Download this report and all past Startup Outlook reports at www.startupoutlook.com.

Several of the startups featured in this edition (see below) recently joined us for a panel discussion in a special Internet Week rendition of Startup Outlook. The Curation Nation panel included Sam Epstein, VP of Platform at RebelMouse; Toby Hervey, Director of Strategy & Business Development at #waywire; Freddie Laker, Founder & CEO of Guide; and Matt Corey, Chief Marketing Officer at Mass Relevance, a startup featured in our last Startup Outlook report.

The event kicked off with presentations from each of the startups and concluded with a Mass Relevance-powered Q&A, in which audience members were able to submit questions via Twitter for the panel to answer. Panelists provided insightful responses to questions ranging in topic from their initial “light bulb” ideas to copyright and release issues, to what’s next for the platform and their favorite startup success stories.

As was confirmed by the panelists and their respective startups, the volume of content produced and shared online continues to proliferate, and platforms with the ability to create a signal amidst the social noise have the potential to unlock tremendous value. The companies profiled in the report below – Flayvr, Guide, RebelMouse, Storify and #waywire – all have strong value propositions for both brands and consumers.

Download Startup Outlook: The Content Curation Edition [PDF]

Flayvr

*Value: Flayvr is an app for iOS (iPhone) and Android devices that automatically collects photos and videos in albums and shares them with other social networks through a single link. The mobile-optimized landing page is beautifully designed and makes it easy for others to peruse a number of photos and videos at once. Additionally, the app asks permission to access your calendar, so it is able to instantly arrange media that matches up with events. Flavyr is exploring various hooks for brands as well, such as offering branded accounts to follow with the potential to promote them in the app. Marketers can also use Flayvr’s technology to curate content for events online or offline.

*Applicability: While the consumer app is relatively new, Flavyr’s curation technology has been used by a number of marketers already. It can be especially enticing for an event that will trigger a lot of user-generated media from participants, though marketers can just as easily use it for their own content.
Note: the event could just as easily be a conference, in-store function or online experience around a TV show airing.

*Prominence: Exposure in-app will be minimal at first, as Flayvr works to expand its reach. The bigger opportunity for brands at present is to use Flavyr’s technology to create stand-out experiences around live events.

*Ingenuity: Adding calendar access is one of those smart features that becomes virtually impossible to forget once you try it — and you’ll wonder why other apps aren’t using it, too. The overall design is impressive, and it works well on massive screens at live events or via mobile devices. Given the fairly early stage of the app and company, marketers will have their own opportunity to explore innovative, first-mover use cases themselves.

Guide

*Value: Guide is a very new startup that uses artificial intelligence technology to curate news sources and broadcast them as a video feed. It’s presented in a format akin to the nightly news (or The Daily Show), but in this case, viewers pick which news sources and channels they want to watch, and then pick which kind of anchor avatar they want to read them the updates. While Guide hasn’t publicly launched just yet, one can envision brands taking part in various ways, such as promoting their content or creating relevant avatars.

*Applicability: Entertainment brands with a lot of their own content would likely be the best fits early on, as well as the most probable early adopters here. Brands with iconic mascots and spokespeople may also be intrigued. Perhaps we will soon have Flo from Progressive Insurance, Tony the Tiger, or the Most Interesting Man in the World as news anchors.

*Prominence: If brands do end up incorporating their own mascots, it will be a great opportunity for them to create a one-of-a-kind experience. Marketers should make sure such experiences are easy for users to find within the Guide experience.

*Ingenuity: There are a lot of news readers out there, most of which have lean forward approaches such as Flipboard and Pulse that involve scrolling through image-heavy news snippets. One can also subscribe to video channels on YouTube, or through the startup #waywire (see p.4). Guide’s biggest challenge will be to trigger a new consumer behavior, with people growing accustomed to watching video feeds of text and image heavy news, while also selling in the idea of the avatar itself. If people embrace it, marketers will be excited to see that there are potential integration points for brands right from the start.

RebelMouse

*Value: RebelMouse collects a user’s or brand’s content feeds from Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, and Google+ and curates them all on a single page that’s easy to scan and peruse. People can use it as a personal homepage if they like, while brands and publishers can set up their own profiles, or, for a monthly fee, power a RebelMouse page as part of their website. In April, RebelMouse announced a native ad offering that grants publishers the ability to enlist advertisers to sponsor some of the embedded content on their own pages.

