Annual Update

Happy New Year!  With 2009 behind us I wanted to provide an update on appssavvy and the trends we’re seeing in social media, apps and digital media as we enter 2010.

First of all, I’d like to thank you for your continued interest and support of appssavvy.  Since co-founding the company in early 2008 with Co-founder and President Michael Burke, we’ve been part of the most exciting category of digital media and are only at the beginning of so much more to come.

At the core of appssavvy, we continue to be a direct sales team for the app space bringing together developers and publishers of apps in social media and, increasingly so in mobile, with leading brands and agencies through integrated and contextually-relevant advertising programs.  After laying the foundation in 2008, we saw a breakout year in 2009 – more on that in a moment – and solidified expansion plans thanks to our experiences as an early pioneer in the social media app space.

In digital media, 2009 was the year of the app.  Obviously, we have to thank Apple and its advertising blitz for that.  Apps were downloaded by the masses, developers and publishers rushed to create useful tools and advertisers embraced the opportunity.

We saw big brands, including BP, Coca-Cola, Kimberly-Clark (Huggies), Lufthansa and Target, to name a few, engage apps – most importantly, in meaningful and relevant ways that added and improved the app experience.  Here are a few highlights:

• Coca-Cola teamed up with arguably the most popular Facebook app Pick Your Five from LivingSocial to create half a million Coke specific lists and generating nearly 100,000 new fans of Coca-Cola’s Fan Page.

• Kimberly-Clark’s brand, Huggies, wasn’t to be outdone engaging millions of moms on Circle of Moms with relevant content and social components while driving membership into Huggies’ reward program at a rate higher than any other campaign element.

• Universal Studios Home Entertainment integration of the Blu-ray™ and DVD release of Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp into Zynga’s Mafia Wars, one of the most popular social games on Facebook.  During “Public Enemies Week” on Mafia Wars, players completed 44.5 million Public Enemies’ jobs, interacted with nearly 55 million Public Enemies virtual goods and the activity generated nearly a billion Newsfeed impressions.

You can learn more about these campaigns and others here.

While we’ve been fortunate to be at the forefront of apps and social media, the key and challenge for all those involved is simple – add value.  In my update last year, I discussed the trend of the maturation of the app space and the move from quantity to quality.  This continued to play out in 2009, just not as fast as expected thanks primarily to the tremendous amount of buzz around apps.  However, for the app space to continue to swell to new heights all of us in the ecosystem need to think of the people using apps first and then drive forward.  There’s a reason there are hundreds of thousands of apps on Facebook, for example, yet just 250 that have an audience of more than one million in a given month. Apple’s iPhone, of course, has more than 100,000 apps and growing, and it faces similar challenges.

Here are few other trends I’m seeing as we enter 2010 and beyond:

1. No surprise that social media has arrived wholeheartedly.  What is surprising is how fast CMOs have engaged.  Almost overnight, we saw the direct involvement of clients in the social media efforts we were involved.  I see this trend rapidly growing in 2010 as today’s marketing leadership isn’t letting social media slip by like was done with digital marketing.

2. Today’s social media landscape can be daunting.  There are multiple platforms for marketers to choose from.  That, however, is changing thanks to Facebook Connect for example, and the speed and agility of developers and publishers to extend their creations from one platform to another. In 2010, we’ll see the rise of cross platform, as opposed to multiple platform, campaigns.

3. Facebook Connect.  In last year’s update, I discussed the trend of social media apps becoming communities and evolving into portable Web platforms.  This happened and the next phase of evolution will happen through the .com, the iPhone, even Kindle, all with a common tie – Facebook Connect!

4. Metrics and measurement remain a hot topic.  Progress is being made, both industry standard-wise and through technology.  Specific metrics haven’t been nailed down, but great work continues to be measured outside the click.  Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) emerged as the defacto theme to measure in 2009 and further understanding of this form of measurement will lead to standardization in 2010.  Social media metrics aren’t about clicks and impressions, but rather how your brand added value, and was engaged and interacted with in social media.

5. Facebook, Google and Apple.  I wrote last year about Facebook being to Google, much like Google was to Microsoft a few years ago, as social networking makes the Web less about searching and more about bringing all of your interests together.  Facebook continues to make progress, demonstrating impact through automated ad operations, real-time and social search, and, most importantly, the default homepage of tens of millions of people.  What is most surprising though is the swift pace that Apple has become a player in the advertising and Internet space, and to Google’s throne.  These two will continue to fight it out in 2010 – acquisitions in the past few months of AdMob by Google and Quattro Wireless by Apple demonstrate this fact.  In the meantime, Facebook still owns the social space and will continue to make inroads alongside these two technology giants.  Rumors of a Facebook phone, at some point, demonstrate this battle across platforms.

6. MySpace, LinkedIn and even Yahoo! — where are they?  In a few words, ‘Way behind, but still not left in the dust.’  The key for those outside Facebook, Google and Apple is figuring out how their consumers can benefit from apps?  What will engagement of people look like and how they will see an app ecosystem within their platform?  Easily identifiable last year was the opportunity for apps to thrive on the iPhone.  They did so because Apple embraced ‘useful’ apps.  MySpace has the same opportunity, but around music and entertainment, and LinkedIn with business apps. 2010 is critical to the ‘others’ in the space and I’m rooting for them in a big way.

7. Mea culpa.  Lastly, last year I predicted ‘Facebook’s Status will overrun Twitter in 2009.’ Without a doubt, I was wrong and here’s my 140 character mea culpa and thoughts for 2010 and beyond: Evan/Biz, I was wrong about FB running u over. Company impresses as info source. Oprah & Ashton are Tweeting, but need 2 see my Mom on it. In addition, I can be reached on Twitter @appssavvyceo and appssavvy is @appssavvy.

Let me close with a brief look back at appssavvy’s 2009:

• Tripled revenues and reached profitability in October 2009

• More than tripled in size to 34 employees

• Hired Todd Bowman as senior vice president of sales and the fifth member of the appssavvy senior management team; promoted Vida Mylson to vice president of East Coast sales; and strengthened operations through the hiring of Sushene Swenson as director of finance

• Continued to establish partnerships in the app developer and publisher community, including partnerships with the likes of social powerhouses, including Playdom, Mixology, Familybuilder and Status Shuffle, to name a few, and in the social technologies space, such as Sprout, among others.

• Worked hand-in-hand with leading brands (several of which are named above), including ChapStick, Microsoft, PowerBar, Procter & Gamble and Toyota, and agencies, including 360i, Ignited, MediaVest USA and Saatchi & Saatchi, to name a few.

• Recognized as one of New York’s Best Places to Work 2009 ranking #17 as a “Startup with a family feel.”

Thank you for taking the time to read my annual update. As always, if I or someone else at appssavvy can be a resource to you at any time, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

I hope 2010 is off to a great start and best wishes for a great year!

Chris Cunningham
Co-founder and CEO