The Newest App for Millennials, But Will It Blend? -

The Newest App for Millennials, But Will It Blend?

6 February 2014

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Millenials, a demographic which has been found to spend an average of 96 hours per month online, two thirds of which exclusively on mobile, has taken over front pages recently of social media news sites worldwide. The reasons for which are most notably for their grave decrease in Facebook usage over the past three years, sparking even President Obama to note “It seems like [Millenials] don’t use Facebook anymore.” But where are they going? Enter Blend. The latest craze, which is exclusively targeted towards college students, may just be the youthful social media dosage that teens are yearning for today.

How It Works

Its founders, Akash Nigam, Matt Geiger and Evan Rosenbaum developed its mantra, “Snap, Share, Score”, where users share photos related to the ‘theme of the day’ for an opportunity of winning gift cards to student-focused brands. Daily themes are relative to its college audience, such as ‘Tailgate Saturday’ or ‘Super Bowl party’ to which users share a photo relative to that theme to other users on the app. After receiving a certain amount of likes, or ‘snaps’, users have the opportunity to redeem gift cards to brands who advertise on Blend.

Available for iPhone and Android devices, brands are allowed to advertise on its interface only after being approved by the company’s ‘influencers’ AKA college student representatives. A wave of college-focused brands has flocked to the May 2013 startup which now has over 60 brands advertising on it. And the opportunity for relevant ad impressions is quite impressive as well, as the app is said to have more than 50,000 daily users in over 1000 college campuses.

Steven Glasgow, Chief Executive of Country Club Prep, argues “you’re getting in front of the most coveted and difficult-to-reach demographic and they are self-selecting to shop at your store.”

Will it Blend?

This college-exclusive concept, similar to the original ‘The Facebook’, has a strong financial backing, having an investment from The Digital Catalyst Fund of over $1.2 Million, offers strong grounds for virality over the coming months as students tend to follow the crowd and want to use what everyone else on campus is using. Its development is already in the works as it plans to roll out a more ‘social’ element with hashtags and comments in the near future.

About Leon McLean

Leon McLean is a Project Manager and Trainer at SayItSocial, focusing on digital marketing strategy and project development as well as live, virtual and eLearning training initiatives. Please connect with Leon on... Google +