Budist which has launched its US service this month under the brand of Wakie, has won the Runet Prize, a prestigious Russian Internet award.
Instead of listening to a typical alarm tune, Wakie user receives a call on a mobile phone from a stranger, has a pleasant chat, while his or her brain is slowly switching on. I have not tried the tool myself (I have a very effective alarm composed of two small children) but can imagine that the excitement or anxiousness of talking to a complete stranger can wake one up rather quickly. The service is safe, since the user’s mobile phone number is not disclosed.
The fun idea which may just go viral was thought of by two brothers Grachik and Tatul Adzhamyan. Previously Grachik Adzhamyan was managing one of the Russia’s leading social networks MoiKrug, which was bought by Mail.ru. The company was founded in April 2011 and has collected over 100 000 Vkontakte Likes.
Wakie claims to be the first one to invent the social alarm service but anticipates clones. I have identified another company in the same space called TalkO’clock, which collected only 873 Facebook Likes to date (since its blog is in Russian I assume this is where the company origins are). Sleep.FM is a service that allows your friends choose the tunes for your alarm.
Wakie plans to monetize its business by offering brands access their (sleepy) morning audience. It will also add premium functionality to the existing free social alarm clock service. As for the marketing strategy, may I suggest linking up with the dating websites.