Last year I got excited when I saw news telling that there will be new mobile service at the skiing resort we were planning to go. You know, while seeing all the hype exactly ten years ago, it’s about time for those services to emerge. Branded as Levi Digit the promise in the story was to give relevant special offers, table reservations, maps and all other information to your mobile.
Now six months later, while actually being at Levi, the skiing resort, it was time to test what they had to offer.
It starts all quite fine. There are ads for the mobile service in the resort magazine as well as in the ski bus. Cool. I enter mobi.levi.fi – a bit too long address for mobile use, but it’s doable (no, m.levi.fi does not work).
First thing I notice is that’s all in Finnish. No English version available. Oh no. Well luckily I happen to understand this language, but the tourists don’t.
The list of the sponsors looks promising. The mobile operator Sonera must have made sure the mobile service is really cool, and hey, Carlsberg could have some location-aware special offers for great skiers!
“Sää” is Weather in Finnish. Let’s see what’s the weather tomorrow.
Not too bad for skiing weather. But this does not tell me should I go to the slope in the morning while it’s still in good shape, and whether I can still cross-country ski in the afternoon.
All right… let’s not make too quick conclusions. I try the remaining pages for general information and slope information. Must say I’m quite disappointed.
Conclusions are clear. This “service” is clearly done by an “ad agency”. No doubt about that.
Hey, remember our Mobile Wizard? What would The Wizard do? Let’s assume our Mobile Wizard for Levi™ would already be ready.
When arriving to the Kittilä Airport, the Wizard greeted me with a welcome message and directed me to the Airport Bus, which I of course could reserve and pre-pay with my mobile.
Mobile Wizard for Levi™ is a multi-platform mobile application for those visiting Levi skiing resort. It’s primary purpose would be helping tourists to take everything out of a vacation here. And for local businesses it would be the most important marketing tool ever invented.
Mobile Wizard for Levi™ features
- All services a ski-traveller needs, in a single easy-to-use application (in her own language)
- Wallet Wizard, leave wallet at the cottage (so you don’t lose it) and pay with your mobile
- Friend Wizard, know where your friends are right now (and hide yourself, if you got lucky)
- Hot Spot Wizard, know where you should be if you like things hot
- Weather Wizard, including relevant user-generated weather reports for Downhill Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Snowmobiling and Bar Hopping
- Reservation Wizard for restaurants and other businesses, including Coupon Wizard to get special deals and discounts (or VIP treatment!)
- General information concerning slope and ski route condition, including User Generated Feedback
- Event Wizard, with special benefits for Wizard users
- Local Business Wizard, with Coupon Wizard – find any business or service you may need
Technical speaking Mobile Wizard for Levi™ is
- An application for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Nokia or even a for a browser
- A multi-lingual for end-users
- Manageable in each store with a single Apple iPad
- Compatible with any skiing resort
So is this reality or a vision? If you run a Skiing Resort, or sponsor one, please contact us for to find out how to get this done before your competition does! It’s all about a transactional service, not “mobile marketing”.
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