In the “game layer”: building for long-term social benefit…
Recently, I came across a new(ish) mobile app and gaming company called SCVNGR, based in Cambridge, MA. Backed by powerhouse financiers including Google Ventures and Highland Capital Partners, SCVNGR is presently building the “game layer on top of the world.” Loosely translated, the company seeks to utilize incentives used in game theory and apply them to our lives as consumers. Their pitch to users is quite simple: “Go places. Do challenges. Earn points” [that can be redeemed for items like free burritos or coffee]. From the other end of the table, SCVNGR enables businesses to harness the powers of social networks to achieve viral marketing, through customized incentive programs built on the SCVNGR platform.
When considering the objective of setting challenges to discover rewards (whether they be experiential or material), I presume that the name SCVNGR was chosen to invoke a character not all that much different from the traditional “scavenger hunt” we are all familiar with from childhood. Though SCVNGR is a young venture, in a recent email to their team, I challenged them to adopt an additional layer of applicability to their business model: positive social change.
