South Africa’s App Crusaders

Unlocking Third-Party Innovation

Third-party apps essentially optimise the relationship between two other parties. Let’s look at Uber for example Uber connects the driver (party 1) with the rider (party 2) making Uber the third-party app. Thus, consumers (being vital in the party-chain), receive quality connections through trusted third-party services, which generally (for the consumer’s convenience) present themselves in apps. 

In this article, Unscene looks at third-party apps within South Africa and unpacks just what makes some of these services competitive, user-centric and convenient.

DigsConnect

DigsConnect is considered the Airbnb of student accommodation. 

They set out to solve a basic, yet dire problem:

• Only a small percentage of students are housed by universities. 

• Until DigsConnect there wasn’t a place where off-campus students could easily find suitable, affordable accommodation. 

• Students were being scammed by dodgy landlords.

• Landlords were advertising vacancies. 

And just like that, Africa’s first digital solution to student accommodation was born. Now they are Africa's largest student accommodation marketplace and house over 70 000 beds in 15 locations nationwide.

An Offer You Can’t Refuse

DigsConnect has a great value-based digital solution to student accommodation and clearly set out to solve a consumer-centric problem. Branding agencies and marketing companies in Cape Town could reach DigsConnect’s niche consumers through human connection, instead of through a hard sell. Their constantly-evolving platform is all about convenience; it is a place where people can connect with like-minded individuals in a safe and secure environment.

Brand Design

Straight off the bat, you’re greeted by DigsConnect’s passionate, empathetic and community-driven tone (which reflects on their website and app alike). Their comprehensive app was designed with students in mind, and if you look at its design, you’ll see funky and vibrant colours. On their website, you’ll see a range of digs-related, and budget-friendly room makeover blogs to scope. 

How does DigsConnect dominate the digital sphere in an age where there’s an app for everything? 

Digital Navigation

DigsConnect is an online platform where landlords list their student accommodation, and students scroll for a place to stay. It really is that simple! 

There are multiple offers on the platform like:

• Students can find and interact with potential roommates;

• DigsConnect provides housing solutions for entire colleges and universities with their ‘Virtual Res’ technology. 

Signing up for DigsConnect is effortless. Branding agencies in Cape Town have added additional value to DigsConnect by ensuring that their sign-up process is as fun and comprehensive as the brand itself: 

1. Sign up: Simply download the app on the App Store and follow the prompts, or create an online profile on their website. 
   

2. Choose a place you love: There are so many filters which you can apply to find the perfect room for you, from location to price range. 

3. Book: Once you’ve found the gem you were looking for, you simply book! If you haven’t completed your online profile yet, now is the time to do it. You can submit a booking request for the property after profile completion. 

4. Response time: Landlords can take up to 48 hours to accept or deny your request. 

5. Grace period: You have two weeks to make sure you’re keen on the property you’ve booked. If you want to change your mind, you can always cancel, or you can move straight in.

If you think finding student accommodation has never been more convenient, wait until you get a load of an online service that deploys SweepStars to your home for a good ol’ cleaning.

SweepSouth

South Africa’s most convenient way to get a home cleaning: SweepSouth; an on-demand domestic cleaning service that integrates technology with the domestic service industry. 

The app solution is for consumers who want to take the hassle out of scrambling to find or vet domestic cleaners - SweepSouth’s SweepStars are all experienced and vetted cleaners. 

It’s a purely consumer-centric convenience app which operates much like Uber. Perfect for on-the-move consumers looking for a good home-cleaning.

An Offer You Can’t Refuse

SweepSouth is revolutionising the domestic service industry by providing households across South Africa with trusted and experienced SweepStars.

These domestic pioneers take on any home-cleaning challenge and oath to leave your home with 100% shine, guaranteed. 

How do marketing agencies in Cape Town add value to a digital solution like SweepSouth? It’s all about the convenience!

• Within minutes, you can book a home clean for as early as the next day.

• Their comprehensive technology connects domestic workers directly to homeowners, which makes it so much more convenient and accessible to everyone.

• SweepSouth is creating employment for thousands of previously unemployed (and underemployed) individuals while making house cleaning fun. 

