by Emily Freeman – a mobile marketer based in Australia, with experience managing campaigns for companies
Sydney company Quickcharge Media has launched their flagship product ‘Quickcharge Kiosks’ – self service mobile phone battery charging stations which doubles as a media platform. The Quickcharge Kiosks are capable of charging 18 mobile phone batteries at one time, offering a 10 minute rapid charge service – 50% faster than a regular charger.
The Kiosks can be either freestanding or sit on a tabletop and are suitable for installation at trade shows, conferences, events or as a long term lease in a corporate or retail environment. Currently compatible with 90% of mobile phones & PDAs (including iPhone), the kiosks are designed with flexibility in mind, and new handsets can be supported as required.
The Quickcharge Kiosks are equipped with LCD screens and traditional billboards that advertisers can use to promote products & services. Advertisers can wrap the kiosks in a branded vinyl skin, and deliver digital branding such as still images, websites or TV style ads wirelessly to the kiosk. Advertisers can also utilise blutooth broadcasting on the Bluezones network, and m-commerce capabilities from Qpay.
According to Quickcharge, the kiosks offer a unique and high impact opportunity to reach a captive & highly targeted audience. Ben Rundle from Quickcharge said “It will depend on what the advertiser would like to show and how they wish to convey their message but we retain a fair degree of flexibility so that we can provide the best solution for the client.”
Quickcharge are in the process of deploying the kiosks around Australia, in shopping centres, airports, pubs & at major events, where you can re-charge your phone for 10 minutes for $2.
Retail & Corporate clients can lease kiosks, wrapped in their own branding and deliver their own advertising messages to the LCD screen. The Kiosks are also available for event hire, with rates starting at $1200.
A sponsored kiosk was installed recently at the Red Bull Air Race in Perth, sponsored by Qpay. Kiosks have also been rolled out at Avalon Airport and Sydney University of Technology.
What we think?
The kiosks sound like a great idea for events where the audience is required to stay in the same place for long periods eg. conferences, tradeshows, corporate off-sites etc. (How many times has your phone battery run out at a conference??). Conference organisers could work with Quickcharge to sell advertising & sponsorship of the kiosk for the duration of the event.
It would also work well in a retail environment – keeping customers in store while their phones charge. Many brands would do well to provide such a service to their customers, from gyms to bookshops to fashion chains, even fast food outlets. The vinyl skinning option to brand a kiosk would no doubt be popular.
Quickcharge is focussing heavily on building their public network of kiosks into spaces like airports, shopping centres & universities. The main problem I see is when multiple customers are standing around, eg. at a crowded festival, uneasily guarding their phones & waiting for them to charge. Although perhaps having too many customers is a problem Quickcharge will be happy to have!
Very interested idea. i want more information how it works. will buy some for my guest houses.
These are a great concept. I have seen a lot of these popping up on the market. Another company, ChargeIt, are offering the machines for outright sale.