NXT-ID is working social media to get the word out about its Wocket smart wallet. The biometric authentication company is running a “Show us your Wallet” competition on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under the hashtag #needawocket.

Contestants are invited to post pictures of their grotesquely fat, disorganized wallets. “We’re building awareness of the Wocket as a product in the market,” says Laurence Savin, online marketing specialist for Wocket. “And really trying to build awareness around just how bad the situation with how many cards we have to carry around these days is.”

Wocket users scan their cards – driver’s license, library card, credit cards – into the device, which is then locked by one or a combination of features including a PIN and a biometric voice command. “From a security perspective, you’ve got all of these cards which are sitting right there prime for the taking. Apart from the fact that you have to call and cancel every card if your wallet goes missing, your whole identity sits within the wallet,” Savin says. “All of your information is secured within the Wocket and isn’t accessible to anyone without your biometric or your PIN. It essentially becomes useless to anyone that steals it.”

Savin says the competition has revealed how many people don’t understand the security risk inherent in a wallet crammed full of private information. “There’ve been people sending through photos of their wallets with their driver’s license or their credit card numbers totally exposed,” Savin says. “So, one of the big advantages of this competition is also to build awareness around the security risk of carrying all of that information in one place.”

The competition ends Aug. 17. Ten winners will receive a Wocket and a $150 MasterCard gift card prize pack.

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