Wrapp: The Coolest Gift Card...Ever?!

If you're not familiar with Wrappyet, you will be!

Wrappis a social gifting service that enables friend-to-friend marketing on behalf of brands locally or globally.

After reading an article about Wrapp on BrandChannel.com, I downloaded the free app to my iPhone and tried it out by sending some free birthday gift cards to a few friends on Facebook.  I must admit, it was pretty cool!

According to BrandChannel, here's how Wrappworks: "The Wrapp mobile gift card and retail app lets retailers drive traffic to online and physical stores starting with small amounts, $5 to $15, that users get for free. Then, using Facebook and the mobile app, people can give their Facebook friends those free gift cards, a notification they’ve received a gift card is posted to that friend’s wall, and others can see it and contribute more money if they wish."

Following my brief experiment, I found sharing gift cards through Wrapp even easier than it sounds.  What I haven't experienced yet is the redemption side of the offer.  I'll have to wait until one of my friends uses their digital gift card before passing final judgment, but so far I'm intrigued.

For a company that wants to promote sampling, this is a great way to get small gift cards into the hands of targeted consumers. After all, who knows what a consumer wants more than his/her friends? Also, by allowing friends to increase the value of the gift card on Facebook, the card can quickly grow from a small individual gift into a very large group gift with each friend adding only a few dollars to the total.

As a consumer, I see tremendous value to the Wrapp gift card distribution model.  However, as a retailer, I think the greatest opportunity will be for those who jump on the bandwagon early.  As more and more brands join the fold, share for early adopters is likely to wane due to increased competition, unless you're a retailer willing to continuously increase the size of the free offer (or you have the market cornered).

There are other similar social media gift card distribution models around Europe and Asia, but this is the first one really trying to gain a foothold in the U.S. 

I expect to use Wrapp frequently, and already have in just the past 20 minutes! 


**The opinions shared on this blog are solely those of its author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Goodwill of Greater Washington, its affiliates or supporters.

U.S. Beers Fight it Out! Bud Falling, Craft Beer Climbing

According to a recent article in Brandchannel, Budweiser is about to be overtaken as the #2 beer in the U.S. by Coors Light.  Bud Light still leads all beers with a whopping 19.1% share of the U.S. beer market, followed by Budweiser at 8.7% and Coors Light at 8.5%. 

To continue building momentum, MillerCoors is increasing marketing spending in 2011 by $50 million.  Imagine that...a product that is gaining market share by increasing its marketing spending.  Funny how that works!  But I digress.

While the major breweries are duking it out at the top of the mountain, it seems the real action is in the micro-brew or "craft beer" scene.   According to the Brewers Association, which recently reported that while overall beer sales were off by 1% in 2010, "beer sales [for craft breweries] jumped from $7 billion in 2009 to $7.6 billion in 2010. The number of barrels sold by craft brewers rose from 8.9 million in 2009 to nearly 10 million in 2010."

Portfolio.com, cites several reasons for the increase in craft beer sales:  "For people who can no longer afford a luxury vacation, the ability to treat themselves to a tasty local beer for just a few dollars more is a reward they still can afford, said Todd Usry, Breckenridge Brewery director."  Additionally, "At a time when large corporations are laying people off and becoming less relatable to average Americans, craft breweries are still seen as a local product and member of the community, said Eric Wallace, president of Left Hand Brewing Co. of Longmont."

It has become very chic and trendy to drink craft beer.  Sitting on a stool in a bar asking for a Bud Light, when a slew of micro brews are on the menu, is often viewed as conservative and perenially "unhip".  Craft beer is to the brewery world, what Mac is to the home computer world. 

Is this a sustainable trend?  Who knows? But if the big boys don't figure out how to put themselves back on the socially "in" column, you can bet that major brands will continue to see a drop in sales. 

Though overall, craft beer sales still only make up about 4.3% of U.S. beer sales by volume.

I'll leave you with some fun beer drinking factoids pulled from a recent Advertising Age study:

• Craft beer drinkers spend more time thinking about beer than work
 • Fans of Budweiser are 42 percent more likely to drive a truck than the average person
 • Bud Light drinkers are 34 percent more likely to shun organic products
 • Michelob Ultra drinkers are conceited, while those who drink Heineken are posers
 • Blue Moon consumers are 77 percent more likely to own Macs and a whopping 105 percent more likely than the average person to drive a hybrid
 • Corona drinkers are 38 percent more likely to own three or more flat screen TVs

Now, I'm in the mood for a cold one.  Give me a Michelob Ultra...(heh), I mean a Dirty Dan's Mean Ale, please!