Runner's World double-dips with their app

A great app strategy for a magazine? Provide a genuine, valuable service to your readers and your advertisers. Runner's World has done just that.

The Runner's World app is called Shoe Shop. The app offers guides the user through choosing a shoe by helping select their foot type, what type of shoe needed, and then provides a list of shoes by photo. Sounds simple and it is! It's brilliantly simple while giving the user everything they want and nothing more.

The list of results is shown by plenty-large-enough, bright photos and more information about an individual shoe can be found by easily clicking on an arrow. The information pops up over the shoe photo and just as easily disappears without any need to navigate to another page, keeping the experience streaming and enjoyable.

After selecting a shoe the user is offered three buttons: "email," "find online," and "find nearby." The "email" button instantly puts a photo of the chosen shoe and email about the shoe into a newly-composed email the user can send to anyone. The "find online" button quickly reveals a list of online retailers where the chosen shoe can be found. Finally, the "find nearby" button swiftly calculates the location of the user and leverages the NearbyNow network to show local retailers that carry the chosen shoe.

There is not a lot of flashy design with this app, which is why I love it! It offers exactly what it promises with no fluff and nothing in the way. This provides a true tool for users/readers and this provides a great platform to help many of their shoe advertisers further the reach of their products. View the photo gallery below for iPhone screenshots.

Want to build an app? Email Ballyhoo Mobile. Our talented team will work hard to build a SOW exclusively for you at no cost.

Mobile payments probably closer

During yesterday's Web 2.0 Summit, Google's Eric Schmidt talked about a new "unannounced mobile device," which has also become known as the Nexus S (or Nexus 2) built by Samsung. While discussing the not-so-secretive phone, he did confirm the device would include a Near Field Communication chip. Google believes this will redefine how we think about location. As we all know, location has been the hottest mobile topic lately.

NFC (Near Field Communication) allows a device to be swiped to make a payment, such as this:



With this NFC chip and the Android Gingerbread Operating System, mobile device users will be able to tap into a location point (known as Google Places) and pay with their mobile device. This is Google's threat to banks since the payment made is in lieu of credit cards or cash.

Eric Schmidt and eBay CEO John Donahoe have both predicted that mobile phones will replace credit cards. As far as I'm concerned, I hope they do! They less I need to carry, the better.

At Ballyhoo Mobile Marketing, we've talked a lot about NFC. Questions about how it could work for you? Give us a call!

Android Gingerbread promotional video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vskBjYc745g&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Quick mobile payment discussion video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBsafnwlUxs&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Toys R Us Keeps the Fun Coming!

Toys R Us has joined the ranks of Starbucks and Target by launching mobile barcodes that can be scanned right off your phone. Target was the first in the US to launch this and Starbucks is still testing in specific locations. Starbucks has even released a location-limited mobile app that acts as a refillable Starbucks card.

Toys R Us, however, has produced some gold! For the iPad, they released a FREE Great Big Christmas Book application. For iPhone and iPod, they released a Toy Story 3 Memory Game.

Next, they produced a fully capable mobile version of their website and a mobile app that is essentially a version of their website.

Finally, they allow consumers to sign up for special deals and alerts via SMS.

What's nice is that Toys R Us didn't instantly produce all of their mobile offerings just to specifically enhance commerce. They produced fun things just like Toys R Us should.

Two Great Mobile Uses in Print Media

The team here is always big on sharing great uses of mobile, be it by one of our many clients or not. Since, well, 1999 print media (namely newspapers) have been the sluggish when it comes to keeping up with technology. So we always keep our eyes peeled to see which publications are doing anything with mobile. This week I encountered two that did a great job!

The first is Surfer magazine. On the insert there was a subscription offer, as there always is. This one was different because it instructed the reader to text in to subscribe. So I tried it. After texting in, I received a bounceback message asking me for my name, mailing address, and shoe size (a pair of sandals was gift with purchase). I did this and promptly received a message letting me know a bill would be sent to my address in six to eight weeks. Nicely done, Surfer! I actually subscribed on-the-go when I would not have otherwise remembered to visit them online when I got home or, worse yet, mailed something back in. (Graphics are the first three in the gallery below.)


The second is another great example in the Philadelphia Inquirer. I've seen this publication use 2D barcodes before; this time it was to promote the downloading of their new football iPhone app. The technical interaction was simple: snap a photo of the 2D barcode with a QR code reader and instantly be linked to the download page for the app in the iTunes store. (Graphics are the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th in the gallery below.)

[gallery]


For more quantified success stories, check out this blog at Mobile Marketing Case Studies.

Very Cool On-Star App - See Commercials Here

Mobile gets better every day!

Mobile Web is the Norm for College Kids

How's this for a quotable? "More undergrads have a mobile web device than a desktop." This includes smartphone, tablets, and mobile game consoles.

According to eMarketer, "the 'ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology' by Shannon D. Smith and Judith Borreson Caruso for the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 62.7% of US undergraduates surveyed had an internet-capable handheld device. That number fell about halfway between the 83.8% who had a laptop and the 45.9% with a desktop PC."

Our clients often ask us what numbers like this mean to them. We remind them that there are droves of college students graduating every December and May with pockets finally full of cash that they are ready to spend. And they are loyal. If you have no previous relationship with them, then you're already ten steps behind one of your competitors who does.

Instead of being the retailer who waits too late, build that relationship while it's still easy. So few businesses are genuinely proactive in the relationship building that most end up having to resort to price slashing. Ever notice how there are advertisers who say "I don't advertise" until they are closing? Then they have a "Going Out of Business" media blitz and, guess what, everything sells! Same mentality applies when thinking about new mediums and strategies.

For college students, both purchases made and intent to purchase numbers are rising in regards to mobile web-enabled devices. (See both graphs below.)


Another myth often perpetuated in the retail industry is that college students don't wield any spending power until they graduate, which is just plain silly. Anyone with a child, sibling, or friend knows that kids have tremendous sway over where their parent's dollars are spent.

According to Retailer Daily, a fresh report reveals that collegian numbers are at an all time high. "The 10th annual 'College Explorer Study' indicates close to 16 million students ages 18-34 will enter college classes this fall, an all-time record and up 6% from about 15 million in fall 2009. Their collective $306 billion in buying power is 13% more than roughly $270 billion last year."


If you're a retailer looking to build deeper relationships with college students and spending power, look to mobile. The playing field is thin right now meaning you can win more while spending less. Contact Ballyhoo and we will recommend proven strategies that our clients have found successful time and time again, all over the country.

Ads for Ads Starting to Appear

As we've predicted, the in-app advertising market will continue to grow and bring more marketers into the mobile realm. We're now starting to see some ads targeting marketers. In this example, WeatherBug is boasting about how many mobile handsets an ad on their network will reach.

This may seem obvious and simplistic to write about but this does an interesting thing for the in-app ad market. It puts this market significantly more on par with radio, tv, and newspaper...the traditionals...in the eyes of the average marketer and agency buyer/planner. This is another big shake in the paradigm shift the marketing world is experiencing by continuing to make it easier for marketers to plan for and place their dollars in a mobile world and ditch the older mediums.

The traditional mediums (namely radio and tv) need to be aware of this. Ignoring it or worse yet, bucking it, will be the same as newspapers ignoring the web. And we've all seen how well that worked out for them...


Ballyhoo Mobile Marketing offers Bulks SMS, Campaign Management Software and Platforms, Short Code Leasing, Mobile Website Creation, and Mobile App Development. Started in 2008, we now have offices in Jacksonville FL, Denver CO, and Philadelphia PA. Contact us here for a free review of how we can help.