Leveraging over 145 years of rum crafting wisdom, DonQ is a fast growing premium rum brand recently introduced to the US market. The company’s single focus is “to perfect the art of distillation,” ensuring quality rum products for consumers with discerning palates.  Strategy firm Undercurrent, who manages the DonQ digital account, engaged us to help concept, design, and engineer a Facebook application: DonQ NearU.

DonQ NearU is a social voting utility that empowers fans in US cities to influence the stocklist at their local bars. The utility exists as an in-tab Facebook application on the DonQ fan page.
The app allows users to select a city, peruse lists of popular bars, then lobby bars to stock their favorite DonQ products – giving fans an opportunity to participate in the distribution of their favorite rum brand, and bar owners exposure and access to important customer insights. In addition to the core voting component, the app’s dashboard features a Leaderboard that displays top venues and recent activity.

Venue listings are captured via Yahoo! Local API, sorted by location and displayed in the app. When a user submits a vote, his/her bar and rum choices are recorded in the database. The app then requests activity data and vote counts, and immediately refreshes the Leaderboard and Popular Venue list to reflect the vote.