Locket (http://www.locketnyc.com), the startup that pays Android users to engage with ads, is now asking those users to weigh in on the type of ads that they want to see.
When users install Locket, they'll start to see ads on their lock screens, and they can swipe left to claim a deal, watch a movie trailer, or whatever the desired engagement is. (Or they can swipe right and go back to using their phone.) Users are paid 1 cent for each new ad they see. That may not sound like much, but co-founder and CEO Yunha Kim said it can add up over the weeks and months, and users can then donate the money to charity, put it on a gift card or just cash out.
Since Locket launched a month ago (http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/18/locket-puts-ads-on-smartphone-lock-screens-pays-you-to-use-your-phone/), Kim said the team has received "thousands of emails" from users requesting ads from specific brands.
It might seem a little strange to be actively asking for ads, but Kim attributed this to the fact that Locket only allows high-quality ads into the system — she described the lock screen as a "sacred, personal space." (Another possible explanation: If you've got an incentive to look at ads, you might as well try to get ads that you find interesting and relevant.)
So earlier this week, the Locket team launched a MyAds page (http://myads.getlocket.com) where users can submit the names of brands whose ads they'd like to see, and they can vote on the brands submitted by others. The company then promoted the page with a Locket ad, and the top brands, which are currently — in descending order — Sony, Samsung and Google, now have more than 1,000 votes.
Not that an early lead means users will start seeing Sony, Samsung and Google ads in the next week. "We have to do a good job with that," Kim said. "If someone says, "Hey, I want to see Samsung ads,' I can't just call them and have them advertise. There's a sales cycle."
She added that her goal is to bring ads from the most popular brands into Locket by this holiday season.
Locket has been downloaded nearly 90,000 times since launch, Kim said, and there are about 80,000 active users.
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