In Jim Edwards’ blog “How Candy Crush Convinced This 22-Year-Old Startup CEO That Games Are NOT The Future Of Mobile Advertising”, he introduced the 22-year-old Sauder grad, Brian Wong, who obtained his undergraduate degree at the age of 18, and is the founder and CEO of Kiip, a mobile ad company.

Kiip’s original focus was to offer gifts from major brands to people who have reached certain milestone playing games on their smartphones. This new method of advertising eliminates the interruptive nature of in-game advertising, and also acts as an incentive  as the players are unaware of when the reward would pop up.

Wong’s recent decision, which was validated by King.com’s decision of eliminating all ad in Candy Crush Sage, includes shifting Kiip’s focus away from mobile games, as addicts of popular games are likely to pay for the removal of inter-level ads.

Since January of 2013, Kiip has been expanding its customer base by pushing heavily on non-game apps. Such action is driven by Wong’s belief that users of certain mobile apps, such as apps that keeps track of a healthy living style, should be rewarded for reason of simply using the apps. Kiip runs on a business model that’s  revolutionary and distinct from its predecessors. It is likely to change the perspective and focus of future entrepreneurs.

Link:

http://www.businessinsider.com/kiip-ceo-brian-wong-changes-mobile-game-ad-strategy-2013-7