Sumitomo Mitsui Card, Digital Garage and iRidge Collaborate and Launch Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters App

Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Hideo Shimada; Henceforth: SMCC), Digital Garage, Inc. (Head Office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and Group CEO: Kaoru Hayashi; Henceforth: Digital Garage), and iRidge, Inc. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Kentaro Oda; Henceforth: iRidge) have jointly developed an app for “2014 Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters,”(http://msvt-masters.jp), a men’s golf tournament organized by Sumitomo Mitsui Card. The official app became available on October 31st, 2014.

The 42nd annual Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters is one of Japan’s most prestigious golf tournaments and has witnessed great achievements from top golfers around the world. The official app allows its users to access real-time player location for the first time on smartphones as well as other tournament information such as player pairing and scores. In addition, the app also provides information regarding events at the venue, restaurants, and bathroom facilities.

As the golf viewing experience changes drastically with the increase of smartphones, the app offers a new style of enjoyment by distributing more detailed knowledge and deeper insights into the game and its players.

For the duration of the tournament, SMCC, DG, and iRidge will conduct an O2O service experiment based on location information technology such as beacon. This experiment will utilize “popinfo,” a proprietary GPS-and-beacon technology developed by iRidge, and determine the effectiveness of directing visitors to nearby retail outlets by sending promotional information based the their smartphone locations. This enables senders to deliver information on the targets’ surroundings in real-time, leading to an increased benefit to the targets.

The app’s users will receive coupons from nearby restaurants and retailers and information on giveaways at the venue. These offerings have been made available with a full cooperation of the City of Gotemba and the tournament’s sponsoring companies with a hope to stimulate the local economy by directing the tournament visitors to the participating local stores. SMCC, DG, and iRidge will continue its service experiment with a goal to develop a comprehensive O2O solution covering the entire transaction process by supporting payment settlement within the smartphone app.

Sumitomo Mitsui Card, DG, and iRidge will continue to collaborate to develop new services; in hopes of providing users with optimized real-time content based on O2O services at events.

Main Offerings of the Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters app
● Information on the tournament including players, events, and course overview
● Real-time information on player locations, scores, and pairings
● Tournament venue information (e.g. restaurants and restroom locations)
● Unique promotional offers based on device location information determined by beacon and GPS technologies
● Promotional offers to customers who become a Mitsui Sumitomo credit cardholder through the app

Screenshots

About Digital Garage
Company Name: Digital Garage, Inc.
Established: August 17, 1995
President: Kaoru Hayashi
Head Office Location: Shibuyaku, Tokyo
Homepage: http://www.garage.co.jp/en/


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