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carleencl · 4 years

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DAY6 Gravity Tour in Manila

Second time around, my favorite band, DAY6 came to Manila to have another sold out concert. Yes, another one since 1st Youth Concert was also sold out which was held in Kia Theater.

November 23, 2019 - the day all MyDays have been waiting for again. DAY6′s Gravity Tour in Manila was held in Araneta Coliseum, having approximately 9,000 attendees that started at 5:30 in the afternoon.

This concert was very “intense” but memorable for us due to our experience before, during, and after the concert. You may click read more to know the experience I am talking about.

Pre-Concert

Announcement of ticketing day, me and my friends planned ways to grab our desired tickets. We were already planning to get the Royalty Package ticket since seeing DAY6 and the inclusion of the package itself was worth it. Unfortunately, during the selling day, the ticketing site keeps on either lagging, getting errors, and even saying all seats were unavailable! We were also in line in one of their physical ticketing sites, and their system was down and offline. Luckily, we still got tickets which was VIP Standing C.

Since attendees of the concert were offered a discounted rate to stay at Novotel, we grabbed the promo instantly! It was because remembering how exhausted (in a very happy way) from last year’s DAY6 concert we felt was. We were in standing area that time and it felt like so dragging to walk from Kia Theater then to find a place to have dinner and go our rented AirBnB. Thus, grabbing the Novotel discount promo.

Concert Day: Hours Before

Since we were in Standing C, a queuing number was given to have an organized line up before entering the venue. We were asked to be in line on or before 2:45PM or else, our queuing number will be forfeited. Since we are just staying at Novotel, we were planning to go in line at around 2:30PM.

2:15PM - my friend, Lizette, asked me to check Happee Sy’s twitter and hold and behold: THERE WAS STILL 15 ROYALTY STANDING A/B THAT WERE UNCLAIMED. In an instant, I told my other friends and we grabbed all our stuff as quickly as possible. Waiting for the hotel elevator feels like years in the waiting. Once we were in the lobby, we split into pairs: 1 going in line for VIP Standing C and 1 rushing to the ticketing booth. We were still unsure if we were able to get the Royalty ticket thus having that back-up of needing still line up for the VIP Standing C.

With my other friend, Ria and I were rushing to the ticketing booth to try to get those tickets. Once we arrived, there MyDays already lining up to get the tickets. I was nervous that time if we would be able to get 4 tickets for the upgrade due the limited quantity available. I was counting the person in front of us if we will be able to make the cut - and we did! I was so nervous, happy, and excited that time. I couldn’t believe it that the ticket that we wanted since day 1 but failed to get during ticketing day, was able to have it during concert.

I called Lizette and Char afterwards and told them the good news and to meet them near the PULP Royalty Booth. We were such giddy fangirls while claiming our band for the Royalty, Hi Touch, and the version of album we would be able to get.

3:00PM - We were already lining up for Royalty Standing A then entering venue. I still can’t believe that we were able to get those tickets in the last minute! It was such a surreal moment for me.

CONCERT TIME

We were so excited and giddy that the stage was so close! It’s the first to be that up close to the artist that we support and dearly love.

Lights were all off except for our lightband.

An introduction video of DAY6 was shown and after, the 5 were on stage setting up their instruments.

Opening song was, “Best Part,” which was followed by “Sing Me,” and “I Wish.” Everyone was jumping and singing along with DAY6. The energy and shouting in the coliseum was so high and loud that I can’t even hear myself anymore.

I think Young K even shouted, “Manila, are you ready?” which everyone screamed more.

Three songs done and energy was so high from MyDays!

JAE: “Manila!!! Oh my goodness.

One more time, are you ready to have a good night, Manila!!!?! I said it in the beginning and I’ll say it again, tonight will be a beautiful night if you wanted it to be. Just enjoy yourself! It doesn’t matter anyone thinks beside you, it doesn’t matter what’s going back home.. tonight is a beautiful night! We are going keep this energy straight! So let’s go!”

Next songs were: “Somehow,” and “Time of Our Life.”

MyDays became extra energetic upon hearing the latter song. Though I admit, it was a song that you could really jump up and down, enjoy and have the time of your life.

There was a ment after 2 songs.

JAE: “Before anything, we just want to introduced ourselves. You guys can take a break real quick, you can seat and reserved all the energy.”

WONPIL: “Hello! This is Wonpil.”

YOUNG K: “This is Young K and tonight is a festival! Salamat po!”

DOWOON: “Hi! This is Dowoon”

SUNGJIN: “Hi I’m Sungjin! Nice to meet you!”

JAE: “Hi everybody, let’s get it! I’m Jae! What a beautiful sight we have here today. Second show here today and it is so damn real in the arena. Thank you so much for having us. We are so blessed and honored to be with you. And you guys are sure waiting for us and we are also waiting to be back. We have a crazy set for you guys tonight. You guys ready for tonight? You guys ready to dance tonight? You guys ready to sing a little bit tonight? I love this energy guys. Just one promise, I know you its gotta get hot, gotta get tired. It’s gonna happen. Number one, stay safe. That’s the most important thing right?

