Quirk eMarketing: Mobile Applications: Virtual Beer and Brand Awareness
Mobile applications range from mobile games, interactive guides, email/IM services to basic novelty applications devoid of any practical function. Either way, consumers are actively seeking, downloading and paying for the latest apps. Below a few ways brands can or have taken advantage of this to integrate mobile applications into their marketing strategy.
Apps for Brands - Functional vs. Just Plain Awesome
Apps allow brands to engage consumers and plunge them into a branded environment. The key is creating an app that is either functional or entertaining… or both! In an example of the former, ‘Virgin Festival Buddy’ was developed as an interactive mobile guide for Virgin’s music festival V-Fest. The app allowed people to plan their itinerary from 4 live stages, buy branded content from the artists performing and receive alerts when certain bands were on stage.
On the novelty or entertainment side of things, Carling developed iPint. iPint made use of the iPhone’s motion detection technology, so consumers could tilt the phone, and hence the glass, while enjoying a virtual pint. iPint rocketed to the top of the iTunes Free App Chart. While it's not a functional application it did create great brand exposure for Carling.
But what about Apps in developing countries like South Africa? Do bandwidth limitations mean that they are less popular? The answer is no, one sixth of all Internet searches in South Africa are reported to come from mobile devices. That would be the highest ratio in the world! When you look at aps that have made an impact in SA, the one to watch is clearly MXit.
MXit is the King-Kong of South African mobile applications. It allows marketers to deliver their messages directly to the MXit community via text messages, podcasts, music, video clips and even branded content through Wallpapers, Skinz and Emoticards. Splash Screen advertising and customised competitions uniquely targeted at demographic sectors also offer a great branding opportunity - should your target market be active in this space.
The power of MXit ironically hit home for me this weekend, when I went away up north to a river campsite so obscure and isolated I’m surprised the place had mobile reception at all. A young teenager was so involved with the app, that she refused to part with her mobile when going canoeing down the river. Subsequently, the boat capsized and the phone was ruined. It's easy to assume that MXit's 18 million members feel similarly about the ap, especially considering their 17 million daily user logins and 250 million messages sent each day.
Conclusion?
Smartphone application marketing can connect brands with their target audiences in quite a unique way. Smartphone apps have the unique ability to deliver high-impact interactive media to an engaged, targeted, self-selected audience. Which apps do you use and which have you seen be succesful for brands? I know there are many out there so would love to hear your thoughts.
Also check out:
Comment on "Mobile Applications: Virtual Beer and Brand Awareness"
