PeterEvers.net

Posted on: Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 23:44
Filed under: Apps, Blog, Future

Ok, I admit, this is not very recent news, but I recently discovered the Grazia application and couldn’t curb my enthousiasm. Grazia succesfully collaborated with the biggest shopping mall in Europe to create an iPhone application. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the business model behind these sort of applications.

The Grazia application is technically just a guide to get around in a shopping mall, but the fact that it’s whitelabelled by a fashion magazine gives it a lot more appeal and makes it a one-to-have for all the fashionistas reading Grazia. This is how I envisage the future of mobile applications, great applications that in itself don’t make money, monetized through whitelabelling to brands that use the application to promote their brand in a new, innovative kind of way. The brands give the applications a ‘face’ that appeals to their customers. These brands engage with their customers. They do ’something nice’ for them. Something useful and meaningful. Like Grazia did for their fashionista readers.

Brands that advertise by giving their customers something useful is actually completely opposed to the era we have lived in for approximately the last fifty years. The era of shouting. Over the last couple decennia brands have found all sorts of different ways to shout at their customers: billboards, tv commercials, radio commercials (the ones I hate the most), print ads and much more. But with mobile applications brands finally have a choice to do something else. By releasing a mobile application they can create something of value for their customers against a reasonably good price. It’s the ultimate way for brands to utilize the mobile medium.

That’s all, want more like this?

Peter Evers is currently employed as Business Development Manager at yoMedia, where he is responsible for conceptualizing mobile applications and sales. He has extensive experience in the mobile advertising market, having worked at the mobile advertising department of leading Dutch ad network WebAds, as well as having led on mobile sales at the leading UK ad network Unanimis.

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