Building a better iphone app and a better mousetrap all at the same time
You read the same thing everywhere, from Tech Crunch to Internet News. A mere 30 percent of people who buy an iPhone application actually use it the day after it was purchased. And it’s downhill from there. After 20 days fewer than five percent of those who downloaded an application even bother to use it anymore.
Want to know why? You need look no further than the current Mouse Trap application. Like too many apps it’s missing the four most important ingredients: utility, content, stickiness, and a growth plan.
So I’m developing the Mousttrapp App.
The Mousetrapp App has utility.
Like the classic wooden mousetrap, it has an easy to set mechanism, an expanded trigger and a powerful digital kill jaw. So catching mice is not an issue. And because this is a digital trap, you can dispose of your mice germ free with a click of the delete button.
The Mousetrapp App has content.
A great app needs content in addition to utility. With the Mousetrapp App, you’ll find video and fun facts. For example did you know that the scientific name for the house mouse is Mus Musculus, which means little thief? Buy my new Mousetrapp app and you’ll learn even more.
The Mousetrapp App has stickiness.
What? You don’t have mice? Not a problem. The Mousetrapp app includes them. And because it automatically breeds new ones just as fast as real mice, you have a real reason to use it over and over. That’s important with an iPhone app.
The Mousetrapp App has a growth plan.
With the Mousetrapp App you can offer your mice any of the 12 different cheeses that come with the basic $1.99 app. But to keep you interested long term, we plan on adding new cheeses from France, Italy, or Switzerland for just $.99 per country. And later on we’ll expand that selection with a line of Vermont cheddars and maybe a collection of goat cheeses, too.
So there you have it. A better mouse trap. And everything you need to know to build a better iPhone app. Utility. Content. Stickiness. And a growth plan. Go forth and create.
The MouseTrapp App is a trademark of edwardboches.com.
The legendary Bill Bernbach shares his thoughts about Twitter
Every few years I pick up the Bill Bernbach Book and re-read quotes from the inspirational founder of Doyle Dane Bernbach. For over 40 years Bill’s ideas have rung true and stayed relevant. In fact, take his exact thoughts, word for word and apply them to questions about Twitter, and they not only make perfect sense, they enlighten us with wisdom. Here then is an imaginary interview with Bill Bernbach. His words are exactly that. His words. Verbatim.
C_U: We’re not only seeing Twitter used by brands, as they try and become more human, we’re seeing it used by individuals trying to become brands. Do you have any advice for all the folks trying to build their personal brands on Twitter?
Bill: To succeed, a brand (or a person or product, for that matter) must establish its own unique personality, or it will never be noticed.”
C_U: So then, it’s what a person says in his 140-characters that will define his unique personality?
Bill: “It’s not what you say that stirs people, it’s the way that you say it.”
C-U: Does that mean you’re suggesting that to be noticed and remembered you have to focus as much on the “way” as the “what?”
Bill: The only difference between the forgettable and the enduring is artistry.
C-U: Artistry is great, but given the speed at which users post messages and ideas, along with the volume of tweets, don’t users also have to post frequently?
Bill: Nobody remember the number of ads you run, they just remember the impressions you make.
C_U: Why do you think that much of what we are seeing in the new social media are old media ideas: brands broadcasting, announcing offers, pushing out messages rather than inventing new creative experiences? Is it because more folks in the creative community have yet to actually start using social media like Twitter?
Bill: To keep your ads fresh, you’ve got to keep yourself fresh. Live in the current idiom and you will create in it. If you follow and enjoy and are excited by the new trails in art, in writing, in industry, in personal relationships, whatever you do will naturally be of today.
C_U: I recently posted a piece showing a campaign used to launch Evil Minds, a Discovery Network show that looks inside the mind of a murderer. Did you see it? Any thoughts?
Bill: All of us professionals who use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.”
C_U: Are you saying that we shouldn’t express strong points of view?
Bill: If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and some against you. If you stand for nothing, you will find nobody against you and nobody for you.
C_U: What about people who tweet all their personal little actions?
Bill: There is practically nothing that is not capable of boring us.
C_U: Finally, any recommendations on who to follow on Twitter?
Bill: The real giants have always been poets, men who jumped from facts into the realm of imagination and ideas.
Creative is changing, are you changing with it?
Please use the Fullscreen function. from Morten Halvorsen on Vimeo.
We can talk forever about how we need to change up the creative team, how it’s no longer about a writer and art director, how you need to combine tech and pr and media into one team, how TV and even websites don’t matter anymore, how all content needs to be distributed, how it’s the experience that matters, how creating something that involves and engages is far more compelling then a message. Or we can dispel all the talk and just watch this video showcasing an idea to launch Discovery Channel’s upcoming season of Most Evil. It was created by Hallvard Fjeldbraaten & Morten Halvorsen, students at Westerdals School of Communication in Norway. Sure we can question the subject and the product being advertised, but if this doesn’t get you excited about the new possibilities, nothing will. And if you’re not already thinking like this, you better start.
A special thanks to @gerzen for his initial post on Twitter and to @quiverandquill for forwarding it.
What are your thoughts? Good example? Irresponsible? There’s already discussion on Twitter. In fact the highly regarded creative director and author Ernie Schenk questions whether it enters the space he calls the “no fly zone.” Let us know what you think.
Two worthy Snag Film documentaries: one old, one new
Snag Films lets you put a mini movie theatre anywhereI would have loved to get to New York this month to take my kids to the International Children’s Film Festival. Unfortunately, it’s not going to happen. But poking around on the web and looking at the scheduled films I noticed that the main documentary at this year’s festival, Circus School, was available for free in its entirety at Snag Films. That inspired me to post it here along with another old favorite, Inside John Lennon, which you can also find at Snag.
Circus School is a Chinese news documentary exploring the grueling training of young acrobats. The Lennon movie is a refreshing, captivating portrayal told in the words of the people who knew him best.
If you can get to New York, the International Children’s Film Festival runs from through March 15. If you can’t you can certainly get to Snag Films where you’ll find lots more documentaries all available for free viewing.
If you have your own favorite documentaries, share them here. And if you’re finding the posts here at all interesting, click the RSS at the top right hand side of the page and subscribe.
