Gilland Avril, a Rodney House Old Boy of Saint Mary’s College, is introducing something new to these shores through his augmented reality app called Peekaboo; and although augmented reality has been available on our devices for a while now, such an app developed on-island by a national is rare, to say the least. It is this outstanding factor that helped propel the Berlin-bound Avril to victory in this year’s Get In The Ring (GITR) Saint Lucia start-up pitch competition. He sat with STAR Businessweek to discuss his recent achievement, and the plans he has for his mobile app.
What is Peekaboo?
Gilland Avril: Peekaboo is an augmented reality-based application that was created to overlay digital content upon the physical environment. So the idea is that you can have ads, video, audio, 3D objects, anything that you want. Let’s say you have a poster, you have your business card, you have your flyer, and you want to have your visuals played; you just open the peekaboo app over whatever image you have and then the digital content will start playing.
How did you feel ABOUT winning GITR?
Gilland Avril: Excited! But the funny thing is, I won the competition but I was sick so I wasn’t as excited as I would have been. I found out a week before that I had pneumonia. So the energy I would love to have had, wasn’t there. I faked a few smiles, being sick and all, but I took every provision possible to win.
Will your GITR wiN help market the app?
Gilland Avril: That was one of the reasons I did the show because I’ve been trying to knock on doors but they’ve been closed. I figured if I won or just became a finalist, it was gonna be aired and persons might be interested in it.
When will you be going to Germany?
Gilland Avril: I’m traveling to Berlin for the event on the 17th, 18th and 19th of June. The trip follows a similar format to the Get In The Ring competition hosted here. This time I will be pitching in a room where there will be industry leaders, investors, venture capitalists and generally persons who can see the potential in a business start-up and help the respective entrepreneurs scale that enterprise.
Why did you call your app Peekaboo?
Gilland Avril: Persons hear of an app called Peekaboo and ask: What sort of childish thing is that? Because they associate Peek-a-boo with children, which was one of the reasons it was called that. Not so much for the children aspect of it, but the motion of what you do. The whole idea behind it is finding something unseen.
How do you plan on funding the app and how will it generate income?
Gilland Avril: I’ve been approached by persons who want to invest in the business because they see the potential and scope of it but I am also looking into a business loan as my Plan A.
Peekaboo will generate income from the companies or businesses that want to advertise and market their business. Costing will be based on the number of views of the digital content that the client is expecting and for the digital content to be hosted. The everyday user can download the app for free.
Who makes up your target market?
Gilland Avril: Because of the market research carried out, I’ve found the target markets vary; so to meet those markets, different versions of Peekaboo will be created. Versions would be made to meet the tourism, education, law enforcement and marketing/promotion markets.
What do you project in terms of downloads, advertisers and investors?
Gilland Avril: The key thing for me is to get the right companies and partners on board. This would allow me to tap into their database of clients/followers to enable a greater download rate of the app, so even before the app goes fully public, those sort of collaborations would need to be established.
From your market research, who is most likely to download or invest in Peekaboo?
Gilland Avril: Marketers, companies or businesses that focus heavily on marketing and promotions of products and services. The app was initially created as a means to add value to products for the tourism industry. When static picture/images come to life with little to no modifications to existing products, you have added value to the same product at the same price; so I am hoping entities like the SLHTA, TEPA, Tourism Authority and Invest Saint Lucia come on board.
To learn more about Gilland Avril’s Peekaboo, you can reach him at ngage.slu@gmail.com
