times. That is not the case, its simply their to provide a visual identification for both parties to locate each other! The beauty of skignz is its very viral, so its not just restricted to University Campuses and their surrounding towns. 

Once Parents and Guardians have skignz on their smartphones then they can use it back home, on holiday, at work, with friends, pretty much anywhere on the planet they find themselves, anytime they want. Its excellent for use on your travels, for when you go places and even for general use such as when you need to locate a certain area, pre plan it before you go using skignz!

Further areas in which we are making skignz become seamless and ingrained in student life is that by September 2014 every member of staff, student and associate who have a Teesside University email address will automatically be pre-registered with a skignz account and loaded up with specific skignz templates personalised to them. 

skignz is simple, fun all from a App!

Each type of skignz for each person will be associated a certain colour to show the differentiate between students, staff and associates. 

For example: Students could have an orange outline, staff could be red and associates will have a purple trim. 

This will be so that each person is distinctive and it will be easier to associate who each person is with their different coloured trims. 
This can be defined each further to show which school of study they belong to?

In order to support the students with the actual downloading, use, account and other functionality we are developing a fun and interesting 'demo video' taking the user through a little journey, showcasing the features, benefits, the why and the how they can get the most from using skignz. 

We feel the sooner the users get to grips with skignz and how it helps them on campus they will begin to explore for themselves what else skignz can do, how it can help them in other areas of their lives and even invent new ways in which skignz can 
improve their lives!

TFM SoundWorks, Live Music & Events

As skignz is evolving with Teesside University, we are working together to provide the most up to date resource on 'everything skignz'.  

We aim to provide a central resource allowing anyone wanting to know further information on skignz, How to use it? what can it do? FAQ's, Help Videos, New and upcoming developments through to technical support function. 

The use of skignz at TU already has a lot of good stories, interesting content, ideas, information and updates on both skignz and TU's varying social media channels.

We want people to have fun and enjoy using skignz and we look forward to meeting all the new students and parents/guardians, family and friends in June and September for the open/interview days and ultimately the induction & orientation days, which start during freshers.

Please visit:

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz

Using skignz at a height

You know, in my life I haven't done much travelling. As many families did when they were younger I never went on many vacations. I’m not too sure why that was, maybe as my family didn't like travelling, flying or even holidays themselves; I'm just not sure. 

However I did go to a few places as I started to grow up. They were short vacations for a day or two when I went with either school or college or now even friends, and they were very good times. 

1WTC & The Empire State Building, New York, US Empire State  / 
World Financial Centre, Shanghai, China 

A lot of my trips included sightseeing as it was partly education trips I went on, and although a lot of sightseeing was previously planned to do alongside having a good time, it never fully got carried out when we arrived to the destination. I will give you an example of one time.

 "I went on a vacation with secondary school when I was in year 10. We were going to Disneyland Paris. Now imagine being me and not having been on any vacations when I was younger, I was extremely excited about this trip. One of my first trips was to Disneyland Paris! It was for three days and two nights as I remember. Now I did not have a clue where I was going. I just followed the instructions of the teachers and listened to my friends as one or two of them had been there before. 

Disneyland Paris, France

This did not bother me too much on the way there as we went by Eurostar and that was an enjoyable journey. However, when we got there we had to find our hotel. That was a struggle. Where we were staying was a lot of different hotels in one place and they were all differently themed. We were looking for a cowboy themed one and it was extremely hard to find as there was so many and we spent quite a while looking for it. All we wanted to do was get unpacked and go explore for a while before catching up on some sleep. 

Once we had finally managed to find our room we settled in till the next day. For the two days we were there we had planned to go to a business event on one of the days and spend a day in the adventure park itself. Finding the business event was easy for us as we just got a bus directly there. However when it came to finding and getting to the adventure park that was a different story! Finding our way there took us a small while as we were unsure what bus to get and which direction to head in. Once we had figured that struggle out we arrived at the park, and it was huge! 

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

There was so much to see and so many rides to go on. Now we were given a map but that was so hard to use. We spent a lot of the time looking where we needed to be heading and where we wanted to go. 

Many times we were going back over on ourselves which was no fun because we just wanted to go and see everything! Now we did see a majority of the sights and it was a really great time, however they could have done with something more easily to understand than a map of the place. Not everyone knows how to use them. 

I definitely want to go back and I will one day and even take my family members, but I will be sure to plan our trip ahead so that we know where we are going and don't waste too much time wandering about. However saying that it was one of the best vacations of my life still to this day! I can’t stop telling anyone who asks me just how good it is! I suggest you try it."

Royal Clock Tower, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Now you're probably wondering why I am telling you about my own story. Well that is because at that time I needed something simple to help me navigate around an unfamiliar and strange place. 