Wow, this is such a big place. How you guys feel tonight?”

SUNGJIN: “It's good!”

DOWOON: “I’m a hamburger. I feel...happy”

WONPIL: “This spot.. this is crazy. I will see how long your energy will last until the end.”

YOUNG K: “Are you guys ready to sing with us? Can we hear your voices.. you beautiful voices!“

Next songs that they performed was “I’m Serious,” and “So Cool.” Every song that they sang was just so amazing! I’m really at awed watching them perform closer this time.

Dowoon had a solo and showed his drum skills! He was so amazing. He truly is the “drum”. 🤣

Young K was up for his solo. He played with his bass and showed us what real talent was. He looks so amazing while playing. 😍

After Dowoon and Young K’s solo, the band played: “Out of My Mind” and “Feeling Good.”

JAE: “Oh my goodness, guys! We just witness something amazing! We just had Young K and Dowoon do something. What was that?!

YOUNG K: “That was my bass, my bass!“

DOWOON: “Before, we solo to you. The bass is awesome”

YOUNG K: “You guys.. the drum, including Dowoon, the drum is perfect!

Becase you are perfect..”

DOWOON: “Yes, I’m perfect. No no noo”

MY DAYs: 😂 😂 😂

The 5 members went to the extended stage and I got a closer look at the boys! I was starstruck watching them perform. 🤩

Jae was so up close that I was just looking or even just staring at him the whole time. He’s my bias and seeing him that close while performing was another level of fangirling spazzing in me!! 😍

BEST. SPOT. EVER.

“How to Love” was the 1st song played in the extended stage.

It was Sungjin’s time to shine! His solo act was so amazziing!! Leader still impressing fans in 2019 💖

Afterwards, DAY6 performed “For Me,” and “Wanna Go Back.”

As they went back to the main stage, everyone was shouting: “Dowoon! Dowoon! Dowoon!” saying that he should sing again. So Dowoon turned back as if cheering for himself too, but eventually, he sang his line from “Wanna Go Back.”

They had 3 songs that they performed in a mash-up at the main stage.

1st mash-up was Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and their song, “Like That Sun.”

2nd is a mash-up between “Days Gone By" and "Treasure” by Bruno Mars.

I was actually expecting a full ‘Days Gone By’ performance since I really really do love that song (well, I love all their songs actually 😅)

Last one will be Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky" and their song, “Blood.”

Wonpil hyped the crowd more with his keyboard solo. 🎹

Everyone was cheering and just staring at him. He said that he tried to change his solo a bit for the Manila concert which of course made all My Days cheered more for Wonpil.

Jae: “How do you like the last one? That was a mash up with “Blood. We got Daft Punk’s and mix it with our song. We have a lot of songs we haven’t played for a long time.

Do you guys remember the last time we played ‘Blood?’ It’s been a long time, trust me.”

“Colors “ was the next song.

The song gave an emotional feeling during their performance. You would just want to raise your lightbands and wave it.

Next song was “ I Need Somebody.“ Surely, every My Day was into the song and singing out our hearts out.

“I Wait” was next on their setlist that they performed.

It was another ment to talk to the fans again.

JAE: “Manila, it will be hotter than this. Is that okay though?”

MY DAYs: “YEEEES!!”

JAE: “Manila, are you ready to go crazy?”

MY DAYs: “YEEEES!!”

JAE: “Tonight is the night that I’m just happy that everyone just being, having their greatest time that they could possibly have.

Guys, we have arrived to the last stage.”

MY DAYs: “NOOOOOOOO”

JAE: “It’s crazy because we have been waiting so long, just like you waiting for us, we have been waiting so long to be back soon. Going crazy and having fun, it passed so quickly by the way..”

MY DAYs: “Walang uuwi! Walang uuwi! Walang uuwi!”

JAE: “We appreciate it cause you guys with all the energy just been amazing and so fun tonight. And because of it we have been able to play for the last stage. We love and appreciate you so much but all things comes to an end.”

MY DAYs: “NOOOOOOOO”

JAE: “But, but..for now, let’s start officially. Wonpil looks like you’re crazy tonight. How was it? It is good?”

WONPIL: “I think you guys are having more fun than us. So we would be great to go back with all the energy we received from you guys. So we have a few songs left, and I hope you guys enjoy until the end.”

JAE: “Wonpil said ‘You can do it friends! Thank you guys for having us today. This will be gonna our last stage and the next song is very dear to us, so I hope you guys enjoy it. Let’s go crazy! Can you guys sing one more time for us?”

MY DAYs: “YEEEES!!”

JAE: “Okay, let’s go ‘Sweet Chaos!’

And with the ment ended, DAY6 performed “Sweet Chaos.”

“Sweet Chaos” - who wouldn’t be pumped up with this song? You would just sing a long with them at the top of your lungs with this song.

DAY6′s next stage was “Headache”

I just love how DAY6 can perform from emotional soulful songs to energetic hyped songs.

The hyung was up next to perform his solo. Jae doing amazing with his skills. 😍

Each member is just so amaaaaazing!!! STAN. DAY6.

