Alumnus Locomizer partners with TAPTAP Networks

Collider alumnus Locomizer, a provider of location analytics technologies, announced a partnership to enrich TAPTAP’s Sonata Ad platform today. TAPTAP Networks is the largest independent mobile advertising company in Spain and Latin America.

Locomizer’s proprietary algorithm uses geo-data in a combination with points of interest (POI) data as its input. These are then converted into individual geo-behavioural user interest profiles – a new way to interpret, store and use positional information. User interest profiles are created with Locomizer’s behavioural model, which was developed through studying cell movements and interactions in live systems. This model analyses user’s behaviour to understand real-life interests and preferences, making it ideal for matching with relevant services and offers.

“Our ability to translate geo-data into a very sophisticated set of user-interest-profiles and distinctive segments has a natural fit with the mobile advertising world” said Alexei Poliakov, Locomizer co-founder and chief scientist. “We are delighted about the partnership with TAPTAP and thrilled to see that the trial campaign was so successful. It translates now into a commercial proposition to advertisers and marketers”.

SONATA is the first global mobile advertising platform aimed at brands and local advertisers seeking local contextual awareness, increased physical store footfall and in-store analytics. Built mobile-first by former retailers and AdTech experts, Sonata’s technology leverages geo-enabled devices such as smartphones and tablets, socio-contextual signals, and in-store audience data, enabling attribution between local contextual advertising and real-time, in-store foot traffic data.

“Physical presence provided by opt-in users through their mobile devices convey the same information that legacy cookies on the internet once did," said Alvaro del Castillo, CEO and founder of TAPTAP Networks. "As mobile usage takes over the internet cookies become irrelevant and presence signals allow for the creation of geo-behavior profiles that both global brands and local advertisers value in order to drive people through the purchase funnel. Locomizer’s bio-enabled proposition truly enhances our ability for out of the box mobile audience profiling."

Congratulations to Alexei, Alex and Roman! We're looking forward to following your expansive journey into new markets and becoming industry leaders.

Using Crowdfunding as a Marketing Tool

Crowdfunding is not only a platform for raising money, it can also be used as a tool to spread awareness for your brandIt was a campaign for Chapel Down on Seedrs, the UK-based crowdfunding platform, which caught Collider's interest. They had orchestrated a community of strangers to participate in their mission and vision – and people had responded by investing in their campaign. We wanted to do that for the Collider Class of 2015.

One of the things we take pride in at Collider is investing in smart people with smart tech - but only with the smartest money. Our investor portfolio has some of the biggest names in MadTech behind it: Richard Fearn, Andy Porteous, and Deb Hennessy to name a few. But we wanted more. We wanted not just specialist angel investors but the whole ad community to get behind Collider. How could we do that? Seedrs was the answer. One of the more interesting things we found was the ability to use our campaign as a marketing tool.

Crowdfunding is a tool, not only a platform

First off, it’s perfect for market validation. As Dr. Phil Windley notes in this Forbes article, “The big payoff [to a crowdfunding campaign] is the information about the potential market we’ll get.” The Seedrs campaign showed us the sheer depth of enthusiasm for new digital marketing tech. MadTech is working for advertisers and marketers; the community not only wants more of it but also wants to support it. In only 13 days we were able to raise 100% of the funds. By the time the campaign closed, in a following 14 days, we were almost £100,000 over capacity and had over 100 investors from across Europe.

Secondly, the Seedrs campaign allows us to better relate to and reach our investors, brands and startups. The campaign embraced a new and innovative way of doing business, just as we encourage our brands to do with the startups. What better way to support innovation than to embrace the same values we teach to the startups?

Finally, it is an interactive addition to traditional press. It allows people to become a part of your greater marketing strategy by letting them participate in a small part of it. Philips used a crowdfunding campaign to actively engage with their customers through competitions, and we want to get the marketing and advertising community just as engaged with our startups by having a small equity stake in them. It was a risk to take on a crowdfunding campaign as a means for investment. There’s no testing to be done to figure out if it will work – no A/B testing, no focus group options.

In retrospect:

Calling the process stressful would be an understatement. After our campaign reached around 58%, we had a completely funded campaign within 25 hours. It was mental not being able to keep up with all of the investment coming in. Within 13 days we had exceeded our £330,000 goal – less than half the average time of a crowdfunding campaign. There were scary moments where things didn't look to be moving at all. But we kept pushing forward and being proactive to make things happen.

The Digital Business Academy Goes Live

  We like getting involved in interesting projects. Especially ones involving everything digital. It goes hand in hand with investing in some of the most innovative companies in the marketing and advertising (or Madtech as we call it) industry. And that’s where our news this week comes from.

TechCity UK has just publically launched the Digital Business Academy (or DBA) – an online portal for young professionals to gain the necessary skills to start, grow, or work for digital startups. They’ve partnered with UCL, Founder Centric and the University of Cambridge to bring you, yes you, the best content on everything from sizing up your idea to building your brand to mastering the finances of our digital business. The Guardian identified the UK will need 750,000 skilled digital workers by 2017. But when the number of computer science graduates is dropping, how does one fix this? By making education accessible. Oh, did we mention the courses are free in the UK?

How is Collider involved? We’re offering a ‘milkround’ to all graduates of the programme. Similar to a job fair, but less intimidating, these grads will benefit from access to innovative products changing the face of the marketing and advertising worlds – our alumni.

