One of the most significant topics of discussion that marketing practitioners operating in the digital coupon markets have had to deal with in the past decade is fraud in the coupon rebate and redemption process. Most marketers openly admit that it is not easy to track or obtain the identity of individuals that redeem coupons printed or distributed in traditional methods, say newsprint. Such a situation presents unscrupulous businesses with an exceptional opportunity to game the redemption process. Typical fraud situations If, for instance, it is difficult to determine if a customer got a discount due to a non-qualifying reason, or if consumers use the same copy of a coupon to obtain discounts multiple times than they are entitled to under the existing terms. These may be just two reasons, but such discrepancies and loopholes lead to huge loses. In fact, the coupon marketplace bleeds US$ 500,000,000 to fraud every year. Tried remedies Many marketers are seeking several ways of sealing these loopholes. Generating single-use coupons has proved successful in the past. Especially the kind that customers can download to a mobile device just before redemption. Other remedies, though archaic, include insisting only on original coupons, using unexpired coupons, and insisting that specific coupons only serve as discount tools for particular goods or items. All these methods have worked in the past. However, they aren’t wholly secure, and both customers and businesses alike can still use coupons with such systems to defraud companies. Luckily, the blockchain technology and its decentralized, shared ledgers that users can secure cryptographically, now helps to enhance the security and integrity of all transactions as well as the privacy of both customers and businesses. This premise probably is the game-changing technology this industry lacked in the past. Enter The Rouge Project The Rouge Network is a comprehensive protocol and platform that seeks to build an open-source stage whose primary objective is to reduce cost as well as the need for intermediaries. The network shall produce unique usage coupons that are both non-repudiable and non-falsifiable. With the growth of the coupon market at an all-time high and the need to stem fraud equally as essential, the platform provides a perfect use case for the revolutionary shifts that smart contracts can deliver. The coupons that the Rouge Project define the future of marketing since they are trackable, verifiable and can be monetized by both customers and publishers. Besides, they are secure and eliminate all the friction existing in the traditional coupon ecosystem. Importantly, the Rouge Project will create a global coupon environment that is trust-less, permission-less and allows additional actors in the process; brands, users, and publishers. Brands shall be able to release less expensive coupons that are also easy to track and cannot be redeemed multiple numbers of times. All the coupons that the Rouge Project produces shall be wholly digital. This development is in line with the trends in the industry. In the US alone, for instance, the number of mobile coupon users almost doubled from 60 million to about 105 million in the three years between 2013 and 2016. And, while the key drivers of the digital coupon revolution remain the reduced cost of issuance and the ability to redeem coupons via smartphones, the ease with which users and publishers can link coupons with customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, big data tools as well as loyalty programs are also just as important. Overall, by presenting coupons on the blockchain, the Rouge Project aims to create a seamless customer management protocol that enables businesses to achieve a lot more than just market their projects. This argument is informed mainly by the importance of coupons in marketing for merchants and users. The Rouge Project ICO details The Rouge Project will issue a native token, RGE, which shall power the Rouge platform. The goal of the ICO is to distribute the tokens to as many users as possible. The initial token generation even seeks to allocate 500 million of the available 1 billion. The other half shall remain locked awaiting redistribution in another year or two following management experiences and the best interest of the platform. What this ICO means for contributors With the token generation event opening up in Q1 of 2018, there is an immense opportunity for contributors to take part primarily because of the apparent benefits. Here is a chance to jump into an industry that has been ripe for the blockchain revolution for almost half a decade. Besides, the Rouge Project promises to make coupon ads even easier, automate its bidding system and open up a whole new secondary market with attractive revenue projections.
