Applications
Great example of iPhone app for customer loyalty
This iPhone, just released from Barnes & Noble is a great example of using mobile for customer loyalty. Not only can you quickly look up, book prices and store locations, but the app also allows you to take a picture of any book or DVD and instantly get product details. All around an excellent example of how (and where) to use mobile marketing.
AAA ‘mobilizes’ brand in smart way
AAA recently released a free mobile application that allows people to see which local businesses offer membership discounts. Technically, this is not a complicated application, as it relies solely on existing existing GPS technology. But it’s a great example of ‘mobilizing’ a brand. By mobilizing, I mean how do you take a core offering or benefit of the brand and liberate it. In this case, the valuable AAA discount travel services offering. But, what AAA has figured out is that by mobilizing that key benefit, they could allow customers (and maybe future customers) to engage with their brand in a new and very useful way. I would say this is a good example of how marketers should be looking at mobile; figure out what your brand does and mobilize it.
Sony Ericsson now has an app store. Yeah, who doesn’t?
Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC), the fifth-largest mobile-phone maker in the world, is revealing its plans today for a mobile application store and says it will be outsourcing much of the work to GetJar, an independent Lithuania-based company. Here;s the top line stuff:
- They will offer about 40,000 applications
- They will rely on GetJar for the infrastructure i.e. not host their own like Apple and RIM
- They make money based on the developers who pay to put their apps on the GetJar’s network
So as a marketer, you inevitably have to ask the question of so what? As far as I can tell, we now have somewhere between 6-8 application storefronts and I can see the allure of them from a business standpoint. They are basically automated money making machines. But for marketers it just creates complexity. Every single one of these application storefront runs on a different operating system, so if you’re thinking of building an app, you’ll have to do it 6 to 8 times. Furthermore, until we we have more universal standards between carriers, handsets and operating systems, this problem will only multiply.
My advice, go out on a content or gaming network instead. They’ve already sorted through a lot of the technical issues. If you really have to develop you’re own application, then limit it to Apple and Blackberry—the number one and two players in the smartphone app space.
myOrder. The best mobile idea I’ve seen in a while.
Everything that makes mobile a great marketing channel, essentially comes down to two things. The first being the ability to offer people an immediate benefit, which usually means making their lives easier. These are the the task-based applications and services that we see a lot of. It can be anything from mobile banking applications to purchasing movie tickets.
The second is the one-to-one personalization. Although maybe not as sexy as an applciation, it provides people (and marketers) with a personal channel like no other. This can be everything from social networks to mobile coupons that you get just for being a good customer.
So wen you see a service, or in this case an application, that accomplishes both you know it’s going to be a success. Enter myOrder, a downloadable mobile application that allows anybody in a restaurant, club or hotel to place an order through their mobile phone. Essentially, this is how it works.
You’ve downloaded myOrder from the Apple app store (currently there doesn’t seem to be anything for RIM devices, hint hint) and you’re in a busy bar. Well, if that particular bar is a myOrder partner, meaning that they had to pony up some cash for a special monitor and an internet connection, then you can just order your drink based on the bar’s menu and have it delivered to your assigned seat, which you can also specify. There’s some GPS stuff going on in the background that determines where you are, but nothing too technical. Et voila, you get your drink. So what’s the value proposition for everybody involved here? Good question, let’s explore.
First the customer. You get drinks much faster and potentially with some sort of VIP status that you may not have before. Next the bar owner. In addition to being able to expedite drinks faster, the bar owner can use this as an incentive to offer patrons drink specials, which comes in very handy when they’re about to leave. Also, they can analyze ordering behavior which helps them as well. And lastly, the advertisers. The advertisers have the ability to add contextual ads within the ordering system. So if you’re ordering a vodka/soda, you may see an ad at the top of the screen from Skyy. Nothing too intrusive, just a little banner or link. Here’s a good example of who already doing it. Skyy Vodka campaign
So there you have it. A great mobile idea that makes people’s lives easier and allows a on-to-one personal connection to customers. Well played myOrder, well played.
Big Deal, You Made an iPhone App.
iPhone apps are certainly the soup du jour. Everybody is looking for ways to keep their brands persistent and relevant on the one channel that is truly 24/7. However, I see some marketers spending so much time building in cool functionality and graphics that they forget to ask themselves if they actually should. Moreover, is what they are building really going to better people’s lives or fill an unmet need. You know, the dogmas of marketing. It kind of reminds me of the days of portals. Remember portals? When the internet was new and everybody had to have their own portal where people would go to start their journeys into cyberspace. They all had stock quotes, sports scores, etc built into them, and you know what happened, nothing. Because marketers got so involved in the technology that they never figured out that the experience was irrelevant. So before you throw any money at an iPhone app (or any other app for that matter) make sure the first thing you figure out is how it benefits your customers.
Wall Street Journal Introduces Mobile Application
WSJ Mobile reader
WSJ has introduced their mobile reader for the Blackberry. Overall, they’ve done a great job, most notably on their interface. The mobile reader features the familiar tabbed based navigation that mirrors the traditional site experience and allows readers to choose between ‘summary’ and ‘read full story’ functionality in articles. The mobile reader seems specifically designed with advertising in mind, leaving the prime real estate at the top of every page dedicated to banners. As with any mobile app, there are some things that are done well and some that could be improved.
Key Highlights:
- The advertising area for the WAP banners are actually larger than most WAP banner spaces.
- Ads appear multiple times, a key benefit given that the mobile app has traditional tabbed based navigation for quick scanning.
- Ads load quickly but still lack image quality.
- All advertising seems to be banner driven i.e. no contextual links.