“WARNING” was the next song followed with “Shoot Me.”

The crowd just keeps being hyper and hyper by the song.

Now, who wouldn’t be super hyped up with this song? You would just want to shout “SHOOT ME! SHOOT ME” hoping that no one really shoots you. 😅🤣

DAY6 went out of the stage and showed a VCR.

After the VCR, DAY6 were back and performed another 3 songs: “Cover,” “You Were Beautiful,” and “Congratulations.”

During this time everyone’s phone flashlight was on and the seeing the crowd was amazingly beautiful. 😭😭😭

“You Were Beautiful” was just.. 😭😭😭 DAY6′s songs will make you feel that you were in a break up even though you are not. 😅

Ahh this stage, “Congratulations,” will always be precious as fans sing the song and DAY6 plays the instruments. 💖

Next up was the highlight of My Days for DAY6. One of the fanproject of a VCR for DAY6.

JAE: (not aware of the playing VCR) “You look beautiful tonight. Look around you right now.

MY DAYs: *saying and pointing Jae the VCR*

YOUNG K: “Look behind you Jae!“

Below is the full fanproject VCR from MyDaysPH.

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The VCR was just so touching and true. 😭 Personally, whenever I feel down or something that’s bothering me and can’t get it out of my mind, I just listen to their songs and I’ll feel a little better. 😭

JAE: “Wow! Wow, what was that? Woooow! The reason you guys are beautiful.”

WONPIL: “This is really touching This is crazy.”

JAE: “Guys I think, we are always fighting things. Thank you for being our beautiful reason to continue our music. You know, it is not.. it is never easy. Life should not be that easy but.. everyone has a reason and I’m so glad that we are able to be each other’s reason. This is amazing.

Okay, before it gets to deep. We would just go down one by one and tell you how we felt today.”

All the next things that they said made us all cry, for real! 😭 😭 😭

WONPIL: "I think this is really awesome. When did you guys prepare this? It was really awesome. First of all, it's our 2nd time here and thank you guys for so many of you came tonight to have fun with us. Watching the video, I realized how busy you guys are, also how many hard things you guys go through and I'm so happy that we are, even if it's a small bit, we become your reason for your living. This video is really crazy.

So even us, we are same humans so we also go though difficult things. As we are your reason also, you guys are also our reason.

Thank you guys so much and I don't think I'll be able to forget Manila. You guys are crazy. So we will really promise, we will comeback. We will make good music. Thank you guys so much for reminding us why we made this music and why we perform. Thank you guys so much! See you guys again!" 💖 💖 💖

DOWOON: "First of all this video, like what Wonpil Hyung said, 'It was really touching.'

Touching.. yes.. It's a very touching video, yeaah.

So like Wonpil Hyung said, since we are also humans, it's actually hard to.. Been watching the video you guys made, I saw that we have so much strength. Actually this moment, is like a reflective time for me looking how much we affect you guys and how much you guys love us. I realized how much I have to do better.

Ahh, your English very well. (saying to the translator)

Thank you guys for our good memories. Today is a present to us. You one by one are very important people. Please be healthy and eating well and we always love you guys. We will come back. Thank you!" 🥺🥺🥺💕

*No close up photo of YoungK since I was just looking at him at the stage instead of the screen. 😅

YOUNG K: "Please, give it up for Dowoon! So... Hi. How are you? You know it is great to be back and is all because of you guys. Thank you! Uhh, what is it.. Maraming Salamat?

So.. by watching that video, it made me confirmed why we sing. 'Cause during the production of this album and even before that, and I wrote it thanks to you.. my personal thanks to you. It was really hard.. after a certain point it was really hard to find for the reason why we sing on the stage. 'Cause we are doing the same things over and over again and I wasn't do it for my parents, wasn't do it for the company, I wasn't.. you know. It wasn't a competition anymore. It's just.. I was looking for the reason why and there you go, you guys gave us the answer. Thank you very much.

And really, you guys said we are the reason but trust me, you guys are our motivation.. you guys our inspiration.. you guys are our reason to be on the stage. So thank you very much and until the next time we meet, we'll be this much fun again. Stay healthy and happy. Thank you very much!” 😭 ❤️

SUNGJIN: "Today.. so happy.. because of you guys. 'Cause you guys made me happy, always. I think always, you guys made me happy. Thank you so much.. really, really. I wanna tell you guys.. is awesome guys, okay? I trust you.

So you guys do whatever you wanna do. Thank you guys so much.

We.. so, study hard and work hard. And if we come back..so grown up. You guys know what I'm saying, right? Okay, thank you so much! See you soon!"💕💕💕

JAE: "Wow! First of all, thank you guys so much because it is just amazing today. Just the energy today, thank you so much just coming to this journey with us and becoming one with us, and making this concert with us.. so round of applause to yourselves. Thank you.

Kinda like what everyone else saying that.. that video makes us feel alive 'cause we do get stuck sometimes and we do take some time like doing certain things."

*starts to cry* 😭😭😭

DOWOON: "Jae! Jae Hyuuung! Jae! Jae Hyuuung! Don't cry."

