The new gold rush: an interview with GoLivMo on capturing niche markets through unique social experiences
TechCulture Nielsen Research predicts that billions of marketing dollars are wasted annually by companies due to inefficient targeting. There’s been a broad industry effort in developing more niche channels to combat this ongoing problem. We shine a spotlight on a company based out of Singapore working to solve this targeting issue for service-based companies.
For the uninitiated, GoLivMo (also affectionately known to their fans as just LivMo) is a dedicated marketing platform connecting activity-focused companies, communities, and individuals (Creators) with Socially Active consumers that search for them daily. GoLivMo actively curates content to ensure a high quality of activities and aims to make it safe and simple for users to do something new.
This innovative company has its eye on a share of an uncontested $2.2 Trillion a year industry that doesn’t have a clear market leader to date. This is a gold-mine waiting for any company that can unlock its full potential. We catch up with Group CEO Kevin Ou and Dustin Steward (CEO North America) to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes.
Kevin and Dustin, thank you for joining us today. Tell us more about GoLivMo
Happy to be here! GoLivMo works on a simple concept. We provide a home for users to get access to amazing experiences in their city. Companies work with us to connect with these high-purchase intent customers. By creating a more efficient connection, companies can reduce their marketing costs. Some of those savings go to the consumers in the form of unique access, perks, or discounts—a win-win solution for everyone.
Many other industries utilize a dedicated channel, aggregating and creating content to help you find and purchase products online, reserve a table at a restaurant, book transport on-demand to booking a private home anywhere in the world. Curiously, there aren’t any that curate experiences within each city, helping locals find and book activities more easily. As you mentioned, there’s no clear leader in this space globally.
Companies, Organizations, and Communities have realized over the past few years that experiences are a key factor in breeding brand engagement and long-term loyalty. You’ll start noticing tons of companies starting to focus on dining, retail, travel, cafe, party experiences, etc. But you’ll also notice that there’s no dedicated channel to help users discover those experiences.
The current discovery process relies on a wide-gamut of platforms, including social media, online blogs, newspapers, email blasts, magazines, outdoor advertising, travel apps, and ticketing sites, amongst others. Searching for something to do (if you can find it) is a fragmented process taking upwards of 60 mins, and we aim to do it under 8 mins.
Fascinating! What inspired the company? How did you validate your idea?
The spark came from 2 separate insights. The first was during the early part of my career working with a range of clients ranging from Politicians, Hollywood stars to high-net-worth individuals. On many occasions, it dawned on me that no matter how powerful, famous, good looking you are, there are always experiences that make one feel authentically excited and alive. This holds true for us, regular people as well. I’ve always pondered how we can make those activities more accessible, so those ecstatic moments happen more frequently in life.
The second was when I was first dating my wife (then fiancée) in 2016. I looked hard for an experience for a date night that would wow her and spent 2 hours Googling for something unique to do in my city. After that time, I came up empty-handed and thought there must be a better way to find and book something remarkable. The inherent problem is that “you don’t know what you don’t know,” so it became impossible for me to keyword search for something I didn’t know existed.
These insights eventually gave way to a small Google survey that we circulated to friends, family, and everyone that would let us poke their brains. We found out from over 847 people around the world that it takes them an average of 60 mins to decide on something to do. What’s more surprising is that even after a decision had been made, respondents felt that they had picked something out of convenience or frustration, not necessarily something they were satisfied with.
The decision to launch and invest in GoLivMo fell into place easily after that.
It’s a great idea, and it’s clearly different from other solutions that are out there. What were your biggest challenges in getting this on the market?
The concept of booking an activity mirrors what the travel industry is doing. Online Travel Agents (OTA’s) focus largely on travel, while our focus with GoLivMo is largely dedicated to powering the experiences of locals in major cities and beyond. Our platform helps people discover exclusive local entertainment, recreation, and dining opportunities to build incredible memories and support the communities around them.
A number of travel apps have attempted to expand into the local experience marketplace. However, the fundamental issue with that is the dilution of their core message. Consumers typically rely on designated travel apps for travel and utilize a separate app for an event seeking and ticketing. It’s an uphill battle to be known as a unified destination for both.
When we first started GoLivMo, Kevin and I understood the importance of deviating from the typical travel agency, re-ticketing platform, or discount website. We started from the ground up, talking with business owners, and creating an experience unique to their brand. Building an audience and securing a foothold in the experience market went hand in hand, and now we are continuing to expand to major US cities and around the world. One of our partners dubbed us the “Amazon of Activities & Experiences,” and that overarching idea just stuck as our north star.
That’s very easy to understand. How does it work? Is it as straightforward as aggregating a city-wide database?
Aggregation of content is secondary to Curation. Our role as curators is to ensure that experiences have a certain level of quality of fun, novelty, exclusivity, and safety. We do this to help our users save time and also provide peace of mind when booking.
Any large database can be overwhelming, so we help filter the content by using a hybrid of AI (Machine Learning) and human expertise. It’s much easier to decide from 10 key activities that were suggested for you than 1,000 that you have to scroll through. We understand the necessity to provide suggestions beyond previous selections as well as encourage new experiences for the adventure-seeker within us all. Working closely with business owners and providers within each major metropolitan city (including LA, Singapore, New York, and Las Vegas) helps us to identify appropriate experiences for our users.