As my journey involved travelling through unknown places (to me anyway) and even though I didn't have any idea where I was going, I now know that the group leaders I was with at the time, didn't either! 

Blind Navigation based upon traditional maps and plenty of hope, hope that we would eventually arrive at our chosen destination.

Burj-Khalifa, Dubai, UAE

I would like you to understand and put yourselves in my shoes. Even though you have probably already been in my shoes and will be most of the time when you go travelling because it is very hard to find your way about and go sight-seeing, you still require some different kind of help when you're sightseeing.

That’s when I now tell you about skignz. Just imagine if I had skignz when I went sightseeing in Paris, I would have been able to see what I wanted to without getting lost and wasting time. 

Now, I know most of you know about skignz but I guess a lot of you may not use it to your full potential as you may not fully understand it. skignz does have short videos on our YouTube Channel for you to take a look at and see how great it really is. skignz is your sightseeing essential tool. 

Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia

You should use this on every trip you go on, yet you don't need to carry anything more that what you normally take with you. Its tucked away on your smartphone for when and wherever you need it, in return it will provide you with relevant content at that point you require it without going searching for it, either physically or through a search engine on your device!

It will make your time much more relaxing and enjoyable. I will give you links at the end of this post so that you can go read and have a see for yourself so that you fully understand it.

Now it’s not just about going round on trips and sightseeing. There is some of the best and tallest buildings to go to in the world that provide great sightseeing experience. 

Just naming a few you will recognise: The Burj Khalifa – Dubai, The Canton Tower – China, The London Eye – London, The Jin Mao Tower – Shanghai, The Willis Tower – Chicago and The Eiffel Tower – Paris. Now when you get to the top of these they will provide some sort of equipment that will allow you to extend your whole viewing experience.

They just keep getting taller, but all provide a viewing area for the public!

However what they don't have and would be exceptionally useful is skignz. When you get to the top it would be useful to see where each place is and what it is. skignz can provide you with the knowing of the whereabouts each place is located and information on it while you are there. 

skignz elevates (pardon the pun) your sightseeing experience to another level making it more enjoyable as you are on this adventure. It allows you to interact on a more personal level with the place you are visiting.

Views from the Top of The EDF Energy London Eye, UK

Lets take The EDF Energy - London Eye for an example. 

The EDF Energy London Eye is a massive tourist attraction that takes you so high you can see a whole lot of London. 

When you are in your 'little pod' you are provided with a 'mini Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 device' which is a 360 guide, however due to 'screen glare' you cannot read the screen properly and they were pretty much ignored by all on board in favour of their smart phones and portable devices such as tablets, cameras etc...! If only they had skignz hey!

The fixed position tablet provides the user with multi lingual features of key information on landmarks that can be seen from The EDF Energy London Eye. Even though it gives you multi-dimensional views of the sights of the capital and 24 hours filming, you cannot interact with the device as you could with skignz. 

If you are not totally confused at this point, additionally provided (for an additional fee) is a paper guide as shown in the below image!

If you had skignz up there you could see where each place is and interact with information of that place. It would tell you how far away it is, directions to get there and give you information on the place, opening times and more, everything you would want to know about sights on your sightseeing experience.

Petronas Towers Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

skignz is all about giving a person the best experience on their travels no matter where you go and improving 
your sightseeing experience. 

Visiting some of the biggest and tallest towers in the world to do sightseeing you need the right equipment handy to use for when you get up there. 

After all it isn't just about taking photographs you want to get to know about each place for when you wish to visit there while you are on your travels. 

Using skignz at a height is a thing of the future. skignz will be part of the future and watching this space a lot of companies will be using skignz as it will improve everyone’s experience. No matter where you are or where you go, you can use skignz! It is always there with you as it is on your mobile device. You can take it wherever you wish. 

Marina Bay, Singapore

So if you need to get to the next place on your trip or to find out some information, just get your phone out and let skignz do the work for you! 

After all who wants to be searching around for ages on their trips looking where to go and trying to understand maps? 

They are not the easiest thing in the world to use and I am not ashamed to say, that to this day I do not fully understand how to read a map. 

skignz has provided me with a whole new experience for when I go on my 'getaways' with family and friends.

View across the Marina Bay from Sands Hotel 

We would like you to experience skignz at a height. So why not give it a go on your next adventure. Whether you are visiting one of the tallest towers in the world or even going on a sightseeing expedition just like I did when I went to Disneyland Paris. 

Like I said previously I could have done with having skignz around then and why no one invented it at the time is beyond me, however now it is available for you to use.

So please don't just download it and leave it there. You will most likely be going somewhere this summer, even if it is just for a local small vacation and to a place you haven't been before, skignz will assist you and make your overall experience an enjoyable time. 