MY DAYs: "Awww" 🥺🥺🥺

DOWOON: *starts singing a Christmas song*

SUNGJIN: "And soo..."

YOUNG K: "Make some noise for Jae!!"

DOWOON: "Don't cryyy" 🥺🥺

MY DAYs: "Uljima! Uljima! Uljima"

SUNGJIN: "No, no, no. More cry! More cry! More cry" 🤣🤣🤣

MY DAYs: "More cry! More cry! More cry!"

JAE: "You guys are lucky, man. No one ever sees me cry.."

MY DAYs: "Awww"

JAE: "Thank you. It's just like, life gets so hard sometimes. I'm really appreciative of the fact that we have you guys and you guys have us.. and that we could be each other's reason to continue it all...*sobs*" 😭😭😭

MY DAYs: "Awww"

SUNGJIN: "More cry! More cry! More cry" 🤣🤣🤣

MY DAYs: "More cry! More cry! More cry!"

JAE: "I never cry..I never cry. This never happened. No one.. no, no.. no one will put this up on Twitter. Okay? Promise me, no one. Nobody.. no one. This never happened." 🤣🤣🤣

YOUNG K: "Everyone's gonna put it up." 😅😅😂

JAE: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my reason to continue to do my best. So thank you guys so much. Alright!"

YOUNG K: "Before your tears dried up, let's take a picture!"

JAE: "No no no!"

YOUNG K: "Come here! (to Jae)

Is it okay if we all take a picture together? And remember this moment!!"

MY DAYs: "YEEEESS!"

YOUNG K: "Jae, seat in the middle! Seat in the middle!"

JAE: "Noo,noo.

Okay, guys. We just want to take a picture, 2. One with the banner, and the second one, without.

Alright guys, we're gonna take a picture with the banner. 1, 2, 3!"

©️ JYP Entertainment & PULP

JAE: "Alright one more picture but we wanna get a little bit more closer."

YOUNG K: "Let's do one line in the middle. Is that okay, Jae?"

JAE: "Yeah, let’s do that!

And without the banner.. Everybody show your beautiful smile! Okay, alright. 1, 2, 3!

Thank you. Thank you very much!"

©️ JYP Entertainment & PULP

JAE: "Thank you so much, Manila. You guys have been amazing tonight. We hope that you guys are not tired 'cause we got a couple more songs for you. You guys are ready? We need you to go crazy! You got some energy left? Manila, are you tired yet?!

Okay so Young K want to talk to you real quick this time." 💙💙💙

YOUNG K: "Nooo, you do it this time!"

JAE: "Alright guys, we're gonna make this super quick and super simple. I just need you to ready up. You guys ready?

Left side, are you ready?

Right side, are you ready?

EVERYBODY MAKE SOME NOISE!!!

Dance, Dance let's go!"

DAY6 was back on the extended (closer again to us!). They performed “Dance Dance,” and “Freely.”

JAE WAS TOO CLOSE. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT. 😱😱😱

YOUNG K TOO. 😭😭😭

SUNGJIN. WHYYYY 😭😭😭

All energy for DAY6! Pouring our hearts out to cheer and sing along with the best band eveeer! ❤️❤️❤️

The flying chicken during Freely. So who said, ‘Chickens can’t fly?’ Jae proved it wrong. 🤣

Due to Wonpil and Dowoon’s instruments, they weren’t able to go to our side. 😥 But I still enjoyed the concert, big time!!

Freely made a big impact as the last song for the Gravity concert. Everyone was just jumping!!

Wonpil crying! 😭😭😭

JAE: “Thank you so much ladies and gentlemen. It has been an absolute pleasure to be with you all this evening.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!”

YOUNG K: “Thank you Manila! You guys are the reason why we never given up! WE WILL NEVER GIVE UP!!

Thank you. Thank you guys! It was a wonderful night.”

SUNGJIN: “Manila! Thank you so much!”

YOUNG K: “Have a goodnight! You guys are wonderful! Beautiful!”

JAE: “Thank you so much!”

Thank you so much DAY6! You will always be worth the wait and be our beautiful reason. Hoping to see you again for the third time soon and more and more! 💙

HI-TOUCH

Behind this photo was a girl so giddy, and happy that was able to have an autographed album from not only one, but all five of them! 😍 Expecting to have one random member to sign the album but it turns out all of them signed it. 😭😭😭 Besides the signed abum was another memorable experience - the Hi Touch. The Hi Touch was a closer moment with them. I remember the first member to have Hi Touch with was Sungjin. He said thank you and I said thank you so much. I think that was the only words I could think of during the whole Hi Touch event and the only thing I said to each DAY6 member. Anyway, Sungjin really made an eye to eye contact giving a warm and friendly feeling. He gave a brotherly and friendly aura. Next was Jae, he wore his eyeglasses and bent a little for the hi touch cause he was so tall!! Jae squeezed my hand a little that made my fangirl heart crazy. Eye to eye contact again that really made my heart melt cause Jae got me once he got nearer to our area during the concert. Also I remember his smile, and we exchanged our thank you's. Next was Young K, and all fan accounts saying he will really look straight at your eyes as if remembering you was so right! I even realized it better why fox was his "avatar." Young K's Hi Touch was capturing my heart that time because of the intense eye to eye contact and of course, exchanging our thank you's. Dowoon, MyDays baby, was next! He was really a fluffball and a shy boy. I can't believe he's just a year younger but so adorable! Last was Wonpil, looking at him was mesmerizing like taking your breath away... literally. Wonpil will make you breathless just looking at you. Unfortunately, videos nor photos were not allowed. Thus, my words and encounter with them during that time shall be a living proof and be always remembered. I was starstrucked from the 5 of them and they literally shoot my heart from the experience. A beautiful feeling to cherish and a reason to never give up in life as you said last November 23.

