Buying into plotlines
Your brand is your user experience
Merry Amex-mas (Augmented Fun From Down Un)
Where do you stand on SOPA and PIPA?
iPhone apps created for brands: What’s out there? What’s working? What’s not? And who’s thinking differently? Just some of the questions I’ll be asking, and hopefully answering, in an ongoing series for this here blog.
Burritos, undies and more.
Generally speaking, it seems that most branded apps provide a straightforward utility and are an obvious extension of what the brand offers offline.
Such as . . .
App 1.
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Order your mucho grande, extra-guac carnitas burrito for pick up. Peruse the menu, place your order, get directions to nearest location. Simple, practical and perfect for meetings just before lunch.
App 2.
Virtual Zippo Lighter
Create a customized Zippo, flick your wrist to light it, hold it up at concerts (especially if you’re the dude who always yells “Freebird!”).
App 3.
Nike Women Training Club
Create a custom workout based on an collection of training videos. Challenge your friends to do your workout. Follow you and your friends’ progress with a scoreboard showing who’s been kicking butt and who’s been rocking the couch.
These are pretty straightforward apps. And as much as I appreciate their utility, they’re still missing something: People undressing.
App 4.
The PUMA Index
Touted as a global stock ticker with a twist, Puma apparel has created an app that brings you real time stock market info and models disrobing. If the markets go down, off come the clothes. If they go up, put another sweater on, Sally. Oh, and all the clothes are Puma Bodywear.
What does sports apparel have to do with the stock market? Beats me. The entire concept seems to be a joke on the phrase “losing your shirt”. Still, I think it brings up a larger question: how out-of-left-field can a branded app be? Can an app be appropriate for a brand even if its function is totally unrelated to it?
Puma has chosen to lure people into its brand by focusing on the absurd, ridiculous and mildly titillating. (Three words that probably aren’t in the Puma brand guidelines.) But even though there doesn’t seem to be a direct connection between what the app does and Puma, they’ve captured something of the youthful, fun spirit of the brand, along with a whole lot of attention too. And what brand wouldn’t want that?
Filth
October 1, 2009 @ 2:32 pm
Love the Puma Index. So fun to watch.
Graham
October 9, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
Seeing as this is a part 1 of perhaps many posts on iphone apps, would love to nominate zipcar’s foray into the app space: http://www.zipcar.com/iphone . The app lets zipcar users reserve their cars from their phones anywhere / anytime (enroute to the car for example), and serves up information about nearest lots, available cars, and their hourly rates. What’s more, the app can honk the horn of your reserved vehicle (great in a crowded lot) and lock and unlock the vehicle while in use, functioning as your zipcard (special key that opens the vehicles). Simple to use and very functional, a great app that is an ingenious extension of their service.