ShareSquare

Cypress Hill Runs 4/20 Backstage Contest with ShareSquare

“So you wanna be a rap superstar? And live large? A big house, 5 cars, you’re in charge. Comin up in the world, don’t trust nobody, gotta look over your shoulder constantly…

Nevertheless you gotta go for the gusto, but you don’t know about the blood, sweat, and tears and losin some of your peers, and losin some of your self…”
- Rap Superstar

Like many upwardly-mobile immigrant kids growing up in the 90s, I was inspired by Cypress Hill’s vision of fame, fortune and the inescapable Greek tragedy that follows the rapid ascent of “making it big”.  Heck, I’m pretty much trying to live it right now.

So it’s with pride that I share the sweet street team campaign they’re running with the help of our platform.  Using ShareSquare’s new premium features, Cypress Hill is engaging both offline and online audiences to scan for a chance to win backstage passes for their 4/20 shows in San Francisco and Denver.

If you find a sticker containing Cypress Hill’s QR code you can whip out ANY smartphone barcode scanner to immediately see their ShareSquare mobile web app, and you can then submit your email for a chance to win a pair of tickets & backstage access to the show.  (In addition to seeing exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else.)  Read more here.

And because of the ShareSquare CMS’s ability to edit on the fly, the Cypress Hill campaign can be quickly updated with music videos, downloads, Facebook, Twitter (and more) to still offer their fans a valuable experience well after the contest ends.

How are you using your ShareSquare to better connect with your audience?  Hit us up and tell us all about it - we’re seeing awesome case studies come in every day and we’d love to write about yours.

We’re Shutting Down ShareSquare to Wait for NFC (Update: April Fools!)

It’s only been one short week since we publicly launched ShareSquare to critical acclaim from the likes of the New York Times, but we’re deciding to call it quits for now.

In the last few days there’s been a lot of buzz asking whether this new technology, NFC, is going to kill QR codes.  The answer is unequivocally, and immediately, yes.

Sure, QR codes in the U.S. are getting big at the moment, and trending toward being downright mainstream this summer, but it’s clear that NFC is gonna be Bieber-Gaga-Palin huge in like 5 years.  Google’s doing it soon and Apple is thinking about it.  That’s good enough for us.

What’s NFC?  It’s short-range wireless data exchange between your phone and something else that has an NFC chip in it.  So, for example, just as soon as the corner pizza shop does their once-a-decade POS system upgrade, you’ll be able to pay for your pie just by swiping your mobile device.  No more ultra-heavy American Express Black Cards weighing you down!

“But!” you might say, “the mobile web app you build with ShareSquare, it doesn’t matter how a real-world visitor gets there, can’t you just do QR codes now and offer NFC (or whatever else) once it hits critical mass?”

Maybe, but that’s not what we’re about.  ShareSquare has always been about the future, and NFC is the future, man.  QR codes are now the present, and frankly, we’re just not interested anymore.

“But!” you may say again, “even in Japan QR and NFC coexist in different applications, like, you might walk down the street and scan a QR code off a Coca-Cola poster, play a little game, and win a free Coke. You then take your phone to the nearest vending machine, wave it over the NFC terminal, and redeem your Coke.”

Not convinced.  They have square watermelons over there, and other stuff we simply prefer not to understand.

Thanks to all the early adopters that have tried out ShareSquare, especially those who helped us blow up SXSW and those already running nationwide campaigns.  All your accounts are now in a state of suspended animation.  Sit tight and wait with us until NFC-capable handsets are as common as QR-capable handsets now, and the marginal cost of installing an NFC chip into a poster or sticker is the same as integrating a QR code (zero).  Then we’ll probably do this all over again.

Email us for more info at: YeahItsAprilFoolsButTheRealJokeIsThinkingAnyTechnologyFacing
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[email protected]

ShareSquare Opens to the World

What a ride.

Some three short months ago we launched ShareSquare in private beta.  Since then thousands of artists, agencies and advertisers have used the platform to connect offline audiences with the bands & brands they love, using the QR code’s immediate call-to-action and a rich experience on the mobile web.  A few, like SHIROCK, are already running NATIONWIDE campaigns.  Amazing.  Here’s what Chuck, SHIROCK’S studly frontman has to say:

“As a band, one of our main goals is to continuously find creative ways to better connect directly with our fans.  QR codes bridge the gap between our traditional ‘street’ marketing, and our digital efforts.  Using ShareSquare, we’re able to know where fans are scanning SHIROCK QR codes, and we can track in what circumstance they are most effective.  With ShareSquare we’re able to provide a fully functional and integrated mobile web app right there on their mobile device, the second they scan the QR code…we can offer exclusive content, have links to our social sites, music videos, and more.  All of this serves to help us move closer to our end goal…to bridge the gap between us and our fans.”

We love hearing that.  And we’ve been hearing a lot of it.  So after an awesomesauce SXSW, where nearly 100 of our ShareSquare creators competed to become Austin’s “Most Scanned Band“, we’re making the ShareSquare platform available to everybody.

And because we’ve gotten so much interest from management companies, agencies and even brands, we’ve created ShareSquare Pro and ShareSquare Enterprise.  For those of you who need a robust central location to manage LOTS of ShareSquare campaigns, here are the new plans:

And congrats to our Top 5 “Most Scanned Bands” from SXSW, you’ve won a free year of ShareSquare Enterprise!

We look forward to adding all the features everyone keeps asking us for (like the ability to purchase tickets, merch & albums right on the spot) and continuing to provide the best offline-to-online experience there is.  A hearty thanks to everyone who’s joined us for the ride, it’s about to get awesomesauce-r.