➡️ You may watch my vlog on Gravity in Manila last November 23, 2019 below. Parts of the video have muffled sound since I was unaware that I was covering the audio while holding my phone. 😅

You may lower or higher the volume of the audio and excuse my gibberish singing with DAY6. Hope you’ll enjoy watching it!

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Also, don’t forget to like and subscribe to be updated on my future videos on K-pop concert and travels!

---

SETLIST

Best Part

Sing Me

I Wish

Somehow

Time of Our Life

I'm Serious

So Cool

Dowoon Solo

YoungK Solo

Out of My Mind

Feeling Good

How to Love

Sungjin Solo

For Me

Wanna Go Back

Shape of You (Ed Sheeran) + Like That Sun

Days Gone By + Treasure (Bruno Mars)

Get Lucky (Daft Punk) + Blood

Wonpil Solo *Ment

Colors

I Need Somebody

I Wait *Ment

Sweet Chaos

Headache

Jae Solo

WARNING

Shoot Me VCR

Cover

You Were Beautiful

Congratulations MyDay's Fan Project *Ment

Dance Dance

Freely

◾️ ◾️ ◾️ ◾️ ◾️ ◾️ ◾️ ◾️ ◾️ ◾️

💌 CONNECT WITH ME ↪️ Facebook ↪️ Instagram ↪️ Foodgram ↪️ Twitter ↪️ YouTube

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jackkiplingexploration · 4 years

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Script for Presentation

Hi, I’m Jack Kipling and this is my project for the exploration brief.

The brief that I ended up choosing was the pub gamification one, as I believed that I could successfully create a design for this brief.

Originally, I planned on doing the escape room brief, as I felt that I had some good ideas that would have been successful. My plan was to create an online/virtual escape room based on social media and the privacy aspects surrounding the area.The aim was to create this escape room with the message of bringing attention to safety on the internet and this would have been done by creating fake personas that users would be given, then they would have to try and find information on other users by using social media. However, I changed my mind when I saw how relevant online quizzes became with the current situation of the virus.

These were the ideas that I collected in my initial ideation session.

Fully interactive pub - This idea was to create an app that would be fully connected to the pub. Each user would be able to see who was in each room. They would sign in to the pub and be able to see current stock at the bar and be able to order straight from their app.

Social Media Escape Room - This was the idea that I explained on the previous slide.

Pub Quiz App - This idea was to make pub quizzes more interactive and personal. By connecting to the pub via this app, they would be able to collect information of desired behaviour from customers and by offering prizes such as drinks and food, they would be able to collect information about the best stock etc. I eventually settled with this being the idea I wanted to pursue.

Pub Crawl App - this pub crawl app was to plan a route before you set off with your friends and then be able to share it in your group. You would sign in to each pub when you arrive and then track the drinks that you had at each place. There may be challenges or certain drinks that you have to buy at each place to be able to complete the crawl successfully.

360degree Augmented Reality Stories - This idea was to create a database of 360 panoramic shots that would then be placed on to a live map on this app, that when pressed by a user, would immerse them in the surroundings of the scenery and explain the stories about the surroundings to them. This would be brilliant for historic tours of towns and cities.

VR Escape Rooms - The plan here was to create a VR scene that would then challenge users to escape from. This has been done before so it wasn't my most innovative idea.

As part of my research, I looked in to other companies that already do types of virtual quizzes, the main one being Kahoot. This is a very popular site that allows users to use their own devices as a companion to answer the questions that they see on one main screen. This makes Kahoot a very popular choice.

As well as this however, the instant feedback with leaderboards and statistics that appear on the main screen also encourage users to do better, making the quizzes on kahoot more exciting.

What makes a good quiz? - From my research I found that music, logos and general knowledge are common rounds found on the majority of pub quizzes across the country as most people have a simple or more wider understanding of these categories.

As I was designing for a pub quiz a drinks round was most fitting for both the demographic found to be partaking in a quiz such as this as well as for the establishment itself. Another round entitled sports was also used as it fits into the general dynamic of the quiz in addition to appealing to the demographic of users with which the quiz is targeted. These more specialized topics allow for a more unique, tailored experience to the clientele found at the venues.

If I was creating a way to add more gamification to a pub, I need an incentive for the users. One way I thought was best to do this was by introducing discounts and prizes. This would increase popularity with lots of new customers.

