Utility rules brands' mobile app worlds

Apps developed by media agencies would play a key role as mobile advertising spends increase from the current Rs 475 crore. A look at a few of them

App for: Power Biking for Castrol

Objective: Creating a common platform for the biker community

Developed by: Group M's Madhouse and Mindshare, and standalone digital agency, Foxymoron

Features: Profile with one's biking achievements and trips; list of top 20 destinations to plan a trip to; navigation for the best routes; bike maintenance and travel checklists; creating biking clubs to plan trips; lubricant purchase offers

Results: 22,000 downloaded; 5.2 million seconds of engagement in two months with average time being 240 seconds per user; over 250 biking clubs formed

Milind Pathak, COO, Madhouse: Apps are central to a brand's owned-media strategy, indispensable when talking to a digital audience; apps with utility do best, followed by entertaining content and then monetary incentives; apps should not be for the short term

Harshil Karia: The jury is out on the returns vs the spends; statistics show that 90% of apps are used only once; developing an app might cost Rs 10-20 lakh and the cost per download is high, too, for now

 

App for: iButterfly,proprietary; used for Honda Activa-i launch

 

Objective: Entertaining the press, a strong influencer, at a launch while answering their questions; the tag line for Activa-i, Honda's lightest scooter, 'Ready to Fly' a perfect fit for the app, iButterfly's augmented reality mobile application

Developed by: Dentsu

Features: On the launch day, hundreds of butterflies filled the venue where the press invitees were asked to 'catch' them via the app with their smartphones as virtual nets. The butterflies coould be traded for Honda merchandise. Some butterflies gave details of the scooter's features

Results: 128 gratification and 307 product butterflies caught; around 60 people played out of the 150 present, with an average engagement time of 6 minutes

Glen Ireland, CEO, Dentsu Digital: India's mobile Internet access is still suspect unlike markets like Singapore where we have used iButterfly; stickiness is an issue with apps and the cost benefit would still need to be assessed; apps would defintiely evolve soon

App for: Pockets for ICICI Bank

Objective: Lets Gen Y users complete tasks seamlessly, even using Facebook

Developed by: VML Qais

Features: Lets users split bills, recharge phones, send payment reminders to friends, book movie tickets

Results: Not divulged; however, ICICI Bank is promoting the app both online and in traditional media

Tripti Lochan, CEO, VML Qais: In the 90s' there were questions on websites' RoI but they transformed consumer behaviour; mobile apps, too, would be transformative, enabling real-time engagement with consumers; brands invest in apps to connect with a young audience on the move; push notifications on apps shorten the time and distance between brand and consumer.

But brands get burnt with campaign-based apps, they have to be utility- and long-term-based; gamified features, syncing with all devices, personal dashboards, sharing with contacts are features that work; if done smartly, agencies could have proprietary apps like app developers who rent their templates to firms

App for: Data Diary, tool for Nielsen's clients

Objective: Read data usage behaviour

Developed by: Informate (Nielsen's partner)

Features: Data aggregated to inform brands

Results: Insights on how the opt-in users spend only 25% on communication of the 2.30 hours spent on phones; browsing more in small towns and app use more in metros