TIPPL APP
SMALL business FROM LEFT, CO-FOUNDERS TAYLOR DARLINGTON, MICHAEL FRIEDMAN, MATTHEW MOORE, AND MARK WONG.
Fueling Local Patronage
TIPPL APP OFFERS INCENTIVE FOR VISITING AREA BUSINESSES In an effort to encourage the Omaha community to support and at any participating location for 24-hours in an attempt to discourage experience the local dining scene, four friends teamed up to launch “bar hopping.” However, the following day, another free drink is Tippl, a mobile app that offers a free drink to members when they visit available to redeem at a different affiliated business. an affiliated location. “This means for the price of one drink, a person can essentially Co-founders Michael Friedman, Taylor Darlington, Mark Wong receive 30 drinks a month,” Friedman said. “We are offering a service and Matt Moore, who met as undergrads at Hastings College, that opens the doors and allows people to experience, enjoy and combined their various business backgrounds to develop the idea embrace local business. The app keeps people actively participating during the first wave of the pandemic when the bar and restaurant and it’s a means to go out and explore new areas they might not be industry was hit hard. The goal was to offer an incentive to motivate aware of. Then, it’s up to individual restaurants and bars to charm the individuals to interact in the community once it was safe to do so. customers into coming back regularly.” Partnering with Tippl is free of charge for businesses, which Friedman said is another example of the service’s commitment to How it Works strengthening the local economy. The app also showcases information The Tippl platform is simple, according to Friedman. After about the participating businesses – like upcoming activities or downloading the app, members pay $1 for the first month on a trial specialty foods. run basis, and then $5 each month after. Users create a profile, select a participating location based on their geographical positioning, visit the bar or restaurant, and simply present their phone screen to redeem a free drink. The app then time stamps the transaction and locks the user from redeeming another drink at that same location for 14 days, as well as
Data-driven Design Prior to launching the app, the co-founders sent out various polls to determine how to change the behavior of people and encourage going back to physical locations after the pandemic.
Page 18 • April 29, 2022
