A FACEBOOK FOR ADULTS?
GATHER.COM CASE
Background
Since launching in 2005, Gather set out to become the premier social network for the over-30 crowd. Gather distinguishes itself from other social networking sites by focusing on the content of the conversations rather than on superpoking and status updates. Conversations are smarter, better informed, and more meaningful. One of the most interesting features of Gather is their Gather Points™ feature, which rewards community members for sharing content through points that can be redeemed for gift cards at their top partner sites, such as Amazon.com, Target, and Starbucks.
Challenge
The issues that faced Gather ranged from Facebook’s growing omnipotence, to the challenge of making a profit with such a social networking site. In order to truly find the right niche, and move past the challenging business context, a deep understanding of how devoted members interacted with the site was required.
Solution
Protobrand conducted a cultural and semiotic analysis of the Gather brand among its community members. A key finding was that Gather members tended to view their relationship with the brand more seriously than those using Facebook or MySpace. Protobrand expressed this concept in the positioning theme, “use Gather for the moments that matter,” which has appropriately suffused the content of communications copy. Building on the positioning, Protobrand developed a new identity expressing both the diversity and connectedness of the Gather community.
Background
Since launching in 2005, Gather set out to become the premier social network for the over-30 crowd. Gather distinguishes itself from other social networking sites by focusing on the content of the conversations rather than on superpoking and status updates. Conversations are smarter, better informed, and more meaningful. One of the most interesting features of Gather is their Gather Points™ feature, which rewards community members for sharing content through points that can be redeemed for gift cards at their top partner sites, such as Amazon.com, Target, and Starbucks.
Challenge
The issues that faced Gather ranged from Facebook’s growing omnipotence, to the challenge of making a profit with such a social networking site. In order to truly find the right niche, and move past the challenging business context, a deep understanding of how devoted members interacted with the site was required.
Solution
Protobrand conducted a cultural and semiotic analysis of the Gather brand among its community members. A key finding was that Gather members tended to view their relationship with the brand more seriously than those using Facebook or MySpace. Protobrand expressed this concept in the positioning theme, “use Gather for the moments that matter,” which has appropriately suffused the content of communications copy. Building on the positioning, Protobrand developed a new identity expressing both the diversity and connectedness of the Gather community.
