Examples
I asked myself: which experiences would be costless for the brands I engage and transact with, and at the same time be priceless for me as a customer? In loyalty parlance, these are 1:100 rewards – cost is 1 for the brand and value is 100 for the customer. Airline miles are the best and most successful example. The incremental cost for an airline is just providing free meals (assuming the seat was anyway going empty), while the perceived value for the flyer is that of the actual cost of the ticket.
- Daniel Silva is one of my favourite thriller authors. His new Gabriel Allon book, “Portrait of an Unknown Woman”, was published on July 19. I would have loved to get early access to the book by paying Mu (tokens).
- A similar approach can be taken for releases on Netflix or other OTT platforms. I could have paid in Mu to get early access to the recent “Lincoln Lawyer” series on Amazon’s Prime Video.
- We participate in many online webinars. Most of them have a chat box to type in the question; the moderator then picks a few for the presenter(s) to answer. I could use Mu to ensure my question is prioritised and answered.
- Publishers could connect readers with authors. For example, I read Richard Rumelt’s book, “The Crux.” I would be keen to ask a few questions to the author – and Mu could be the passport for that conversation.
- Influencers could do the same – offer their followers exclusive content in exchange for Mu.
- Media companies could offer interactions with editors and journalists with payment by Mu as the entry (access) fee. Imagine being able to discuss the Ukraine crisis or the inflation scenario with the team at The Economist.
- Content companies with paywalls could offer a Mu-based payment system for single articles (as an alternative to a full subscription package).
- Samsung could offer early access to their new mobiles for Mu to long-standing Samsung mobile customers (like me).
- Fashion companies could allow me to use Mu to unlock special features on their website (an Augmented Reality option, for example).
- In a long queue at a shopping outlet, I could use Mu to get to the front of the line and checkout faster. A similar approach could be used at airports – not just for check-in but perhaps even at the security and immigration counters.
Most of these experiences do not happen today. It is because customers are reluctant to part with their money to pay for these and brands do not have an alternative ‘currency’ that they can accept. This is the friction that Mu can eliminate. Mu becomes the alternative – which customers earn with their actions delinked from spending. Because Mu is, in a sense, ‘free’, we would be more amenable to using it for optional and yet exclusive experiences. As customers start seeing value and utility for Mu, they will be keen to earn it – and that is where brands will benefit in the form of attention, data, referrals and reviews. Think of things that Mu can ‘buy’ as “digital goods” – akin to what happens in games.