“The DBA is filling a skills gap in the digital industry,” Rose Lewis, our Co-Founder and ring-leader mentions. “The DBA helps with more than just coding: from community management to sales and marketing in digital, these are emerging job opportunities where the skill set is still undefined and underdeveloped. You won’t find a programme so accessible and with such high quality content elsewhere at the moment.”

That spare time this weekend you were going to spend watching videos of cats on Youtube? Why not learn how to market and analyse viral videos instead? Who knows, you might just get more out of it than those aww-spiring cat videos. Happy Friday!

When Applying to an Accelerator

[spb_text_block pb_margin_bottom="no" pb_border_bottom="no" width="1/1" el_position="first last"] We’ve all been there – it’s crunch time, late at night when your second wave of creative genius hits and the looming deadline seems impossible to meet. It’s tough. But we’re here to help. And with only three days left to apply for the Collider15 Autumn programme, we want you to succeed and are going to help you get to the next level!

The application process is two-fold: the written questionnaire, and the interview. The written questionnaire is the application form on F6S you’ve been slaving over. The interview is when we’ll meet face to face. Here are some tips to help with the process.

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Written Questionnaire

Just as intimidating as a first date. Well, a virtual one.

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Check, Re-write it

Just as Daft Punk’s creepy robot says, check re-write it. The best applications have been edited by a trusted outsider. A good reviewer will make sure you’ve answered the question, breaking through your tunnel vision and taking your application to the next level.

Show me how

This is your time to shine. Investors know that putting their hard-earned cash into early-stage startups is risky. Every bit of supporting evidence that you can offer to investors decreases the risk of your business a little. How many customers have you interviewed? How many beta customers do you have? How much are brands already spending on products similar to yours? How quickly is the market growing? What is your track record in this field?

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Tell me your Problems

It’s all good fun to tell us about your business, how it works and where it fits in the market. But what makes it stand out is if you can explain the original problem. “Stand-out startups are those who can clearly articulate and amplify the specific customer pain-point that they are solving. They bring it to life and put the investors in the shoes of the customer,” so says Miles, our Startups Champion. Explain concisely and stay on point and you’ll have our attention from the get-go.

The Video 'Selfie'

Here’s where your personality comes through – it’s been nicknamed the ‘video selfie’. This is how we get a feel for you as a person, so let your personality shine through. Carl from LivingLens agrees: “The 1 minute video is key. Make sure you portray your drive, enthusiasm and stubbornness.”

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Interview Process

We like you already. That’s why you’re here for an interview. The hard stuff is almost over…

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Content: Know your Sh*t

Being prepared is of the utmost necessity. Come knowing your product backwards and forwards. Be ready to expand on your answers from your written application. Know your numbers, your competitors, your timeline inside out. Yes you’re a startup, but you’re still a professional.

We reckon you can cover everything off in 7 slides. Don’t make them text heavy, they should be presentation enhancers. Live demos are a no-no. Your tech will fall over. The internet will break. But do sneak in a screenshot or two.

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Style: Bring your Flair

When you’re presenting, keep it clear and concise. Only one person from your team should present, but make sure everyone is briefed for the Q&A. If you’re presenting, make sure you’ve rehearsed. A lot. You should be able to recite it in your sleep. Record yourself, practice in front of a mirror, or transcribe it.

Let your personality shine through. The beauty of interviews is the uninhibited communication – be confident and be yourself. Remember non-verbal communication plays a large role in your presentations, and we want to work with exciting and passionate people, not robots. Keep it real!

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Crowdfunding Complete for the Class of 2015!

It’s been quite a week here at Collider – never a dull moment! As the excitement from Ad:Tech London cooled down, it was time for the Collider team to pull together and begin filing through the applications for the Class of 2015. Applications for the programme are open until November 10^th, make sure you get your applications in before the deadline (and even share with your friends now)!

In other news, our Seedrs campaign has come to a successful close! As of Wednesday evening, only 13 days after launch, the marketing and advertising industry pulled together to collectively raise over £330,000! Investments ranged from £100 to £55,000 per person and over 60 individuals participated.

Investors of note include media guru Mat Morrison and CEO of Havas Media, Paul Frampton. Senior advertising executives from Ogilvy and WeAreSocial also invested in the Class of 2015. Some investors will further be actively involved in the mentoring process with the startups during the programme. They will also draw on industry connections and expertise to further supercharge the startups.

“The response from the marketing and advertising professionals has been overwhelmingly positive,” Rose Lewis, Co-founder of Collider said. “We’re encouraging them to invest in the future of their industry through startups, and they jumped at the chance.”

Each of the 10 startups will receive £50K in exchange for 11% equity. A hand-picked 5 of the 10 will receive £100K follow-up funding for a further 11%. Half of the funds from the Seedrs campaign will go towards the first round of funding and the other half will go towards the second round, with all of the investors’ money being distributed evenly between all the startups.

In short, high praise goes to the marketing and advertising industry! They took the challenge head on and took an active role in shaping the future of their industry through emerging tech - their efforts paid off! The Class of 2015 has a group of mentors and investors behind it this year who have an envious track record, with even more brands signed up to help transform these products by acting as first market validators (more on this later). Things are moving quickly – this year will be bigger and better and we’re waiting impatiently to getting this race going…