I found that the probability of successfully selling products to existing customers is higher than to a new prospect and is only amplified further with loyalty schemes and discounts.

80 percent of future profit will come from just a fifth of your loyal customers.

Next, we have here some initial drawings and wireframes from the design process. This first drawing shows the screen that would be used for users to vote the next round. This would be displayed on the main screen of the pub for all customers/players to see.

Then, we have the designs that would be displayed on the customers devices at the same time. They would see this, and this is where they would vote for the round they would like to play next, then they would see the current votes on the main screen.

Here, we have the designs for the answer screens on the users devices. You can see that it is a very simple screen that is easy to understand, with just 4 answers, as the question would be on the main screen for everyone to see.

This can be seen here. This screen shows a question being asked, with 4 answers on display. This would then prompt the users to answer on their device.

For my logo design, I wanted to try to follow a logo for a traditional pub. So to do this, I wanted to incorporate an old pub sign in to it. On illustrator I designed a hanging sign, with a mobile device next to a pint glass. I think that this is the perfect way to describe the project, so I was very happy with the way the logo went.

I chose a soft colour gradient as the background as it will be easy to look at and not too harsh on the eyes.Customers will be looking at this on two screens, plus they might need to be able to see it from far away and text will stand out from this type of background. Also, we have to remember that users will likely be drinking, so we need the background to be easy to look at, as well as understandable fonts.

For the testing research, I gave the quiz to my family and friends to ask their opinions.

Users generally liked the design as well as the idea of earning prizes and discounts. One other thing that was greatly received was the addition of questions about local areas, which is possible by users enabling location services on their devices.

Finally, we have two links here that show screen recordings of the final designs in use.

Thanks for taking your time to listen.

Any questions, feel free to contact me.

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touristguidebuzz · 6 years

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Google Hotels Revamps Mobile Features as Its Ambitions Expand

Google is slowly rolling out changes worldwide to its hotel search. Skift

Skift Take: Google wants consumers to buy more travel on it. That may prompt industry players to closely patrol the gray line between the search giant referring more customers to them and Google becoming customers' first choice for booking trips.

— Sean O'Neill

Google has been rolling out changes to its hotel search on mobile and desktop platforms as part of a broader, year-long realignment of its travel strategy.

And as the company steps up its efforts in travel-product development, we expect Google to further ramp up Google Hotels from both consumer-facing and tech-stack perspectives in a way that has parallels to what it has recently done with Google Flights.

Not everyone is happy with Google parent Alphabet Inc.’s more assertive effort to move from being a research tool to becoming even more of a booking venue.

“This is clearly a situation where Google is sucking a lot of profitability out of the travel space, not just for us, but for, frankly, for all the online travel agencies and other online players,” said Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, during an earnings call earlier this month. Maffei’s holding company owns a controlling stake in TripAdvisor, where he serves as chairman.

TripAdvisor spokesman Brian Hoyt said Maffei was not specifically referring to Google’s impact to TripAdvisor in the third-quarter. “Our chairman highlighted a couple of factors that have been impacting results over the past few years, and his comments were not meant to be an all-inclusive list of drivers regarding the quarter,” Hoyt said.

Google announced a series of design changes in hotel metasearch, or comparison shopping, and most of the tweaks were for mobile users. In early November, the company said it rolled out a new front-end experience in five countries. Since mid-November, Google has brought the new interface to many U.S. mobile users, according to Koddi, a travel ad tech firm.

Following are the highlights of these design tweaks and broader changes at Google Hotels over the past several months. The changes flow from Google’s long-term plan of de-emphasizing organic search for hotels while promoting its metasearch engine, instant booking, and Hotel Ads, which display rates and drive users to online booking engines. As part of the change, the company is porting Google Hotel Ads into Google AdWords.

Instantly Book Room Types

In the mobile version now appearing in the U.S. and showing up in some other markets since September, Google has added a “room finder.” This is a carousel of images of specific room types at any significant property.

In the past, the company merely displayed generic lowest rates without specifying visually the type of room being offered.

A search for rooms at the Ritz Carlton in Dallas showed an image of the “deluxe” room at the entry-level $399 rate next to the “standard room” with a king bed that’s $30 more.

By clicking “Book Now,” a consumer could reserve either room. In some cases, such as with the Ritz in Dallas, the consumer completes the transaction while remaining within the Google interface, in a so-called “instant booking” scenario. For a majority of other listings, Google still refers consumers elsewhere to complete the transaction.

Instant Booking for Independents

Online travel agencies and global hotel chains have used Google’s instant booking feature had been only used by four years, paying Google finder’s fees for brokering the sales.

But independent hotels have begun to try it, too. In October 2017, Google’s lead distribution software specialist for hotel integrations, Peakwork, did the technical work that made it possible for independent hotels and small chains to seek instant bookings via Google, starting with customers of a third-party tech service Mirai.

Google restricts the service to the U.S. and the UK for now. But it will add more markets.

To be more appealing to hotels, two years ago it began offering a commission-based model that’s like what online travel agencies use, rather than a cost-per-click model as it had used in the past. That remains “a very small part” of Google’s revenue according to statements a company executive made earlier this year, but it could add to its appeal for hoteliers.