Brand Design

Branding agencies in Cape Town have managed to integrate SweepSouth’s community-driven values into their entire branding scheme. Their logo has a pastel blue and white colour scheme - prompting you to think ‘no traces of dirt will be left behind if you use SweepSouth’. It also comes across as being family-centred; the logo isn’t sterile or clinical, but soft and young, like an infant that needs gentle care.

When you look at SweepSouth’s core, you see a desire for growth economically, socially and politically. 

• 74% of their SweepStars are the primary breadwinners at home;

• 71% of their cleaners were previously unemployed;

• 29% of their domestic cleaners were underemployed.

A brand truly dedicated to not only making a difference inside a home but in the world. 

Digital Navigation

Their digital solution is built on convenience. Marketing companies in Cape Town have added value to SweepSouth’s service by making it easier to join than saying ‘Domestos.'

1. Download the app on Google Play or the App Store and follow the prompts.

2. Create your own personalised plan online.

3. Get matched with a SweepStar.

4. Manage everything online.

SweepSouth offers comprehensive home packages with the option of insurance: 

• Indoor: You can customise your cleaning requirements by choosing several services like laundry and ironing, cleaning inside the fridge, inside the oven, inside the cabinets, cleaning the inside windows and interior walls. 

• Outdoor: You can opt for services like gardening, general cleaning, cleaning exterior windows, cleaning the car and the pool. 

• Insurance: Selecting insurance covers you for accidental breaks or damage to items, and gives you up to R5000 risk cover for all your moveable, non-household items. 

Mr Delivery

Back in the day, Mr Delivery booklets were but fridge magnets for most South African households. Then after a technology-led revolution, Mr Delivery transformed into Mr D Food – a 100% online business with 95% of all orders being placed through its mobile app. 

As the most refined and farthest-reaching local food delivery service, Mr Delivery has dominated South Africa’s market in keeping up with technological developments and trends.  

An Offer You Can’t Refuse

Door-to-door food delivery services have skyrocketed along with third-party convenience apps. From UberEats to OrderIn, the online delivery service industry has become an incredibly competitive environment. Marketing companies and branding agencies in Cape Town are also under pressure to design value-based strategies for these convenience apps looking to stand out from the crowd.

They are now a tech-centred, consumer-obsessed food delivery company, that delivers food fast and hot from your favourite restaurants to wherever you are - all at the tap of an app. 

Brand Design

During their tech-led transformation, Mr Delivery developed and launched its own app (Mr D Food - Delivery & Takeaway) and partnered up with a marketing agency in Cape Town, M&C Saatchi Abel, to rebrand their new identity. Their aim? To create a new, dynamic look that resonates with young, tech-savvy South Africans.

• Playful logo design: Bold colours and imagery that stood in stark contrast to the current landscape.

• Menu: The Mr D app had more restaurants on it than any other South African takeaway delivery app; their ever-changing logo was a fun way to represent consumers’ infinite options to choose from.

• Engaging content: Including animations for social media, posters, press ads and radio ads that speak to their new brand line: “What do you feel like?”

Digital Navigation

The Mr Delivery Food app is available on the App Store and Google Play - today, the app has over two million downloads since its rebrand,  it boasts more than 700,000 monthly active users and delivers to more doors across the country than any other takeaway delivery service. Marketing companies in Cape Town can see how Mr Delivery’s transformation from analogue to digital has offered them e-commerce success and opportunities to implement value-based pricing and branding strategies.

Some other digital strategies to note: 

• Their desire for seamlessly getting orders from restaurants to doors in under 40 minutes, led them to develop apps and technology for all three sides of the marketplace; restaurants, drivers and customers. 

• They had to optimise real-time driving on roads in South Africa (10 minutes of driving in a straight line is not the same as 10 minutes on a congested highway).

• They introduced machine learning to give better preparation estimates for food, by assessing granular historic data. Marketing companies in Cape Town were able to add value to the brand by promoting that Mr D is time-conscious of their drivers and their consumers. 

High Resolution

Innovation can be unlocked by digital marketing agencies in Cape Town by considering the value added to the parties within the value chain. What these establishments have managed to accomplish is utter convenience for on-the-move consumers, via third-party innovations, by offering effortless digital access to services whilst simultaneously offering lifestyle integration. DigsConnect, SweepSouth and Mr Delivery have added incredible value to their services by being truly consumer-centric.