Flock, an online eventing platform developed in South Africa but currently in use in 23 countries worldwide, delivered a seamless online eventing experience for the 2017 MTN App of the Year Awards held in Johannesburg on October 12.
This makes it the 4th year in a row that Flock has assisted the MTN team to better communicate and engage with their nominees, sponsors and guests both before, during and after the awards evening, thereby facilitating more meaningful – and hopefully more profitable for all – connections.
The MTN App of the Year Awards champions app development in the country by celebrating local homegrown talent, the out-of-the-box thinkers that drive disruption and change, and the genius light bulb ideas that soon become indispensable to everyday life.
The sixth edition of the competition acknowledged app developers in 12 categories including three new ones – the Best Gaming Solution, the Best ‘Women in STEM’ Solution for submissions by women and girls related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the Best Financial Solution for submissions that provide financial solutions to customers of the financial sector.
Flock has partnered with the South Africa-based multinational mobile telecommunications company since 2014 when MTN was looking for a mobile solution that provided attendees, participants, sponsors and exhibitors to connect with each other and streamlined the logistics involved with putting on such an event.
Flock’s digital solution included information on the event, judges, sponsors, past winners and attendees. There was a search facility, a QR scanner which facilitates access, an activity and highlight feed, and maps of the venue and seating as well as of the surrounding areas and access routes. A quick link to uber was also included, plus an in-app game and a voting mechanism for the People’s Choice Award.
According to Flock Eventing Platform CEO and founder, Mike Lysko, the beauty of the solution lay not only in its logistics support functionality but in its ability to add value for the competition in different ways.
“One of the most important functions for MTN was that the delivery mechanism was app-based, because that underscored the essence of the competition and what it hoped to inspire,” he said.
“Then, MTN truly appreciated that the app created meaningful connections both with its nominees, sponsors and attendees as well as for them, facilitating communication being the core of MTN’s business.
“The fact that anyone interested in the competition – not only those who were to attend the event – could download and access the app was also huge because it meant that the message reached a far larger audience.
“The social feed, for example, showcased the best in app development and boosted brand awareness for the competition, while the voting mechanism allowed for far greater participation in the People’s Choice Award.
“Finally, once the event closed the Flock team were able to provide MTN with event break down and analytics so it could see how the attendees benefitted from the event app as well as the interaction that took place with each element of the app. These learnings have been incorporated into the app as well as into other events owned by MTN,” Lysko said.
The MTN App of the Year Awards app can be downloaded from http://bit.ly/2wUAbYs (Android) and http://apple.co/2wUIOUx (iOS).
The winners at the awards ceremony were:
MTN Best App of the Year Overall Winner – Shyft
Best Consumer Solution – OrderIN
Best Enterprise Solution – TransUnion 1 Check
Best Incubated Solution – EcoSlips
Most Innovative – InterGreatMe
Best Health Solution – WatIF Health Portal
Best Gaming Solution – Pick N Pay Super Animals 2
Best Agricultural Solution – TheTreeApp South Africa
Best Educational Solution – Awethu Project
Best Financial Solution – Shyft for Standard Bank
Best Breakthrough Developer – Zulzi
Best South African App – Hey Jude
Recognition awards were given to ORU Social and Touch SA in the STEM category.
