A fellow dim bulber forwarded a blog post to me, and it was such a damn good idea that I felt compelled to repurpose it here.
Paul Kirwin writes a blog called Channel Signal and, on Deccember 25, 2008, he wrote a post entitled "Completing the Loop." His central thesis was that iPhone apps were brilliant in concept and in practice, but they consistently came up just shy of true business utility: they don't usually take the next step -- from conversational engagement to transaction -- and help users actually buy something.
His focus was on a few outdoors equipment suppliers -- The North Face, and REI -- which had developed iPhone apps that provide real-time weather reports and snow updates. This is high-value information for skiers, and traditional branding logic would say that such utility has a halo effect for the sponsoring businesses. Full stop.
But Kirwin argues why stop there?
Imagine if the app provided a sales offer keyed to the specific details of the weather report? A discount on warm gloves if the temp was particularly low. A special promo on sunglasses if it was a bright day. Why couldn't there be a button on the app that gave the user the directions from their location to the nearest store, and another button that allowed her or him to actually reserve the merchandise?
The possibilities don't have to stop there.
Imagine related product and services providers getting in on the action. Cold day? Couldn't a resort price a special half-day ski pass, and offer it up as a useful option? How about the apres ski restaurant providing warm-up beverages throughout the day?’
The possibilities are endless, but they'd all be grounded in the idea of relevance to the real-time context of the consumer experience. Content wouldn't need to be as much about brands as it would be keyed to actual purchaser needs, turning the iPhone into a real-time commercial interface.
Some consumers might want lots of opportunities provided to them, while others might opt to decline seeing any of the pitches. No big deal. That would only mean that the people seeing your branding and marketing would have self-selected and identified themselves as potential customers.
Is there a technical reason why iPhone apps don’t provide this level of integration with reality instead of with brands? I don't think so. The latest successes reported from Kraft on the app front are encouraging, but still don't fully exploit the interest-purchase link.
I'd wager the limiting factor is the perspective of brand marketers, many of whom wouldn't know a damn good idea even if it appeared with a tada! blip on their iPhones.
