How many times did your train of thought derail because you encountered an unknown acronym or buzzword? BizWords, an iOS app developed by Hilton Garden Inn, is meant to take you out of the dark and into the light (nod to Falco), by explaining these words in an entertaining way.
One of the best things about this app targeted to business travelers is that it displays local buzzwords. This way, people who travel across the country are now able to learn the buzzwords used in the area before getting in a more or less embarrassing situation. Once they install the app on their iOS device, they have to create an account. After logging in, they are assigned a BizWords job title, such as LOL (Lead Operations Liaison, according to the developer) and the entire profile becomes a sort of business card.
The trending business buzzwords and phrases are gathered from people from all across the country. All of these are displayed on a dynamic heat map of the US, thus being able to identify which words are “hot” in a specific area. A word detail screen demonstrates how a certain word should be used. An entertaining definition is also provided for each word, along with a top 25 app users that includes the ones that managed to climb the corporate ladder and got advanced from LOL to some other acronym.
The app includes legit acronyms such as TCB (Taking Care of Business) and CEO (Chief Executive Officer), but the website that promotes it also includes some made-up acronyms related to the accommodation business. The word game used in “Go from your cab to our CAB (Cozy Adjustable Bed)” is an effective way of attracting the potential users of BizWords.
In case the users of the app decide to book a room in one of the Hilton Garden Inn hotels, they do not have to exit BizWords and open a browser window. They can do that from within the app, since a link to the mobile booking app of Hilton Garden Inn is included.
As Judy Christa-Cathey, VP Global Brand Marketing, Hilton Garden Inn declared, “The BizWords app was developed as an extension of the brand’s “We Speak Success” positioning, combined with the insight that business professionals have created a unique lexicon of words and phrases. […] We know that mobile usage indexes very high with both our business and leisure guests, so we developed the BizWords tool to give them a platform to connect, share, and have fun all while giving a wink to the business-speak we’ve all become accustomed to using.”
Hilton Garden Inn’s BizWords is available for free download in the iTunes App Store. Even though the developer claims that the app was designed for iPhone and iPad, it will surely work on iPod Touch, too.
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