An innovative new service beaming highly-targeted, real time news to people’s mobile phones was launched in Manchester,UK today.
Called OtherWorld, the trial by Manchester startup studio Like No Other uses beacon technology to trigger news stories on people’s mobiles as they walk past them. This could be as simple as a local park “informing” them it’s hosting an event in a few days, a football team’s journey to a football stadium, or police appeals in a law & order situation, or even breaking news involving their current location. As people walk out of range, the stories “fall away” (disappear) from your mobile screen. The free service works on most smart devices & does not require an app to be downloaded.
Partners for the pilot include the Greater Manchester Police, Manchester International Festival, Manchester City Council, NHS, Trinity Mirror, Allied London & Spinningfields, Big Issue, Visit Manchester, Co-op, Manchester Histories, National Football Museum, local businesses, charities & arts venues.
Like No Other (www.likenoother.co) is the future-led consultancy practice & startup studio of Stuart Goulden, an award-winning writer and entrepreneur who recently relocated to Manchester. The studio is marketing, culture & change specialists, & collaborates with companies looking to transform themselves & the world around them, it explained in a press statement.
Amanda Coleman, Head of Communications at Greater Manchester Police, 1 of the Content partners said, “Reaching people across Manchester with real time news & alerts is essential for Greater Manchester Police. OtherWorld provides us with a new way to engage & we are keen to be involved & see what happens with the experiment.”
The pilot will be exploring these new opportunities for telling and sharing news. Stuart Goulden, Lead Consultant at Like No Other, said, “We’re pioneering a brand new storytelling format. One that brings the digital & physical world together to create a more meaningful experience for readers and audiences. It will be interesting to see how Manchester reacts to this new news ecosystem & to pilot an alternative future for local media that can see it thrive once more.”
The pilot, he added, will actively target younger audiences – a generation of people who are not currently engaged in local news but live their lives through their mobile phones.
The pilot runs in Manchester from July 25 until the end of the year. Anybody wishing to find out more can do so at www.otherworld.io
This experiment is part of the Google Digital News Initiative, according to the release. The latter is a US $150m collaboration between Google & news publishers across Europe to support high quality journalism & encourage a more sustainable news ecosystem through technology & innovation.
Check out this video:
Image Credit: Like No Other
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