*Applicability: Publishers may appreciate curation, but this is especially useful for brands with a lot of scattered social content that want to collect it all in one place. Early adopters include a diverse roster of brands such as General Electric, Marc Ecko and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

*Prominence: The biggest opportunity for brands is to embed a RebelMouse page on their site, thereby using the curation platform to power their own social newsrooms. Marketers should understand that they will need to generate any traffic going to their RebelMouse page.

*Ingenuity: While for consumers, RebelMouse’s closest alternative is About.me to curate one’s own social content, for brands, RebelMouse stands out as an especially easy way to organize content. One of the biggest challenges is that it may be too basic in its structure and design. Once you see any page powered by RebelMouse, every other page looks exactly the same. Greater customization options will allow brands to get more creative with the canvas.

Storify

*Value: Storify curates topic-specific recaps of news, events, user-generated content or any kind of scenario where people are sharing a lot of content via social media. Storify’s content editor recommends the most relevant images, videos, tweets and other content to share. Brands and publishers can use the free, ad-supported version, upgrade to a business account for additional features (private posts, better SEO options, ad-free posts, etc.) or the VIP version for full API access and other advanced options. Expect more advertising offerings to roll out in the coming months.

*Applicability: Publishers, especially news outlets, have been the quickest to use Storify to curate their own content or content from users. As brand marketers adopt more of a newsroom approach to content marketing, Storify will become even more relevant for them, too.

*Prominence: Storify promotes some of the most popular and compelling content on its homepage, but marketers should expect to drive most of the traffic to Storify pages through their own channels such as social, email and their website.

*Ingenuity: Ultimately, like any content publishing software, the technology is only as good as the content created with it. Brand-name publishers and savvy consumers are increasingly using Storify to turn scattered content into stories, and with the VIP offerings, one could never tell that the aggregation is powered by a third party. Media companies have led the way, from massive corporations to local affiliates, but now the brands acting like media companies will get to take part as well.

#waywire

*Value: #waywire is a video curation startup co-founded by Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Anyone can curate channels of video from all over the web. Its design makes many call it “Pinterest for video,” but #waywire provides a much different experience, especially as people going there to watch content will likely take more of a lean back approach to consume several videos at once. Marketers can create their own channels. For instance, fashion site Refinery29 has separate channels for Fashion, Nightlife & Music and Beauty. Other custom offerings for marketers are likely to follow.

*Applicability: The most obvious fit is for marketers that have a lot of video content and want to better organize it, or to distribute it to a wider audience. There are two other good use cases here. One is for a brand that solicits a lot of user-generated video, or that wants to aggregate a lot of videos others create relating to the brand. Additionally, marketers adopting a brand newsroom mentality may use #waywire to curate content around topics that are relevant to them. For example, a low-calorie beverage brand might curate videos about healthy living to further its positioning in the health and wellness space.

*Prominence: Right now, marketers will just need to plan on promoting their own content and channels on Waywire, though there may be more options for brands in time.

*Ingenuity: YouTube already allows curating videos into lists, but only YouTube videos. #waywire was built from the ground up with curation in mind. YouTube offers marketers far more options for advertising and marketing, but #waywire may meet some curation needs that YouTube and other video sites can’t quite fulfill.

Read past issues of 360i’s Startup Outlook at www.startupoutlook.com.

As an innovative marketer successfully navigating an ever-changing landscape, Equifax is reinforcing its commitment to making digital and data cornerstones of its growth trajectory.

Terry Griffin, senior marketing executive for Equifax Personal Solutions, told Ad Age, “We needed to accelerate our growth and we needed to partner with someone who would advance the strategy for acquiring valuable long-term customers.”

In our Lead Agency role, we’ve been asked to lead all direct-to-consumer integrated marketing efforts for the brand’s Credit and Identity Protection services, with responsibilities including communications strategy, creative, consumer insights, media planning and buying, search marketing and cross-channel analytics.

Our first assignment will be to develop and execute a data-driven acquisition strategy rooted in measurement and consumer insight for Equifax’s Personal Solutions business unit, which includes Equifax.com and IdentityProtection.com.

We’ll also be working with Equifax to set up a new data-management platform, which will serve as a central repository for all of the brand’s data and allow us to easily analyze across media to identify new opportunities.

