Media Pitch
• Summary:
Tow Zone- A parking app that caters to a Houston driver, focusing on street parking zones
• Idea: Parking is difficult. A driver leaves their home dreading the traffic along with the thought of where they will park. This app would allow drivers to look up availability of surrounding parking garages and meters along with their listed price but also flagged areas where street parking is available. This would require partnerships with garage owners and establishment owners. By becoming partners with these establishments, it will allow the app to get direct information. Updates on prices, lists of operation times, and more importantly where their customers are not allowed to park. Most parking lots post the familiar red and white Towing Enforced signs listing the Towing Company and number of the location should your car be towed. Drivers might not always notice the sign so this information would also be readily available on the app for a driver to review. Speaking of reviewing, another major part of this app would be user involvement. Even though many apps allow users to review and share their own experiences, I find adding that quality to this app would increase the volume of users when they hear stories from other users. I would hope that it would make parking in Houston a bit easier, even though parking or driving around can at times be unpredictable. This app could allow a driver to plan ahead.
• Target:Adult drivers 21+, establishment owners, ones especially with small or nonexistent parking lots (i.e. bar owners, concert halls,)
According to the Commuter Survey from 2013- 56.8% out of 100 drive alone to and from work. And 32% use public transportation. 9.3% carpool, 1.2% walk, .3% bike, .4% use motorcycle/scooter. Even though public transportation is large, it is unreliable and driving to work is still more popular for Houstonians. *N= 12,635 according to the survey information I found.
• Competition: The market has tons of parking apps. One in particular, Park Me, has many qualities that one would need for a well-functioning park app. However, in the app, it does not list available street parking areas. Even when it has, Lots and Garages, Reserved Parking, and Street Parking as available parking types. Houston has many areas where street parking is the only option, so that would be a sort of main focus for this app, setting it aside from Park Me and other similar apps. Apps such as Monkey Parking allow users to bid and sell their parking spot. This is illegal and users and developers associated with this app have gotten into trouble. *I am unsure how popular/big Monkey Parking was, I believe it was more popular in California before it was forced to stop. Park Me has 3.9 stars on the play store and has been downloaded only 702 times. Yet, most of their reviews are positive.
• Revenue: If the app itself is free to download, this would give establishments an opportunity for some advertisement space in the app itself. Especially if they were to become sponsors or partners. When someone looks up spaces near that establishment, their most recent ad could pop up on the sidebar or pop up in general. The user has the choice to ‘x’ it out, but some information is still received. Food establishments could use this to release information about new menu options/deals. Coupons could be given out this way with a SKU number or id. This app could also partner up with sites similar to SF Park that allows a developer to use their open data. Only, this would be for the Houston area instead. There is also a site called, Apps Builder, which allows you to pick from Premium to Starter and a list of different benefits that each would allow. Going this route would allow the developer a chance to monitor the user’s engagement with the app. The usual CPM for a free app is $.50- $1.00. ‘Large format, rich media, or video ad units,’ might make the CPM $5-$8. This might negatively impact the user experience. The CPM would result in how many people install the app and possibly how many run it.
• Reach: The app would also allow users to log in with Facebook or Twitter. According to the commuter survey, 66.1% drive to work, be it alone or in carpool. Even with Houston’s growing metro, drivers in Houston have not declined by much. The layout and the time it takes to get from point A to B is what make Houstonians prefer driving. Even compared to sitting in traffic.