Google’s interest in instant booking stands in contrast to how TripAdvisor’s instant booking push may have backfired on it, while Trivago’s, Kayak’s, and Skyscanner’s attempts haven’t taken the world by storm.

Loyalty Rates Pop Up

Much fuss was made a year ago when Expedia began to let a first hotel chain, Red Lion, prompt users to sign up for the chain’s loyalty program to get the best offer. Earlier this year, Priceline Group said that its brands might make a similar move.

This year Google gave a metasearch twist on the concept.

Running a search today for hotels in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Google fetched identical rates for the Hotel Novotel Rotterdam Brainpark from all its partners. But Google also noted that the room would be “5 to 10 percent” cheaper if the consumer clicked the link, signed in to the AccorHotels’ membership program Le Club, and booked directly.

Booking.com Private Deals Appear on Google

Google appears to be testing private sale rates from Booking.com in its metasearch results.

For a while, Booking.com has been enabling users of its site and app who meet certain criteria to see hotels that are discounted an additional 10 percent. Hotels agree to cough up the discount for these so-called Genius rates in return for Booking.com promoting their listings to desirable customers.

Google has been pulling the Booking.com’s Genius rates in its metasearch results. When a user clicks through to Booking.com’s site, they’ll only see the discounted rate if they log in as a qualified Genius user. Otherwise, they see a higher rate.

A Google desktop search today for properties in Barcelona turned up offers for the Hotel Casa Camper. Google said Booking.com had a rate that was, in fact, the cheaper Genius rate, regardless of whether consumers were signed in to Booking.com or not. But consumers were only able to book the discounted rate if they clicked through and signed in as Genius members. Otherwise, they saw a higher one on Booking.com

It may be a coincidence, but the executive who became the “owner” of Booking’s Genius loyalty program this year previously had a stint at Google for four years, after an interval at Spotify.

Mobile-Only Rates Get Called Out

In a Google mobile search for a hotel stay in Chicago in February, Google returned results for several properties including Hotel Versey. Clicking on the hotel listing offered sample rates from several sources, including one from TripAdvisor that, according to a call out from Google, is “19 percent off” the desktop rate offered on TripAdvisor “because you are on a mobile device.”

Google recently gave advertisers the ability to display a targeted message to consumers regardless of where they appear in the search order — a perk previously reserved for winning bidders on the top placement.

A Tilt From AdWords to Metasearch

In early 2018, Google will move its Hotel Ads product into Google AdWords. Travel companies will make all of their ad purchases on Google in the same space.

That signals how the company sees the two business as two sides of the same coin.

Some in the industry have wondered: As hotel metasearch becomes more prominent in Google, is the company cannibalizing its traditional ad revenue from Priceline Group and Expedia Inc.?

In May, when asked if hotel metasearch is profitable enough to grow, Google’s managing director of travel, Rob Torres, said: “It’s definitely profitable enough. It converts at a much higher rate than when a normal AdWord is shown on the page.”

“Part of that is the inclusion of the rates with dates that provide a more robust experience,” said Torres, speaking at Phocuswright India 2017. “We don’t see a lot of cannibalization.”

The profitability of hotel metasearch explains Google’s renewed push with it. Before, the company had been cautious. It worried it might accidentally scare away all the money Priceline Group and Expedia spent on it for ideal paid placement for text-based ads or app-install ads.

Google’s rate-based ad units may be popular with some, though. At Skift Forum Europe, Oliver Heckmann, Google’s vice president, travel and shopping, said that the hotel ads that drive its metasearch product are showing “high momentum now in Europe.”

Striving for an Agency-Like Design

Overall, the biggest conceptual shift is in the company making its hotel booking flow on desktop and mobile in the past half year is to provide a look and feel that is more like the online travel agency experience.

Up until now, the search giant has thought that it would be less jarring for users if their hotel search felt the same as Google searches for other products and services.

But now the company is switching its design philosophy to offer the best experience for the complexities of hotels as a product, which often means mimicking the user experience employed by online travel companies.

A case in point: In the past week, any mobile users in the U.S. have begun to see a sliding scale for the range of rates one is willing to consider. While the slider has been a side feature at Google and other agency sites for years, it is now being given prominence at the top of the mobile search interface.

In 2017, Google decided to “completely rewrite” its “hotel front-end technology stack,” said Heckmann at the Phocuswright Conference. Its objectives were to speed up the product’s response time and become able to react based on more contextual clues about the consumer’s behavior.

Since August, Google has been adding to its mobile search a nightly rate in the calendar view that makes it easier to find off-peak nights and see pricing trends. The option builds on the company’s rollout worldwide on mobile and desktop of blue-colored labels for offers it chooses to call “deals.”

Trying to Dislodge TripAdvisor Reviews

Google’s redesigned mobile experience for hotel search incorporates and standardizes several experiments in how it displays hotel reviews that it has been testing since May. Google works to make reviews more readable on the tiny-format of a mobile screen in a few ways, such as with a carousel of called-out reviews from third-parties like Expedia and hotel chain websites.

