App rewards students with free beer

A can-slinging app called Push for Beer has been launched which rewards top-scoring college students with free beer.

Designed by students at the University of San Diego, the app launched on 19 March and allows smartphone users to play games in return for free beer at local bars.

Developed by Nathan Resnick and Albert Frimpong, the app targets college students in the San Diego area with three student bars in the area so far agreeing to hand out free beer. 

“So far the response has been incredible, and the retention in the app is insane,” Resnick told UT San Digeo. “When they start playing, they don’t stop until they win a free beer.”

The app, which has already been downloaded 2,000 times, is free and requires students to simply swipe a beer can into a cooler, with students rewarded with a free beer after reaching 30 points. A percentage bar then shows you how close you are to winning your next beer. Bars can sign up to take part in the promotion for free, choosing when they will honour the free beer promotion, the theory being that they are then able to boost footfall during slower periods. Resnick’s ultimate aim is to sell in-app advertising to the likes of Budweiser and Ballast Point.

“Our pitch to the bars is that we get them new customers, because no one goes to a bar and has one beer and no one goes to a bar by themselves,” Resnick said. “The return on investment of working with us is pretty incredible.”