Brief:
- Augmented reality (AR) beauty platform Perfect365 announced it will soon let app users earn and spend Kin, the cryptocurrency created by Canadian messaging app Kik. Registered users earn Kin by answering survey questions for the Perfect365 community. In the coming months, the company will expand the ways users can collect Kin through creating and sharing makeup looks on the app.
- Perfect365 aims to be the first AR beauty app to bring cryptocurrency to more women, which is "an untapped demographic," Kin president Dany Fishel said in a press release. A recent study by the company found that just 12% of women users currently use cryptocurrency, while 42% are interested in doing so and 34% plan to get involved.
- Users can spend their earned cryptocurrency on premium features within the app, though the company plans to expand that to let users spend it in the Kin Marketplace. The beauty app will first offer Kin to a test group of Android users in the U.S., India, U.K., Canada and Australia, and continue the rollout through next month to all users, per its statement.
Insight:
Perfect365's bid to bring more women into the cryptocurrency market seems like a noble idea, as the app's user base is 92% women. Leveraging the company's existing customers could unlock a potentially large revenue stream and make Perfect365's more innovative and engaging. Kin may help to engage more AR beauty users by offering incentives to perform actions like taking surveys and participating in the platform's community of more than 100 million users, further establishing a loyal and engaged audience base.
Several big brands are trying out similar strategies to boost customer loyalty through rewards, some of which are based on digital ledger technology like blockchain. McDonald's, GM, Danone and Staples are among the brands that have signed up to participate in Killi, a blockchain-based app that pays customers cash for sharing their data and location, or for providing insight about what ads they'd like to see. Johnson & Johnson boosted the purchase intent of several brands through campaigns on Dabbl, a mobile app that lets marketers reward consumers for sharing their opinions for market research.
Red Bull and Swarovski last month started testing Kin for loyalty programs that let their customers collect the digital currency in exchange for performing different actions, including watching a video commercial or answering surveys. Customers could later redeem Kin for rewards from brands like Domino's, Nike and Sephora. Kin coins can be traded for real money or gift cards, and the supply is capped at 10 trillion coins. Kik sold 1 trillion coins through an initial coin offering (ICO) last year that raised about $100 million.
