The War of the Apps.

Ever since the era of ‘user generated content’ hit us at the turn of the Millennium, relegating the pontifical status of the Advertisers in the role of brand marketing and communications, the consumer has truly become the all conquering King with the power to whom the multinationals/blue-chips have become vassals.

Getting into the court of this Consumer-King became competitive, innovative and most brands are forced to wade in uncharted territories before they get audience.

First, traditional advertising was conquered as the consumer won’t be dictated to. Brand marketing and communications had to stop talking down at him/her and stop reaching dodgy conclusions in the ‘boardrooms’. He/she could now create own content and google for services/product and could also create such when unavailable – some dissatisfied students turning their research work at Stanford into Google, outwit Yahoo and get their company name to become a verb, noun and adjective all at once!

That was aided by the democratization of technology, effectively reducing the barriers for entry and forcing wide scale competitiveness globally.

With the new found ‘voice’ of their own, and new confidence and power to influence, the consumer quickly expanded into the world of social networking. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and other ‘congregational’ sites then became platforms for peer-to-peer and gregarious interaction.

Since the consumers cannot be contained in their quest for ever more freedom, fast thinking brands had to become gatekeepers of any new trend the consumer might introduce and then leverage existing technologies and platforms as an aide, a playfield to their whims and caprice.

Iphone was quick to seize the initiative of allowing its phone to become the platform where developers of applications met the royal expectations of consumers. {Palms started it but floundered} Apps developers are in effect, consumers themselves and take inspirational insights from the streets and friends.

Same could be said of Google and Facebook.

But one thing is giving a new meaning to ‘integrated marketing’ more than anything else today is apps.

What are apps?

According to techtarget.com, ‘The term application is a shorter form of application program. An application program is a program designed to perform a specific function directly for the user or, in some cases, for another application program. Examples of applications include word processors, database programs, Web browsers, development tools, drawing, paint, image editing programs, and communication programs. Applications use the services of the computer’s operating system and other supporting applications. The formal requests and means of communicating with other programs that an application program uses is called the application program interface (API).’

Social Networking platforms

What that means, in my own definition is – remember when you signed up on Facebook and wanted to play Scrabble? You clicked on the Scrabble sign and some interface came up and asked you to ‘allow Scrabble application’. You were then able to play the whole game again and again. In fact, you might have spent more time on the Scrabble app than on FB itself, made contact and struck up friendship.

Now map your experience on social networking site personally. You’d find that it’s being defined and shaped more than ever by the countless apps you can choose and match your own personal affinity and interests to.

Now, an integrated marketing campaign isn’t complete without an app and the application program interface for social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Bebo. {Advertising on the sites alone won’t just do}. Most websites now encourage you to ‘follow’ them on these sites. They use backward integration techniques to drive traffic to their sites and keep up with you on the social media sites.

IPhone
Earlier this year, the 1 billionth app was downloaded from the Apple apps store. Billions of currency notes have changed bank accounts, new millionaires made at triple the rate of the dot.com era while simple life problems are being solved.

If you’ve got an iPhone now, you could order your grocery from Ocado.com or plan you journey around the London Underground labyrinth or you could be spying on your ex via Google Earth!

It also means that businesses could decide to shift their office to your phone! Yesterday, City Index launched the first Spread Betting and CFD trading App for IPhone. That means you can participate in the world of stock market trading from just about anywhere!
See www.cityindex.co.uk

The next level that signifies is; when you have a successful conventional business model, you can push it up by making cross boundaries with an app. The import of that is you’re able to reach your target in a non-intrusive, personal and a much cosseted environment THEY choose. Certainly, you’d get far more thumbs up and chances are your cash register would ring more.

With a whole line-up of other smart phones copying this successful approach, the battle for the mind of the consumer is leaping from offices, newspaper/magazine pages, TV and radio into the palms of consumers via platforms of phones!

Games
It now looked so long ago that all games were played on some kind of paper board and later, creepy 2-D images on PC and the very first Sony PSP models.

Now you have full FX, HD productions like Grand Theft Auto, War of the Worlds, Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat e.t.c on equally technological marvel consoles – Xbox, Wii, PSP and countless others. You now have close to a billion people playing some form of games online and on devices. Market for recognized brands and the black market brands is inching towards a Billion dollars too.

Much more importantly, as technology improves and more people are hooked to games, games have now assumed a crucial importance in the marketing communications arena.

Now, the passion of live football is now translated into game versions both for online and device entertainment replete the sport stars, theme music and astounding graphics.

Films get their game version. Remember E.T, Chronicles of Riddick, Ghostbusters, Lord Of The Rings, Lion King, Aladdin e.t.c

Games are morph into films – Max Payne, Hitman, Doom, Tomb Raider e.t.c

Cartoons do all.

Even advertising campaigns are mucking in with fervor. Guinness, after a decade of ‘good things come to those who wait’ campaign launched the ‘Bring it to Life’ campaign done by Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO London.

The campaign, with footage shot on location in Canada, Fiji and New Zealand after a 3 month, intercontinental trek to find the perfect spots was anchored by Director Johnny Green joined by Lord Of The Rings set-designer, Grant Major.

With such an epic scale campaign, Guinness, through www.bringittolife.tv is currently reserving ‘plots’ of Google Earth land for gamers to shape and build after the November 29th. That is an attempt to copy the success of simple Facebook game – FarmVille.

So, there will be an app to bring the Guinness association with Google Earth collabo, inspired by FarmVille game.

More apps to help brands and businesses leverage on the social network, mobile and games consoles will continue unabated for a long time to come as long as humans have needs and wishes, and iPhones 90,000 current apps offering might have been upstaged by some smarter brand just like Google shot out of the blues back in the day.

And technology will gladly oblige.