“Being able to bring all of our data, online and offline, and action it quickly will give us not just that CPA insight, but let us see how [consumers] are shopping where they’re shopping,” Griffin said.

We look forward to partnering with Equifax as it places data and analytics at the center of its integrated marketing efforts.

In a blog post promising not to “screw up” Tumblr, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer announced that her company would be acquiring the platform, home to more than 100 million millennial creators, GIFs and adorable animals.

The web is buzzing about whether Yahoo! will be able to keep its promise to maintain the integrity of the Tumblr user experience – but what about the positives the media giant could bring to the platform?

As ‘A-List’ partners with Tumblr and big fans of the platform ourselves, we’re inviting the folks at Yahoo! to think about how they can make this new pairing awesome for everyone on board, GIFs and all. Here are three ways Yahoo! can keep its promise:

1. Continue Karp’s native advertising model with tags and dashboard.When Tumblr introduced advertising to the platform last year, Founder & CEO David Karp explained to users that they’d “already seen [Tumblr’s] ad unit,” referring to the millions of posts uploaded to Tumblr every day. Tumblr’s foray into native advertising has so far been successful, enabling brands to promote a piece of content in the Tumblr Radar (shown on the sidebar for all users) for 24 hours. The Yahoo! deal could help bring more offerings faster, and make them more relevant to users without plastering blogs with ads.

   *Tags: As 360i CEO Bryan Wiener notes in the Wall Street Journal, “Tags are a huge part of Tumblr culture, and one of the biggest vehicles for content discovery on the platform.” Yahoo! could use its muscle to allow brands to sponsor content featured in tags like #Fashion #GIF or #LOL. This is a format that advertisers already use and respect – and as is the case with Promoted Tweets, tags would help filter more relevant content to users without advertising on the blogs themselves.
   
   *Dashboard: Similarly, offering limited content in the users’ dashboards, based on interest and engagement, could offer up more targeted content without cluttering the dashboards with an onslaught of irrelevant ads. In fact, Mayer noted that “light” dashboard ads are indeed part of the plan during a May 20 conference call.

2. Use your search background to help out with targeting.Yahoo! could use its technology to improve Tumblr’s search functionality, which would be a boon for users and advertisers alike. In offering more robust search functionality – by keywords as well as tags, date and popularity – Tumblr could also potentially sell promoted content within search. Beyond that, another bonus would be to help offer age and location targeting – for both content and ads, which would open the platform up to new kinds of advertisers.
3. Give back to the world’s creators by funding content.Tumblr calls itself home to “the world’s creators” and certainly has the user base to back it up. Could this new deal help fund some of those creators getting a start on the platform, similar to what YouTube has done to fund video creators? This would be a strong move on Yahoo!’s part to prove the legitimacy of its desire to not “screw it up,” as well as pay homage to the users who helped make this deal possible.

*****

This deal with Yahoo! signals a new era for Tumblr. It’s no longer the niche platform filled with quirky GIFs, hipster pets and beautiful artwork. It’s now a social media giant that everyone is paying attention to – and yes, that is still filled with quirky GIFs.

Cover photo via Guardian

Over the next 12 weeks, Kraft Cheese is creating themed pinboards that will include up to 15 inspiring grilling essentials and be comprised of recipes, theme decorations, grilling supplies and more. Pinterest users are encouraged to create custom backyard boards by re-pinning their favorite four essentials form Kraft’s boards. Pinners may then submit their personal pinboard URL to KraftCheese.com/recipeforsummer to be entered into the sweepstakes.

Each week, Kraft Cheese will surprise one lucky random pinner with a $350 Visa gift card, Kraft Cheese gratuity coupons and a Weber Grill. The sweepstakes will be promoted through display banner ads and media partnerships, within the brand’s Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter communities as well as via a separate TV campaign.

Creative summer grilling ideas will also be available on the Kraft Singles’ site, which 360i has helped Kraft transform into a “grilling hub,” complete will recipes and grilling tips that will make this summer a summer to remember.

As someone who lives and breathes in this space everyday, I’m often surprised by the number of misconceptions that exist about this subset of marketing. It is my belief that the lack of clarity on programmatic buying is a big part of our industry’s general ambivalence toward it: Whereas some advertisers are reticent to accept programmatic buying as a viable tactic, others have embraced it with open arms.