I know myself that if I go away this year somewhere I will be using it to go sightseeing from a height, and I will be using skignz as it will provide me with all the information I need right there on my own mobile device.

Viewing platform at the Grand Canyon, Nevada, US

If you want to find out more information on skignz or wish to use it on your next sightseeing adventure at a height, then please use the links below to find out more. 

You can watch our videos or read up on our website or social media sites. 




If you need more help then please don't hesitate to contact us regarding any query you may have. Our contact details are available on the website.

www.skignz.com

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

https://twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz

Festivals and Outdoor Events- From a Brands Perspective!

Now this one is for all of you brands out there. Every brand and company wants themselves to differ from one another in some way. But what can you have before anyone else does and that meets every customer’s needs and wants. 

It is not always about just advertising to customers, you need to engage with them on a different level. Festivals and outdoor events are a massive experience to people every year as thousands and thousands attend festivals and want to experience different kinds of acts and see them live. However they need to have a full great experience no matter what they do while they are there and have an overall fulfilled time rather than just enjoy seeing the acts live that they enjoy.

This could be ANY Festival in full flow - Standard!

Now ANY Festival in full flow - But Informatively Enhanced!

Let me just tell you and give you a short illustration of what a brand would do from their perspective and how they would go about giving people that best experience they can get at a festival or outside event.

"Hi my name is Sam. I am the manager of a large sports company with HQ in London. I am just giving you an example of what I think should be done to enhance a person’s experience at an outdoor event. Now we know ourselves, well I do anyway that when we go to a festival it can be a right pain when you get lost or you don’t know where to go, when you don’t know where your car is or where your tent is, or even the biggest one losing your friends when you leave them to go get a drink or go to the toilet.

Now I know myself that I want to help people improve on this and come to some solution for it. Look at it from your own perspective first, you're at a festival with your friends. Imagine when you need to find your tent when you go back to it, there are thousands of people with their different coloured tents up so it isn't going to be easy to find yours now is it. 

Could you find your friend(s) amongst this mass crowd?
Its the same at nearly EVERY Live Event you will attend!

That's just a small problem. When you get settled into the event and go to see your favourite act on stage, you will need a drink, some food and the toilet. Making more than one journey is just a pain so you will do it all in one time. However where are those toilets at, including the food and even where to get the drinks from; the main part of your festival experience – drinking!

I want my brand to help others at the festival not just advertise to them. Now advertising at a festival is big for a brand as everyone sees it and it increases their awareness of the brand. However that is just advertising to people, it isn't helping them or engaging with them at a personal level creating a relationship to benefit them and benefit the brand also. 

When you think about it should always be a two way street. When brands advertise they need to make sure that whatever they do or how they are doing it is benefiting the customer and person themselves and also benefiting the brand at the same time. Providing a two way street, is the best form of advertising as it creates a great relationship between two parties – the brand and the customer.

Now when I am thinking about it and how I can help people at a festival to not get lost and to find their friends and their tent when it comes to it I need something really spectacular to really expose my brand at the same time as providing help to others.

That’s why I now tell you about skignz. I have come across this great new technology that puts 'virtual signs in the sky' for people to view and use to navigate where they are going. Now you might think, well how is this going to help a person attending a festival or an outdoor event yet also improve a brand's exposure at the same time...?

Well let me tell you. skignz will help a person at a festival or outdoor event as, when they go to the toilet and leave their friends or to even go to get some food, it will be very hard to even find where each place is at this massive event filled with thousands of people. Then when they try to go back and find where they were previously situated, will be even more difficult in the massive crowd. 

Find your friends in a crowd! Simple as that!

Well if that person and their group of friends who they are attending the event with (they can download the skignz app for free, before they attend the event) they can each set up and place a skign above their head (using their phone GPS/Wifi signal  to keep it located above them!)

Now when a person wanders away from the group, they will be able to just scan the crowd with their mobile (through the skignz App) and they will see that personalised 'virtual sign in the sky' above their friends head; now then can easily find their way back to them without no hassle.

That sounds so simple to use and best of all it is free for everyone to download. Other public skignz can also be set up around the event so that whoever does have the app for when they attend the event they will easily be able to find the toilet, food and drinks service sections so that they won't have to waste time searching about and getting lost then missing the act that they most wished to see at the festival. 

These branded/sponsored skignz provide the audience with Real Time Live Information!

Now you know how this will benefit a person at a festival or outdoor event you may think well how will it benefit me by using another company’s technology and enhance the acknowledgement of my brand. 


Well let me tell you how...

The best place to get your brand noticed by a wide range of audience is at these huge events where there are thousands of people who will take notice of your brand there.

