Don't Create an IPhone App for the Online Buzz Factor
App Chatter Doesn't Build Brands, Long-term Engagement Does — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — For all the love that marketers show iPhone apps, these micro-utilities and tools actually generate surprisingly little buzz in return.
Context & Ripple Effects
The App Store’s early growth had already prompted debate over whether app demand was sustainable, while Madison Avenue was exploring the channel and developers were confronting the challenge of being noticed in the App Store. The key distinction is between distribution momentum and a marketer’s ability to turn an app into durable brand engagement.
First-order effects
- Brand marketers are pushed to judge iPhone apps by repeat engagement rather than by launch-period chatter, raising the bar for app budgets and campaign goals.
Second-order effects
- Developers pitching branded apps must compete on utility and retention, not merely novelty, in an App Store where discoverability is already a constraint.
Third-order effects
- If marketers adopt engagement as the governing metric, mobile-app spending shifts from one-off promotional builds toward ongoing product, content, and customer-service commitments.
The trend: Mobile marketing is moving from app-launch publicity toward measuring whether a utility earns sustained consumer attention.