July 25, 2014
Another week of fluctuating Chicago summer weather brings a week of new digital campaigns and tech upgrades. Here’s what made the top spots this week:
- Googlecould be submitting a proposal to the NY Department of IT to convert all NYC pay phones into free Wi-Fi hotspots. Google along with other tech companies such as IBM, Samsung and Sisco were in attendance at a meeting to discuss NYC internet connectivity and free city-wide Wi-Fi options.
- With the launch of Amazon’s Fire phone on the horizon, a new app quietly rolled out this week called Amazon Wallet. Customers won’t be able to make purchases on the app, but it will act as a vault to store rewards and gift cards by entering them manually or scanning with the device’s camera.
- Foursquareannounced a major brand redesign and app change this week. Foursquare is moving towards more of a Yelp-esque platform, allowing users to post reviews of places directly from their phones. The check-in component of Foursquare now resides on a new app called Swarm.
- Applebee’s is putting its Instagram account into the hands of its customers. To participate, users must opt-in via a microsite that gives Applebee’s permission to post content to its account. From there, anything that customers post using the hashtag #Applebees or the campaign hashtag #Fantographeris fair game for Applebee’s to post to their account. Each shared image will get a branded border and will be pushed through to Applebee’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.