Then in the future they will associate the skignz technology or that particular festival / outdoor event with your brand. Now through that brand noticing that a person needs help and how can they go the extra mile to help them shows that customer, that you are taking care of them no matter where they are and seeing to their every needs and wants in that very moment. 

Through getting my brand associated with this new piece of great technology, whenever anyone uses it, they will know that my brand is associated with this and just how much it helped them at that festival/outdoor event. 

Now let's just think of the recognition that has created for my brand! Not just at that event but into the future too. It has also provided that company and piece of technology with wider recognition. Everyone will also be more the wiser about that company and what it offers.

Now through my brand, using the new innovative skignz technology, this doesn't just help the brand at a festival, my brand can use this to create an advantage on any of my competitors who do not use skignz – We will be the only ones! It can always be used to enhance a customer’s experience no matter when, not just at the initial festival.

I read once a customer’s point of view in a statement that said: “A company that takes the time to create a more personal relationship with me instantly gets me attention and my loyalty to that brand, as they are not just advertising to me, they are looking to help me in any way they can and take time to create that personal relationship with me”.

Well that everyone, is what my brand is all about and what skignz is all about. So have a think about it and just how much using skignz can help benefit your brand and help you pass on that benefit to your customer’s, thus creating that more personal relationship which is what we are all looking to achieve". 

If you would like to read more on skignz if you are thinking about wanting this great technology within your company and use it to enhance your brand, then please follow the links below and have a read of the company; Even watch a few videos to see just how great and innovative the technology is!

www.skignz.com 

www.facebook.com/discoverskignz

www.twitter.com/discoverskignz

www.youtube.com/skignz

skignz enters the grown up world of online dating

As part of skignz business development and marketing strategy, we are constantly looking at ways to reach our target audience with an almost sniper type approach rather than the scatter gun approach employed by most brands!

Many types and versions of online matching services have been developed in many sectors, especially personal dating sites, and even companies such as eBay and Amazon, who are matching products to customers. You may ask why is this relevant to a company like skignz!

As skignz is a digital platform in has a considerable amount of different audiences and possibilities for the use of its technology so where do we start in attracting brands to use our platform, what sector, what industry and for what part of skignz will we promote!

We have spent considerable time, focussing in on certain markets and different members of the skignz team and making good progress, however one key area we feel skignz lends itself to is Live Outdoor Events. We have blogged previously about the use of skignz at Festivals, Concerts, Sporting Events, Trade shows etc... bringing us a certain level of interest.

We have now agreed a deal with what we feel is the closest thing to online dating for skignz. Matching our technology and the newest of marketing channels with Brands, media Buyers and agencies all looking to get the edge for their clients, for their brand above and beyond their competitors. 

GetMeMedia.com is an innovative platform set up by industry professionals for industry professionals, to help those with the budgets, desire and aspiration to marketing their brands in the most innovative and relevant way with the companies who provide a serive for the brands to reach those chosen audiences.

One of skignz Case Studies on GetMeMedia.com

skignz is in the process of developing a number of case studies of what skignz is doing, can do in the area of outdoor live events.

Once those are in place we will be matched up to those seeking what we offer, even though they don't know it yet! This is the secret formula, the magic held within GetMeMedia.com.

Media buyers and brand managers are able to enter set criteria that opens up new possibilities for them when looking to place and spend budgets on activity for their brand or clients brands. 

Due to skignz unique offering, we will become visible to a whole new audience of people that are looking for that something different, that something fresh and new, but don't yet know what it is?

Over the coming months skignz will be working with the GetMeMedia.com Team in a number of ways to expose skignz and its capabilities to the worlds Brand and Media Buying agencies. This we feel will not only raise the profile of skignz but will also allow the brands to communicate in a way never seen before, but also and more importantly add value to their audience by creating and enhancing their experience.



By using the skignz platform, a brand can, by creating a fully branded up 'skignz environment' at a festival, concert or other live event. That brand can enhance the visitors overall experience by helping them find their way around the event, by finding their friends, understand who is performing when and where and even finding their tents and cars!

All the time solving a number of very simple issues visitors have but have never been resolved until today!

We will over the coming months be reporting on our progress with GetMeMedia.com and how our new relationships are going? whether the intros only turn into a 1st and only date or whether or not we get follow up dates, even a longer term relationship! 

We can safely say skignz is not talking marriage at this point but maybe in a few years time if the other partner is the right fit? In the mean time we will flirt and date with potential suitors, looking for the best mix!

"GetMeMedia is the place for brands and their agencies to find marketing ideas, media and sponsorship solutions. It's a totally FREE service for brand managers and advertisers!" Pete Davis, Managing Director - GetMeMedia

For more information on skignz please visit www.skignz.com or if you would like to download the app for yourself, please visit www.skignz.com/download

If you would like to know more about GetMeMedia.com then please visit www.getmemedia.com