Why Apps why?

There is an App for everything. But does everything need to be "App-ed?" Over the past year, Apps have dominated the innovation conversation amongst many creative planners, branding/product managers and marketing professionals worldwide. We see Apps that range from the integrated ( sales -force mobile) to the redundant ones (paragon app anyone?).

I can see the value proposition, hell i even preached about it for a good 12 months. The intrinsic value of getting one's service offering to reside as branded content in someone's phone is an amazing property to have. Now, in case you're wondering, i'm not jumping off the app bandwagon by any chance, i just think the wagon is currently filled with alot of lemons and very few winners. This boils down to 2 main fails, A lack of strategic understanding and too many assumptions.

What's your favorite branded app? Keeping to a local context, do you even have any branded apps living in your iPhone/BB/Android powered handset? ( I've excluded Nokia as the Ovi store isn't productive enough to be considered) Chances are the only ones would be readers such as Straits Times/ Today or some utility app developed by the government. Even those fail to hit the mark as the apps don't offer anything more than a good mobile site could have provided.

Brands need to identify their main proposition, examine what the iPhone or BB can do and create an original service that makes the app valuable. Do i want to read the papers on the go? Yes. Why should i read it on an app? Wouldn't a STOMP app make more sense than the Straits Times ( where the full story isn't even available on the app)? Users in real time could easily publish/report stories they see with geo location information and quick pictures. Stomp contributors could use the app on a functional level and Stomp readers could get their latest MRT grope in real time.

There are many more examples where apps are created without any reason to exist. Most times, it's either a duplication or meaningless. What happens then is a quick delete or relegation to page 20 of an iPhone. This brings us to measurement, downloads is a terrible way to measure apps as no one knows what happens to the app after. Unless there is regular interaction with some login or submission, most marketers have no idea. Kinda like direct mail marketing, yes it's 100% delivery , but it could also be 100% delivery from postbox to bin.

Let's not get carried away just because we think we can win awards with these apps or even because "everyone and everything has been app-ed". As with most good marketing strategy planning sessions, keep asking why? Then ask why again.

Song of the day

"Don't tell me that its over" by Amy Macdonald