The future of Mobile Branding

The simplistic aim for an application developer is to get a brand onto the device. For those selling applications as shrink-wrap software, this is a traditional needs-benefits sale which must be closed before the application is loaded.

It’s very simple to offer applications for free on the internet and enjoy many thousands of downloads – the iTunes iPhone App Store is full of one-chuckle show-your-mates apps. Installation numbers only become meaningful in context of conversion to a happy customer; one who regularly uses that application or, in gaming terms, uses that application until the enjoyment potential has expired.

For companies like Morodo, who offer service enabled by a free application, getting the brand onto the device is secondary to providing value in the service itself. Morodo’s MO-Call app is essentially a VoIP service. Our revenue stream is only realised when the customer uses that app, enjoys the convenient and relaible calling useful and pays for airtime (yes, you can try before you buy).

In fact, MO-Call is a case in point; the ethos of the app is that a customer should be able to make a phone call via an alternative network operator seamlessly, without having to interact with the software. The app itself (and the branding it carries) is invisble to the consumer.

Simply getting the brand on the mobile will bring you no value whatsoever unless the app sporting that brand provides a useful service to the consumer. Who wants to be an un-clicked icon buried deep in the user interface?

In mobile advertising, it’s not uncommon for campaigns to be based around a free app that provides content, updates or links to product information. Procter & Gamble’s mobile strategy sets very high store by such means of reaching the market and they are right to do so as their aim is to create recognition and presence; the brand-in-the- hand if you will. Again, without usage and interaction, such advertising becomes meaningless.

At present, the challenge lies with firstly the operating system owner and secondly, the application developer, to make it easier and more enjoyable to download all kinds of stuff to your mobile and play with it.

An edited version of this post was published in Mobile Business July 2009 in response to the question: what does mobile branding mean for your company?