Locally developed mobile app to bridge gap between consumers and merchants
Streetcast is a mobile application designed to connect users with interesting things happening nearby. This weekend’s Riverfest music festival in Elora will be the launching ground for the new tool.
The app allows merchants to quickly create an advertisement or message and distribute it broadly to anyone with the app. Mobile users will be able to see any messages broadcast, or “Streetcast”, within a radius of seven kilometres, and the ads will let the user know how far they are away from the shop or event.
Ramsey Marra, co-founder and CEO of the app, said Streetcast is different than Twitter, Facebook or other social media platforms because it allows merchants to reach out to new audiences, not just those who already subscribe to their feed.
“Consumers might know what’s around them in terms of physical locations, but they actually don’t know what’s happening inside those businesses at that moment,” Marra said.
Businesses also suffer from a similar problem. The No. 1 challenge for small businesses is new customer acquisition, he said. “How do you get those people on the street to walk into your business with the intent to make a purchase?”
The Streetcast app will allow anyone in the area to see what merchants want customers to know, whether it’s a half-price sale on coffee for the next two hours, or a flash sale at a local business. It’s like a hyper-local social network.
The new app is available now on Apple and Android devices, but will be officially launched at Riverfest this weekend. Users will be able to see ads from festival vendors, or hear about upcoming performances.
Marra, 34, has been living in Elora for the past five years. He said he was happy to launch the app in his hometown. Festivalgoers will be able to see messages from vendors at the event, but also from local businesses outside the gates of Riverfest.
Working with his co-founder, Harry Major, a former software executive at RIM, Marra said the idea for this app came about 2.5 years ago. After the launch at Riverfest, he said he has plans to expand to the Hells Kitchen area in New York City and then in Santa Monica, Calif.
The app is intended to be used in cities, he said, but he’s happy to have it tested out at Riverfest. Streetcast is a sponsor of the festival and QR codes will be printed on festival bracelets, bringing users a direct link to the app.
Jon Ralston, director of the festival, anticipates the app will be well used by vendors and festival organizers alike.
“We’re using it as a way to let the people at the festival know what’s going on, surprise things, whether a food vendor has a specific deal on something. All those things can be updated in live-time, so everybody can be checking that,” he said.
Sometimes at music festivals, the unexpected happens. Ralston said the app will be used to announce those unscheduled moments to anyone listening in.
“We’ve got Tim Kingsbury from Arcade Fire playing,” he said. “If, for example, other members of Arcade Fire showed up and did a small thing, we could post that.”
Riverfest won’t be handing out paper schedules of when bands are set to perform. Instead, the festival has made a PDF schedule available online and will be using Streetcast to announce upcoming artists.
Marra said he’s already partnered with the Downtown Guelph Business Association to distribute this app to local businesses in the city. The official launch in Guelph won’t be until the students return. Marra is currently in talks with the University of Guelph student association. He said the app could help students connect with what’s going on in the downtown.
The app is free to users who are just looking to browse what’s going on around them. Merchants looking to advertise will pay a monthly fee of $12.95, unless they’re connected with the downtown business association. Membership with the business association will get vendors a discount. For them, using the app will cost $9.95 per month.