Star Trek: USS Enterprise seen above London

An alert to all you 'Trekkies' out there... Today the USS Enterprise was captured hovering above central London.

A skignz user, managed to use the 'in app capture' to grab these two images...

Although we are not Trekkies, many people are, so it will be interesting to see how many other people see the ship as we are not sure how long it's there... 

Where will it appear next?

If you see it please do share with us on any of our Social media channels or email your pics at info@skignz.com

With all the news and razamataz around 'PokemonGo' and people hunting around the world, we are wondering who has taken this idea into their own hands and used the skignz platform to create their own version of a themed/branded version of a scavenger hunt. 

This prompted many internal conversations on who else could do this across the planet? What brands would like a similar activation using their current 'franchises'? 

Could we soon see Superman, Batman, Captain America, Spiderman or Transformers? How about Dora the Explorer, Lilo & stitch or taking the lead from Pokemon and rejuvenate old & retro characters? 

How about 'Find a Fraggle', Battle of the Planets, TMNT, Wheres Bod?, whatever the brand, the digital assets can be featured in Geo Location based AR games..

We see this going one step further by making them both educational and even more interesting than just looking and finding a specific character.

If you have a brand, a franchise or are an agency looking for ways to expose your characters to a new and existing audiences in a fresh and invigorating way, please get in touch via info@skignz.com and lets see what type of brand experience we can create for your audiences?

Also check out other stories on this blog, our website www.skignz.com and our usual social media channels for more on what skignz is? can do? and is already doing?

PokemonGo - Gamification through GeoAR

In little under two weeks Pokemon Go (not launched in the UK yet) has taken the world by storm.

According to 'Tokyo Reuters', shares in Nintendo (Pokemon's owners) soared on Monday 11th July 2016 bringing and increase in Market value to $7.5billion in only 2 days.

It's Nintendo's first foray into mobile gaming and although only being released in certain regions it's become an 'overnight success'. But what is PokemonGo? 

Most people ask what Pokemon are?

Pokemon is a brand created and used by Nintendo since the early 1990's. Where Pokemon's characters and TV programmes became a 90's phenomenon for most children of the day. 

Now Nintendo have taken it a step further by using 'Geo Location based Augmented Reality' (essentially skignz) to place little virtual characters across the planet.

This creates a scavenger hunt for people to look for this elite virtual characters as they go about their daily lives…

However this has already not been without controversy, huge pile ups and traffic problems (Check out some of the stories by pressing here) happened when someone held up traffic by walking into the middle of a road or even where a driver was trying to find a character whilst driving!

With 5% of Android users downloading it two days after its release in the US, you can safely assume that this is only going to get bigger and bigger. 

With users averaging 53 mins per day, could it be the next big game distraction since Candy Crush? 

Its already shot to the top of the charts in Apple's FREE app rankings and continues to explode across the world.

So why is skignz writing about this? Geolocation is the essence of the skignz platform and PokemonGO is the first real high profile, mass market use of this type of AR after skignz. 

We think it's great, we think PokemonGo although not perfect, certainly increases the profile of GeoAR in much the same way in what Oculus did for VR. 

We have had an incredible amount of emails and calls in the last few days from people we have been dealing with over the the years, asking us our opinion of PokemonGo? 

How does it affect skignz? 

How does it compare to skignz? and plenty who have said that this makes skignz so much more relevant now, especially as skignz makes AR useful and can be delivered across so many different sectors and industries with a plethora of uses & applications, literally your imagination is the limit to what skignz can do?

In our blog post of 13th July 2016, (Press to view here) we showcase how skignz users have uploaded their own  Star Trek Space Ship, The USS Enterprise for views to find in Central London. 

This also begs the question, as we explain in the aforementioned blog post, what other brands could take advantage of this type of Brand activation? 

From TV series launches like Game of Thrones, through to the next Star Wars / Xmen, Star Wars, movies. Even going back into the archives (like Nintendo have done with Pokemon) and relaunch old franchises in a new and engaging way.

Two very interesting articles we have just come across by Tim Bajarin for Time and Alexandra Tregre for Stable | Kernal both outline the impact of Pokemon Go, but also explain that it's not AR but more Geo Location that's driving the Phenomenal take up.... 

Time - http://time.com/4410327/pokemon-go-technology/

Stable| Kernal - http://blog.stablekernel.com/the-technology-behind-pokemon-go-why-augmented-reality-is-the-future

You may further query as to why this matters or relates to skignz? That's becuase everything that PokemonGo should do can be done with skignz, not one (use a map to find each character) then the other (view the character in AR), but both at the same time. 

skignz has the ability to place the content in an exact location, not base it around your handset when in said location, there's a HUGE difference to the user experience and more importantly the opportunities for global reach...

All of the aforementioned global brands (and more) are able to follow suit by using the skignz platform to deliver their ideas...

If you want to get in touch to see how you could use the skignz platform to help with your brands activation then please email us info@skignz.com

If you would like to find out more about skignz please find us on the usual Social Media channels as well as our blog and website www.skignz.com. 

Good Things come to those who wait...

Well guys, we cannot begin to explain how excited we are to announce that..... Drum Roll..... we are being as dramatic as possible..... Anxious wait to hear the news that...

skignz has been featured in the latest edition of Contagious!!!

It might not mean a lot to many but for those of you who aren't in the Advertising, Digital, Marketing and Brand Industry but this publication is pretty much the global industry commentator on all things current, future and interesting across the whole industry.

Contagious releases four editions annually of its beautiful magazine, but gives you access to a backend platform that no agency or brand should be without. 

They also have a number of events across the globe and their incredibly talented team members can be found on stages at most of the major events, providing keynote speeches, that are worth the entrance and attendance at those events on their own.

They also have some 'pardon the marketing speak' seriously bright, blue sky thinkers who brands bring in to try and 'map out' their futures...

skignz is featured in the SBPF section, which stands for 'Small But Perfectly Formed', where 4 companies (per publication) are introduced to the Contagious Community leading up to their end of year conference in early December Most Contagious, London. 

Here throughout the day, each of the companies not only gets to pitch their business to the audience but is also provided with 'exhibitor space' outside the main auditorium where the audience can experience and interact with the companies and where relevant their tech/offering.

The other really exciting part of skignz being featured in Contagious is that our own CMO has been trying to get featured since the Magazine opened over 10 years ago... 

So it was an extra special treat when Si was presented with the latest edition of Contagious from Co-Founder and Editorial Director Paul Kemp-Robertson. 

Si & Paul have actually been friends for a long time and both share the slightly odd passion that is Middlesbrough Football Club.... 

If you see their social messages signed with #UTB (or if they are really excited #UTFB) This is there way of signing off in support of their home team ;-)

What makes this story and journey to be included in Contagious all the more compelling, is neither of the two friends wanted favours from each other especially in a professional capacity, both Paul and Si wanted any work featured in Contagious to be done so on it's own merits and not becuase they are friends.

A refreshing change we feel in today's society... #UTFB

If you would like to know more about the awesomeness that is Contagious then please visit www.contagious.com

If you want to know more about skignz then please take a look at the rest of our blog and follow us on the usual social media channels