WE’RE all short on hugs this year but a company started by two Limerick sisters aims to bridge the gap between virtual hugs and physical ones.
And music hugging app ‘Huggnote’ has been shortlisted as a national finalist in Ireland’s prestigious National Start-Up Awards.
Founded by Jacqui and Perry Meskell, Huggnote turns people’s favourite songs into virtual Christmas ‘huggs’ to send to anyone, anywhere. It’s free to use and takes less than a minute.
“We’re beyond thrilled to be shortlisted as national finalists, especially in this category” says co-founder Jacqui.
“The right song at the right time releases the same happy hormones as a physical hug, something in short supply sadly in 2020” she says.
“Even before Covid19, we were twice as lonely as in the 1980s and we know that social isolation has a knock-on effect on our health, similar to the effects of smoking and obesity,” she added.
A key focus of the team has been to ensure Huggnote is easy to use by anyone, of any age of technical literacy. “We built Huggnote from the outside in – with the user firmly in focus” says co-founder Perry.
The team launch their ’12 Huggs’ campaign for Alone this week encouraging users to send 12 huggs to friends/loved ones and donate the price of a greeting card to Irish charity Alone.
Huggnote is a web based app which means there’s nothing to download, just login through www.huggnote.com, select your Christmas theme, add a personal message and send for free via text or messenger app.
“There are happy songs, sad songs, romantic songs, flirty songs – so there’s literally a Hugg for anyone – from your best friend from primary school to the one that got away,”Jacqui added.
