9
kshep92
7y

I was walking in the cineplex after watching a movie today and saw an advertisement for "a digital loyalty card platform for retail outlets. Get loyalty cards on your phone!" being used by a big brand in my country.

The thing is, although not a terribly original idea, I first thought of developing a system/platform like this all the way back in 2012. I coded it, I advertised, I lobbied HARD; I poured my damn soul into this thing. Nobody accepted it. I scrapped it because I thought it was just not a good idea, only to see what is essentially a clone of it being shown off and lauded as a brand new innovative solution.

I won't lie, seeing that ad so prominently and proudly displayed really crushed me. I honestly don't know what makes their rendition better than mine, since mine did pretty much the same thing theirs does and my design chops are pretty much on par with theirs. I was rejected and I don't know why and that stings more than the countless other times my other ideas were shot down because of market mismatch, logistical flaws or just shortsightedness on the part of potential customers.

This isn't an invitation to a pity party, and I can't say there is a moral to this little anecdote, but I feel moved to share this experience with you guys.

Pick from it and learn what you will, I hope this falls under the eyes of the right person out there.

Comments
  • 4
    Sometimes idea are meant for another period. Congrats on trying. That is something really.
  • 3
    So, what did you learn from it? What would you do differently?
  • 1
    @helloworld it's tough to say, really. Especially so since I don't know why it didn't get uptake in the first place. I guess it comes down to what @cockroach said; maybe it was ahead of its time? idk.
  • 0
    @kshep92 Only guessing here, but did you factor in a sales and marketing budget? Stuff like this can take a huge budget to get any traction, and you would need pr and marketing professionals on board, which could actually dwarf the actual product development costs (by a huge margin).
  • 1
    @helloworld the approach we took didn't exactly require a large budget. We reached out to the core franchises we were interested in bagging and set up meetings with them.

    The meetings all went well except none of them wanted to be "first". It's strange that it is now one of those same franchises who are featured on the newer platform. They're only business on the platform, I might add; so much for not wanting to be first 🙄
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