Start the Badgering
New iPhone app offers interactive Memphis Flyer reading experience.
by Susan Ellis
- Look for icons like the one in the bottom right corner of this photo to scan using the BadgerSpot iPhone app.
It took me two solid days to figure out how to get the Twitter app on my iPhone, but I know Flyer readers are a savvier lot and immediately recognized those icons in last week's paper as some sort of app-related deal. But what is it exactly?
It's the "augmented reality" Paper Companion created by local company BadgerSpot. And specifically in the Flyer, it's FlyView experience, and it works like this: Download the app from iTunes (only iPhones right now), find the icons in the Flyer, take aim, and then take advantage of the giveaways and discounts offered via the mighty cool 3D animation.
BadgerSpot has been in business for about six months. "It started out focused on creating a virtual graffiti wall," says Madeline Ward, the company's CEO. "It's snowballed into the thing it is now."
The larger idea behind BadgerSpot — which, in addition to Ward, includes technology officer Greg Dunn, CCO Troyan Turner, and character developer Chris Magee — is to interact with the community, eventually finding a place in newspapers across the country.
As for the badger in BadgerSpot? "We thought a badger was pretty cool," Ward says, "and we liked that it was pun-ny, like 'badger your friends.'"
In this issue of the Flyer, there are several places to interact with FlyView experience. Find them all and find the secret code word for a chance to win prizes. For more information, go to badgerspot.com.
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