Since its inception in 2014, WisePass vision is to build a platform where brands and consumers could connect in the offline world.

One of the main challenges though was to know how to build a proper value proposition that would be attractive for consumers and compelling enough for brands to allocate time and resources to obtain valuable results.

This article will focus on how the system evolved through the years.

The Birth of WisePass 1.0 - 2016

Initially, the WisePass app was solely focused on consumers. It was a simple model where consumers subscribe to a plan where they could get an item every single day for free.

The pricing in August 2016 was set at 6,000,000 VND per month and it let the users a spirit bottle for free every day in listed venues by WisePass. The main rationale was simple, people would spend around 6,000,000 VND per night for a bill a the club. Hence, 6,000,000 VND per month would seem reasonable.

The model was simple. One use per day. One use case. Drinking. If you happen to drink more than 3 times a month, that would make sense and it would appeal to some people focused on business relationship building (high-level sales, investments, legal ) or personal use ( hanging out with friends, dates, and celebrations ).

WisePass 2.0 - 2017 - 2019

A year later, the model evolved as we started and we introduced different use cases. Subscribers could also get free lunch, dinner, access to movie theaters, the gym, and a free Starbucks drink.

The bottom line, we turned the platform from a single use case to multiple use cases.

It didn’t stop there. We also introduced a plan that was even more expensive. 15,000,000 VND ( around 700$US at that time ).

How was it different?

Instead of one use per day, it enabled people to have two use per day. Also, it enabled people to get access to some items that were more pricey.

We turned the brand WisePass more premium with this new plan.

WisePass 3.0 - 2019 - 2020

In 2019, a beer brand approached WisePass. Singha. They changed the model with the introduction of a plan priced at 189,000 VND per month allowing people to enjoy 3 beers a day.

That changed the concept at different levels.

First, every item we let subscribers redeem is a cost for WisePass. Not anymore since Singha was sponsoring all the items. That made our gross margin get to 100% instead of 30-40% on average.

The second major change is the price point. From 300$ a month to less than 10$ a month. That new pricing opened up a whole new market as the pricing is good enough to attract a more massive market in terms of users.

The bottom line, our gross margin, and the market size changed significantly.

WisePass 4.0 - 2020 - 2021

During the pandemic, we changed the way our subscribers would access items from our platform. Instead of getting one, two, or three uses per day, they would get a set amount of PASS per day.

The PASS per day would enable them to exchange items that would be within their range. For example, if a subscriber has 15 PASS per day and wants to redeem a Budweiser beer that cost 5 PASS, then they can redeem up to 3 Budweiser per day.

In other words, WisePass introduced a more flexible pricing system for the items it gives access to its subscribers.

The bottom line, WisePass has better control over what items can be accessible to any user at anytime.

WisePass 5.0 2022 - 2023

During the year 2022, the system received another upgrade.

First, the PASS set to each item is not manually set anymore but by the system. In other words, we don’t let humans set the access for each item anymore but let the back end control it.

Second, the PASS can actually go up based on several factors. When we have subscribers paying a flat fee per month, our back end is ensuring the gross margin is preserved at around 50%. That enables us to ensure our cash flow stays positive.

That major architecture change is enabling WisePass to scale to a large number of subscribers and yet ensuring the financial viability of the business.

Third, the PASS can actually go down as well. If some brands want to sponsor a specific SKU for a specific quantity for a specific time in a specific set of locations, WisePass can do it and have the PASS lowered.

The fact that PASS can go down enables brands to spend their marketing dollars to drive consumers to experience a product from the brand at scale in a data-driven way.

The bottom line, that access to the items is now system-driven and ensures that it is scalable and sustainable.

WisePass 6.0 2023 and onwards

Starting from Q4 2023 and the year 2024, WisePass will start to run some campaigns for some selected brands where they’ll be able to target very specific users and drive them to some secret locations leveraging blockchain technology.

We’ll be partnering with different companies and letting them run their campaigns on our platform through events and day-to-day activities.

Our journey is going to be almost 10 years and we still feel like it’s the beginning somehow. The purpose of building this technology from Vietnam and spreading it to the rest of the world is a commitment we made and stayed faithful to.

May the next 10 years be even more interesting for WisePass!