Stickybits Turns Product Barcode Scans Into Rewards

Foursquare and Facebook Places are popularizing the location check-in. Instagram and PicPlz are perfecting the photo check-in. Is the product check-in next? Billy Chasen, the founder of barcode-scanning app Stickybits , thinks so. He's spent the past few months pivoting his startup to focus more on brands and turn product check-ins into rewards. A major update of Stickybits is in the App Store ( iTunes link ), and an Android update will be ready before the end of the year. Its website also has a new design. When Stickybits first launched at South-by-Southwest last March, people weren't quite sure what they were supposed to do. The new app gives them a reason to scan objects because now they might unlock a reward. The first promotion will be with Ben & Jerry's. The first 500 people to scan two pints of its Fair Trade ice cream will get a free Ben & Jerry's T-shirt. Other product-scan promotions are in the works from Don Q Rum, Elmer’s Glue, Fiji Water, Harper Collins, Pepsi, Universal Music, Weiden & Kennedy, the Washington Capitals, and Wonderful Pistachios.