go-Digital Blog on Digital Marketing

10 Days After Launch, Plyfe Has 17,000 Users And A Partnership With The United Nations

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/plyfe-launch-2012-3

Plyfe is a New York startup that rewards people for engaging with brands on social media. Fueled by $1,000,000 in funding from General Catalyst and the Playfish founding team, it launched 10 days ago and has 17,000 users.

Plyfe is a platform that creates games for brands and helps them interact more with the users they already have. When users play the advertiser’s games, they’re rewarded with tangible gifts. Current prizes include a free trip to Las Vegas via the Tropicana resort.

Brands can create games for free; their task is to encourage users to join Plyfe and play them. Overtime, the Plyfe network will grow and brands will gain access to new engaged users too.  Plyfe plans to generate revenue through research products and lead generation campaigns for advertisers.

Co-founder Jeff Arbour has been in the social media business for a decade. He was the first US employee at The Hyper Factory before it sold to Meredith Corporation.  Now he’s helping consumers get rewarded for all of the data they’re producing online.

A lot of social media rewards companies exist, like CrowdTwist and Badgeville, but Arbour says those are made for the advertisers. Plyfe is a platform that puts consumers first.

“People are giving up a lot of information about themselves online, like where they are, for free,” says Arbour. “We want to give back to them. We reward users for sharing and producing data.”

Next week, the United Nations Foundation and a major animation company are creating Plyfe promotions. Ten more brands will be launching on Plyfe over the next month.

HAULERdeals is currently running a Plyfe promotion. Arbour says it has tripled their Facebook user engagement numbers and grown their total Facebook fans by 10,000. Users have already answered 13,000 questions and viewed videos 3,000 times on Plyfe.

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