This year’s eagerly-anticipated SoDA report was just released. The 44 page document has some gems but are buried in anecdotal opinion pieces, as in previous editions, that can be a bit wishy washy. Many readers, including myself, would rather they provide real discussions and comparisons of practical advice and differing approaches to social and digital advertising that have emerged over the year. So I thought I would distill some of my favourite snippets of the report.
Of particular interest to me is the comparison between the criteria for a successful branded app developed by two highly-respected institutions: Harvard Business Review and Forrester Research. The former recommends branded apps:
- Add convenience
- Offer unique value
- Provide social value
- Offer incentives
- Entertain
While Forrester recommends apps are:
- Useful
- Usable
- Desirable
I can’t help but think Forrester mailed it in on this one, and I don’t believe this is a new theme for them. Many of their treatments of digital and social media have attempted to be the first on the scene, as they try to establish Forrester as the same definitive force online that it is in classic advertising media. Unfortunately, they seem to rush their analysis like a company pushing it’s product to market for a first mover advantage, only to discover that that advantage is worth nothing if the product is poorly conceived. Their criteria could be used for pretty much every consumer product that currently exists and Forrester’s explanation of these criteria does not reveal these to be overly simplistic labels. They truly are saying “Well, it needs to not be hard to use, it needs to do something people want, and they need to want it for them to use it”. Thanks guys.
Read the full SoDA report here: http://www.slideshare.net/sodaspeaks/the-soda-report-volume-2-2014