Swiss Multi-Asset brokerage Swissquote has taken its Marketing in a brave new direction. The company has developed a mobile application that capitalizes on the popularity of Pokemon GO, an augmented reality game that has quickly become the most downloaded app of all time both across iOS and Android.
What Swissquote has done is substitute the virtual Pokemon figures which gamers have been collecting with real shares. The brokerage has distributed several hundred shares from the constituents of the Swiss Market Index which are divided into different groups and are spread across 20 Swiss landmarks.
Swissquote GO landmarks across the country, Image: Swissquote GO
The campaign is launching exclusively in Switzerland and a map will be sent to players to guide through the hotspots where they can find their shares. After a client discovers a package in the augmented reality environment of the application, it can be added to the portfolio of the customer.
Looking for shares via Swissquote GO is available via the mobile trading app of the company, which is available from Apple’s App Store.
New and existing clients of Swissquote are all eligible to participate with the maximum amount which can be won by a single customer of the company amounting to CHF 480 ($493). A total of CHF 10,000 will be distributed across the Swissquote GO map.
A New Era in Marketing
With the fast technological development of mobile technology in recent years, Swissquote is looking to capitalize on a rising trend. Interactive and engaging content is rapidly becoming a customer demand in everyday life. With the traditional marketing channels like display advertising and bonus promotions losing their effectiveness, delivering top user experience as an advertisement is becoming important.
There are multiple channels which are open to online traders - from communities based on social media gatherings of trading communities like TradeView and SwipeStox, to more traditional charting like NetDania, brokerages are opening to new funnels to attract different groups of people into their clients mix.
Swissquote is starting this as an experiment designated for the Swiss market, but if the campaign is effective in attracting new clients, we can possibly expect the company to spread its augmented reality Pokemon GO style game into other jurisdictions.
Capitalizing on Technological Change
Swissquote has taken a bold step to integrate into its app a functionality like Swissquote GO. Commenting to Finance Magnates, a Swissquote spokesperson stated that the firm has remained within the budgeted development time in order to deliver the product to the market.
Commenting in the official announcement, the CEO of the company Mark Bürki said: “Our marketing must be like our bank - offbeat, innovative and visionary. By harnessing a trend like Pokemon GO we are seizing an opportunity to reach out to our customers directly via their mobiles.”
Catching real shares on the street, Image: Swissquote GO
The company has shared that its trading app has been downloaded 228,000 times for the iPhone and 90,700 times for the iPad. This brings the game to a variety of clients that could be converted to clients of the firm if they decide to participate in the game and follow up with a trading account.
The fast launch of the app has been the core of the offering, dictated by the rapid development from Swissquote’s team, after Pokemon GO was launched only in July.
Commenting on the launch, the CTO of Swissquote shared: “We worked with our dedicated digital teams for Swissquote GO. The challenge was to develop a simple-to-use game in a very short space of time. Having the skills internally has been instrumental to be responsive and rapidly adapt to technological changes.”
