Mike Germano and Katy Kelley speak at Digiday: APPS
“Building brands in the billion dollar app boom” was the overarching agenda of Digiday’s App conference in Los Angeles on December 12th. Top brand marketers, agency executives, publishers and app developers came together to discuss and explore how brands can harness the power of the explosive mobile and social app market.
Mike Germano, gave the morning keynote. “I know social media must being doing well as an industry because when I tell women at the bar what I do, they actually give me their number.” Diving into a case study of The Onion Microfiche, one of the top 15 selling news apps on iTunes, Mike reflected on the challenges and success Carrot had working with the brand. A company culture match made in heaven, Carrot got a chance to design a tongue-in-cheek app for the nations leading satirical newspaper, poking fun at the very industry we thrive in.
“For those of you who don’t know, a microfiche is basically a giant computer, but without the porn,” Mike quipped. “By combining the old-school feel of newspaper slides with the new-age zing of mobile, Carrot nailed the market by creating an app that allowed users to easily share over 20 years of Onion headlines at their fingertips. And at $.99, that’s just a digital convenience tax.”
Later in the day, I took the stage on a panel moderated by Tameka Kee of PaidContent entitled “The Dollars and Sense of Apps as Commerce”. Touching on how apps are helping monetize social and mobile marketing, as well as the possibility of in-app purchasing, the panel featured representatives from Fandango, Quattro Wireless, Mobclix and Billing Revolution.
“One of the biggest mistakes brands make as they rush to develop an app is letting the mobile version of their website falter. If you want to drive leads to your website, especially from your iPhone app, make sure your mobile platform is built well and leaves the user wanting to check out the full experience for themselves online.”
Over drinks with DM2 Events owner Nick Friese and Content Director Sarah Schoenfelder, Mike and I raved about the the quality of speakers and what a successful event it had been. The only thing we suggested? “Smoke machines. Keynotes should totally be introduced with smoke machines.”