The exciting part comes when we begin developing personalized experiences with our Creators. These are business owners or brands eager to generate growth and drive verticals. It allows our team to be creative and identify what’s most unique about a brand or business. Through testing and two-way data channels with our partners, we can set the foundation for a new opportunity and successfully pair providers with new and returning consumers.
By tapping into all our data channels, we increasingly learn what users are looking for. Having our finger on the pulse of each city has been crucial; we started seeing trends and demand patterns unique to each geographic region. We then utilize this data to co-partner with our Creators to build new and exciting experiences not available anywhere else. The long term goal is to help our Creators lower their marketing costs while increasing their revenues.
Give us an idea of what a typical GoLivMo experience would look like?
Prior to Covid, we’ve usually focused on Celebrity meet & greets, backstage access, family & children adventures, romantic date night ideas, off-menu dining experiences, outdoor adventures, unique branded experiences, private parties, masterclasses, and many more.
We’ve curated some exciting experiences with Barack Obama, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Kobe Bryant, a private end of tour party with Grammy-Award winning artist KYGO at the rooftop of the Marina Bay Sands to a unique dining experience from ingredients procured during a renowned Chef’s expedition across the globe. Another exciting branded off-road experience we enjoyed was with Land Rover in a music festival in the middle of the desert. Some of the ideas are crazy, and we love it that way.
Speaking of Covid-19, the recent pandemic has had a massive impact on group activities. How has Covid-19 affected your business?
The pandemic certainly put an end to the many in-person social experiences that previously dominated the experience market. We faced major headwinds with Social Distancing (Shelter in Place) measures in many cities. This resulted in a lower capacity per experience and a more repressed experience overall. Some of our creators and partners also went out of business along the way.
While we are only starting to experience some stability, the overall quality of experiences is still dampened by our current climate. Like most, we’re eager for social events to return to normal, but it’s our responsibility to keep our communities safe. With that in mind, we have expanded our offerings to virtual and adapted traditional in-person experiences for safety.
In the last seven months, companies across the globe have been forced to reimagine and reconfigure their products and events. With the rapid growth of Video Chat and Online Events, there was a rapid race for companies to supplement their revenue and engagement with more virtual oriented ones, resulting in the growth of virtual meetings and online events. Many travel platforms pivoted to aggregate these digital content, while some created more unique events.
There has also been an increasing number of users reporting a “Zoom fatigue” from virtual meetings at work. The screen overload is turning many off from the standard video chat format. This required us to adapt quickly to the fast-changing environment. Since March, we’ve added two major cities and increased our product range in the triple digits, keeping our consumers and Creators engaged.
How have you stayed relevant during this pandemic?
Due to the surge of companies that started to jump on the bandwagon, we strategically decided to move away from simply aggregating digital content. We didn’t have comparatively deep pockets to fight with the big boys, so we looked into a more blue ocean approach.
After an extensive R&D process, we eventually partnered with a 360 VR Technology company (Xctuality) to develop an Immersive Interactive Reality (IIR) platform that would serve to entertain audiences with unique curated content. We call it “GoLive!”.
This interactive platform would allow companies to engage and entertain audiences. Our goal is to provide a virtual ecosystem for companies to extend their marketing reach beyond their existing physical and online platforms.
We made this platform easy for non-gamers to use. It is web-based, fast, and does not require any complicated apps or downloads. Our vision is to be a viable alternative for physical experiences, even when social distancing measures have been lifted.
We’re in the final stages and ready to launch it in Asia at the start of 2021. You can sign up for a waitlist to be alerted for the first session.
Wow! We’re honored to have a sneak preview of GoLive! and we have to say that we LOVE IT. It is reminiscent of a future world vision set by Ready Player One and Blade Runner. Was that your goal?
We combined the virtual world concept of movies like Ready Player One and Blade Runner with the schedule-based approach of a music festival. It is a new approach to the new normal that we’re all facing globally.
Our team has been inspired by platforms like Facebook Horizon, Second Life, and love the modular nature of Minecraft. GoLive! is being developed in uncharted territory, so we’re learning and making many decisions on the fly. The beauty of it is the support and feedback from the various brands and partners. They’ve taken ownership of its growth, and we’re all excited to get this into everyone’s hands.
We understand that you’re planting trees around the world. What’s the story behind that?
I’m really glad that you asked that; most interviews tend to gloss over it. This is an area that I personally care a lot about. As an organization, we care deeply about the planet and creating a business that gives back to everyone.
Our vision is to offset global carbon-emissions caused by the discovery, booking (technology), and impact of in-city activities (physical). As a business, parents, and fellow human beings, we feel that it’s our responsibility to leave a better world for the next generation.
Each experience purchase helps us plant more trees to offset the carbon emissions from our activities and everyday life. So we’ve partnered with OneTreePlanted, a non-profit 501c3 based in Vermont. They’ve helped us plant trees in Canada, and we’re just starting a project in Honduras.
Trees clean our air and water, create habitats for biodiversity, contribute to our health and wellbeing, and create jobs for social impact. We’re glad to have this as an integral part of our business model.
Interview
Kevin and Dustin, thank you so much for your time! I know our readers would be curious how they can learn more about GoLivMo (and GoLive!) and whether it’s available in their area?
Thanks for having us! You can find more information here at: golivmo.com and golive.golivmo.com
