shopkick, Inc. today announced that its free CauseWorld App is now available from the App Store. The CauseWorld App works by allowing iPhone users to collect"karmas" by opening the app and"checking-in" when they come close to, or enter, retail stores. Karmas will then be funded out of the nearly $500,000 that has been provided by Citigroup Inc. and Kraft Foods so that the user can spend collected karmas on real world charitable actions like planting trees, feeding families in America or providing clean water to people in Sudan.
Once the chosen action has been carried out by the charity partner, users can publish their good deeds to their Facebook feed, so all of their friends can see their pride and join in supporting good causes. A list of participating retail stores is included in the CauseWorld app and no purchase is necessary at the stores to earn karmas. Nine charities are already partnering with the CauseWorld App including: American Red Cross, Feeding America, American Forests, GlobalGiving, DonorsChoose.org, Prevent Child Abuse America, Carbonfund.org, American Humane Association, and Room to Read.
"Citi is committed to meeting our customers' emerging mobile, retail and payment needs, and we see location-based applications as an increasingly important way to enhance their everyday lives," said Jeff Semenchuk, Head of Citi Innovation's Growth Ventures unit. "The combination of CauseWorld's location-based technology with social media virality, support for worthy causes, and physical shopping is powerful. We're excited to work with shopkick to create new shopping experiences for people while giving them an easy way to support important causes."
"CauseWorld App users will see our brands and have the opportunity to click on our recipes right as they walk into a participating grocery store," said Ed Kaczmarek, Director of Innovation from Kraft Foods. "For Kraft Foods, this is a great opportunity to reach consumers at the right time and place and give back to the community."
shopkick CEO Cyriac Roeding said:"We believe the intersection of mobile and physical retail is the next big opportunity. Bringing the iPhone with the app into a non-interactive, physical store allows consumers to interact in that medium, personalize their experience and provide a location-aware social experience. This new in-store experience can help to drastically improve the shopping experience of consumers. CauseWorld is our market entry. Consumers can change the world simply by walking into a store. Our great partners Citi and Kraft Foods are providing the donation, and consumers choose where the money goes. That's CauseWorld."
How it works:
* Users download the free app on their iPhone.
* Collect karmas, the currency created from sponsorship money from Kraft Foods and Citi, by visiting participating retail locations.
* Spend karmas on real world charitable actions like planting trees, feeding the hungry and providing clean drinking water.
* Charities carry out the actions.
* Publish on Facebook to show friends and family.
* Build up a profile with icons showing all your karma expenditure.
* Earn badges and level up by earning more karma.
The CauseWorld App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.
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About Feeding America
Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, we helped provide 5.3 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on X.com.
Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 140 countries. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.
About Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods (www.kraftfoodscompany.com) makes today delicious in 150 countries around the globe. Our 100,000 employees work tirelessly to make delicious foods consumers can feel good about. From American brand icons like Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings, Maxwell House coffees and Oscar Mayer meats, to global powerhouse brands like Oreo and LU biscuits, Philadelphia cream cheeses, Jacobs and Carte Noire coffees, Tang powdered beverages and Milka, Cote d'Or, Lacta and Toblerone chocolates, our brands deliver millions of smiles every day. Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) is the world's second largest food company with annual revenues of $42 billion. The company is a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Ethibel Sustainability Index. For more details on the company's sustainability focus and progress, please visit www.kraftfoodsbetterworld.com.
About Shopkick
shopkick is a new Menlo Park-based startup funded by Kleiner Perkins's iFund and Reid Hoffman, founder and Chairman of LinkedIn, and investor in Facebook. shopkick Inc. was founded based on the belief that the intersection of mobile and physical retail is the next big opportunity in mobile to create consumer value. The Silicon Valley-based company's goal is to drastically improve the shopping experience of consumers by utilizing cell phones' location awareness, unprecedented personalization capabilities, and social/viral features. shopkick launched its mobile application CauseWorld in the United States in December 2009, supported by Citi and Kraft Foods. The shopkick team consists of mobile and web experts who previously built the mobile division of CBS in Los Angeles, and successful mobile and online ventures in Europe and the U.S. (12snap, GoldPocket Wireless, Loopt, CommerceFlow, Rojo), and from Google, TellMe/Microsoft, and Procter & Gamble