Im a bit obsessed with alarm clocks at the moment! Im fed up of hitting the snooze button and of really annoying alarm clock sounds (on my phone). I have the annoying ones because I tend to sleep through the more subtle ones!
I used sleep cycle about a year ago and for some reason stopped using it, but recently I read about Lark in the book Overthrow. Lark started off as a vibrating silent alarm clock and now has become more, its a sleep coach. How cool is that. Lark costs money and Im not quite there in investing in my sleep, although I’m really tempted as Lark is now a coach that you can use 24 hours a day, to track what you eat as well and make sure you are getting the most out of your day. (see Lark video below)
As I looked into this space more, there seems to be a bit of a trend of brands creating alarm clock apps.
This morning I came across a new one called Uniqlo Wake Up, a social alarm app from Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo that incorporates the current weather, time and day of the week into its wake-up music. How great is that, it wakes you up and tells you its cold or raining outside! How great also that its a brand that is doing this! Love it. I don’t know a lot about the Uniqlo brand, but wouldnt it be great if people woke up every morning thinking about you!
Lufthansa have done something in Sweden, where getting out of bed is hard to do – with long months of dark days. Users of Lufthansa’s free Anywake app are woken to the sounds of a random city — if they guess which one it is, they’re rewarded with discounted tickets to that destination (See video below). There are others like this (Ramos and Wake and Shake)
What they are doing is more than offering a service, or a store, Trendwatching say that this falls under a category of brand called Brand Butlers:
“It has never been more important to turn your brand into a service. Jaded, time-poor, pragmatic consumers yearn for service and care, while the mobile online revolution (it’s finally, truly here!) makes it possible to offer uber-relevant services to consumers anywhere, anytime. Basically, if you’re going to embrace one big consumer trend this year, please let it be BRAND BUTLERS!”
Im going to take a look at Sleep Cycle again and then try Uniqlo and see how I get on. Any others I should try?
So I have re-visited Sleep Cycle and last night used it, I obsess over what my sleep pattern was! I was surprised I heard my daughter at 3am this morning talking in her sleep (normally I hear nothing!) but it turns out I wasnt in a deep sleep!! It woke me up nice and gently too which was nice. Having said that I dont feel any more refreshed today than any other day! I will let you know how I get on with my Uniqlo wake up.