Project Description
Green Agent Description:
Green Agent will be a web and mobile platform that is aimed at helping people go green, and participate in ecological projects around them, or help other people do so.
It is an app that has many facets to it, as it will have to be adjusted to every person’s way of going green. The system is point based, and with points you get badges, discounts at shops (things like Running Heroes) and general approbation among the community.
One side will be the ‘Agent’ part, where in order to get points you participate in activities such as, for example:
– Hikes and walks in parks or nature in general.
– Cleaning projects in an area.
– Recycling initiatives.
– Creation of “green” guides and rating them (vegan recipes, reduce waste and consumption, minimize carbon footprint).
> With potential for local, very relevant information.
– Pledge to vegan day (why vegan recipes can be interesting).
– “Green” types of questions or discussions/debates.
The other part is the ‘Initiator’ part, where you can try starting eco-projects like the ones listed above, and if enough people adhere to it, it becomes live and people can start earning points by participating to it.
There might be different types of initiators, like sponsors or the “average Joe” and through the platform they would be able to organize an event freely.
Perceived Added Value:
The customers’ perceived value is very relative to their use of the service.
An obvious benefit is going greener, the feeling of changing your habits into something more sustainable. Some customers will be seeking approval of the Green Agent community (or any other), some will be using the app only for the discounted offers they will get with points, and others may only be us
ing it to save money
(reducing electricity consumption for example).
All these benefits however, are easily provided by another service, approval through any social media, going green only takes reading a few articles online, and you can get promotions for almost anything nowadays.
That is why the aim of Green Agent is creating a space where users can track and follow their progression , like a fitness app but for the user’s contribution to the planet’s health. Every day the users are greeted with a day’s overview of information they find interesting, from air pollution to recent news relevant to them. The users will be able to fill simple ‘green’ challenges, get rewarded with promotions, and gain ranks among the ‘Green Agents’.
Another benefit, that concerns very implicated users, is the ability to be a creator of challenges. Our service will allow users with enough ranks to initiate free, or crowd-funded initiatives among the community, to share ideas on improvements or local projects. Once these projects get a sufficient amount of votes among the app’s community, they go live and other users can earn points by participating to the project.
The app will also integrate guides on how to go sustainable, created and voted by users. We can also consider the prospect of converting points to cash which can then be donated to the user’s chosen charity.
Potential stream of revenues:
Many start-ups are benefiting from the ‘ green revolution ’ by providing products that are both innovative, and attract people caring about sustainability. However they often struggle reaching their target audience, we will propose a platform where they pay for us to advertise their products. The value for brands is that their promotional materials
reach a highly targeted audience.
Brands can also promote their products or services through ‘time limited challenges’. Where we present users with a goal we can verify, and the winner gets a prize. This method not only helps increase brand awareness, but also allows brands to design and offer unique experiences or even test new products.
We will also consider taking a reasonable fee from every user initiated project funded through the platform, with the amount depending on what the objectives are.
Once users start using the app and commit to it for a while, the constant flow of challenges mixed with rewards and progression may create a lock-in effect . Hence the use of user data for advertisement purposes is a small but non negligible source of income.
European cities that are struggling to comply to the recent COP agreements can benefit from their citizens being more sustainable. We will be contacting them for sponsorship and advertisement of our services and community.
Most importantly what will constitute our biggest source of income is striking deals with companies to help them on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues.
After a year or so, we should have a sufficient user base, and user data to know of a certain segment of very implicated users, innovative Green Agents that we could reach out to for particular CSR missions, or simply hire. The flexibility of this model will depend on the user base, but once we reach a certain threshold (>10k users) it will be clear to us how to benefit from it.
Team:
PATAT Gwendal
NGHIA LE Trung
MUNRO Edgar-Lou