Users can also click for more details to filter reviews by relevant categories, clicking on the image of a family to see reviews written by and for people traveling with kids.

One source of reviews is missing, though: TripAdvisor’s. With Google compiling its own reviews and aggregating reviews from others who have done verified purchases, does TripAdvisor risk seeing diminished traffic?

No, said TripAdvisor CEO Steve Kaufer at Liberty Media Investor Day earlier this year.

Google is undoubtedly taking some share from online travel companies, said Kaufer, but the trend is a manageable one. “Google continues to try to get into the travel game, and they have been able to siphon away traffic from everyone else in the free space,” Kaufer said. “So yes, a challenge, but wait a minute, we already have plenty of traffic to be able to monetize.”

Kaufer said that TripAdvisor has 455 million unique monthly visitors on its platform — an audience that’s growing at a double-digit rate. He added, “So in essence, we don’t need to use paid Google to get more shoppers. We have to do more with the shoppers already coming to our site.”

In fact, on TripAdvisor’s third quarter earnings call, Google wasn’t mentioned as a competitive threat. The company instead said that lower cost-per-clicks in its auction were the main driver in softer third-quarter click-based performance.

But that dynamic also gives the company less to invest in performance-based channels, primarily Google, which may exacerbate Google’s potential share-taking. In other words, TripAdvisor might be growing faster if Google weren’t as assertive — a possibility that may affect all online travel players.

Will Hotels Bite?

All of the above changes are a reminder of the Mountain View company’s potential in hotel search.

Independent hotels have not rushed into Google metasearch. That inventory gap limits the breadth of its selection — a key drawback for consumers.

In turn, hotels may be wary about joining Google’s move to metasearch.

If customers that come through Google metasearch to a hotel for a booking would have come directly anyway by seeing the traditional text ads, then Google may be hurting hotel bottom line revenue by shifting consumers into a more expensive channel.

On the other hand, if Google is shifting share from online travel agencies to direct bookings, then it’s a plus for hotels. If the search giant also offers more direct customer information than other companies do, that’s another plus for hotels looking for help in reducing the share that the online travel conglomerates have over distribution.

Google shares with hotels lots of data about consumer buying patterns that online travel agencies hide from hotels and that hoteliers can use to help drive more direct bookings by improving demand forecasting, rate-setting, and booking flow optimization on their own websites.

Online Travel Players Remain Unfazed

As Skift Research calculated in September, “Google’s travel business could be worth as much as $100 billion — and that would make it larger than Priceline with its $86 billion market cap.”

One wonders: Might Expedia and Priceline someday adjust their view of Google — similar to the way Amazon and eBay, around 2012, unofficially reduced their spending on Google AdWords rather than compete against each other. The informal mutual disarmament agreement in the search marketing wars enabled the companies to stop feeding Google as a new rival and appears to have let them turn to other methods of generating demand and improving monetization of existing demand.

In fact, Priceline Group CEO Glenn Fogel recently explained that the company is rethinking digital advertising and will tilt toward TV commercials.

Expedia-backed hotel search site Trivago’s executives probably hope that Priceline rethinks its pullback on spending on their metasearch channels. It may try to position itself as a proxy army in the battle against Google’s incursion into stealing customers who are primed to book, pitting its vertical metasearch against Google’s.

Trivago faces competition from Google metasearch more directly than the online travel agencies. Speaking earlier this month at the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference, the CFO of Trivago Axel Hefer said that his company could stay ahead of Google by offering more relevant, nuanced, and personalized results.

“[I can say in Google that] I want to have 5-star hotel and I want to have gym and I want to have whatever, but the search is still pretty binary,” said Hefer. “It doesn’t say, okay, actually, a good gym is actually better than a bad gym…. It is too much black and white, in a way, in the selection process.”

Expedia CEO Mark D. Okerstrom, speaking to investors at the RBC Capital Markets conference earlier this month, responded to concerns that pressure by players like Google could hurt its business.

Okerstrom acknowledged, “What we have seen over time is that, between traditional paid search, like searching on ‘New York hotels’ and getting links, versus metasearch, this particular hotel at this price on these days, we’ve seen a channel shift.”

He added, “Generally, metasearch is a channel where the repeat rates are generally lower, and returns-on-investment [ROI} can also be lower than if you’re very effective in traditional destination-linked Google searches [like we are]. So as we see that mix shift in the industry generally, there could be pressure on ROIs. But we haven’t seen big changes.”

Earlier this month at the RBC Capital Markets conference, Priceline Group CFO Daniel Finnegan said that Google would remain his company’s biggest performance marketing channel because it is not competing with it for its customers.

“That’s a positive difference between Google and some of the other channels,” said Finnegan. “We’re still fully participating in Google, although we have looked to improve ROIs on the margin there as well.”

But executives evaluate the situation regularly. When asked whether he has seen either Google, Facebook, or Amazon “do anything that’s negatively impacted your platform,” Fogel of Priceline said: “I haven’t seen anything yet that has been severely detrimental, but I see the potential.”

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