The goal of this column is to distill what programmatic inventory entails at its most basic level and debunk some of the most common myths that surround it.

Myth #1: “Programmatic buying and real-time bidding (RTB) are one and the same.”

Fact: Programmatic buying is a term widely used to define the automated nature in which media buying and selling takes place. It is simply the process of executing media buys through digital technology platforms rather than through manual negotiations. Real-time bidding, or RTB, is a form of programmatic buying where ad inventory is bid on and sold within an auction environment in real-time.

Programmatic methods remove the friction that exists in traditional media buying to permit faster execution of user-level targeting at scale. Most often you’ll hear this term associated with online display buying, but, as programmatic evolves, it is growing into other areas such as out-of-home and – someday – television, too.

RTB has existed in search for more than a decade. The most common description of how RTB functions involves a “pipe” (access to inventory, such as an ad exchange) and a “brain” (bidder that uses an algorithm to determine whether to submit a bid request). The “pipe” announces each biddable impression available for the “brain” to evaluate and determine the optimal price to pay.

Myth #2: “Automation will replace media management.”

Fact: The human element of programmatic buying is critical to its success.

Programmatic buying is both an art and a science. The scientific component – the algorithm – gets most of the glory, but the human element is crucial to proper execution. Algorithms are only as good as the data that feeds them. And data is only as good as the strategies it informs.

Marketers can use data to inform optimization strategies, such as frequency capping, distribution of money and seasonality. So, while systems help bring data to light, human intuition still matters. Technology has altered the role of the media planner, but it has not eliminated it. More data requires more strategic thinking around that data, especially when it comes to assessing potential partners and optimizing buys over time.

Myth #3: “The inventory is no good.”

Fact: There is, in fact, quality inventory available to advertisers and real push from within our industry for publishers to police their inventory and expand the creative canvases available for programmatic buying.

Some of the most premium publishers around the web open their inventory to exchanges and SSPs. Top-tier pubs like Forbes, Conde Nast and Hearst have all opened up their inventory to allow for programmatic buying.

And while advertisers are constrained to a subset of formats (standard IAB ad units), there is promise for future growth and maturation in the types of ad canvases that marketers can utilize. Of course, the continued evolution of emerging units (such as those put forth as part of the IAB Rising Stars program) is dependant on publisher adoption.

As inventory becomes more and more commoditized, it is in publishers’ best interest to be more selective with the ad space they offer. Promoting scarcity – to some degree at least – and creating more premium ad experiences will allow them to clear bids at higher rates and provide higher quality inventory to advertisers. This will also help overturn the misconception that the quality of programmatic inventory, generated in large part by ad exchanges, is universally poor.

Myth #4: “Programmatic buying is hard to do.”

Fact: Programmatic buying isn’t inherently “hard,” but proper management cannot be understated. Choosing the right partner is essential for marketers entering the programmatic space.

Marketers should enlist partners that not only have access to inventory and the ability to process millions of bid requests or queries per second (QPS), but also ones that are positioned to incorporate rich audience segmenting and provide deep data intelligence to meet their goals and objectives.

This is where the “art” piece of the puzzle comes into play. Having access to the right technology does not automatically guarantee success in the programmatic space. Marketers should assemble a team of the “right” people as well – experienced buyers and analysts able to pull the levers and make sense of the data.

Programmatic creates efficiencies and eliminates artificial cost inflation on a plan by consolidating efforts and minimizing overlap among partners that are achieving the same ends within the campaign. Of course, these efficiencies are only met by employing a strategy that places a human filter on the wealth of data on hand.

Big Data necessitates big brains behind it – analysts able to continuously decode patterns and identify opportunities from a stockpile of data, including first-party data from the advertiser, second-party data originating from the analyst teams themselves and third-party data from various partners and providers. Constant and vigilant data-mining and analysis is critical to developing ongoing optimization strategies.

Myth #5: “Programmatic buying is a ‘black box.’”

Fact: Programmatic buying is actually the most transparent type of buy marketers can put on a plan.

At its core, programmatic buying promotes transparency and increases the control marketers have when it comes to when and where their ads are displayed. It allows advertisers to see the market value for each user – and in some cases, gain transparency into the actual fee that third-parties apply to the media or data. The automated nature of programmatic also allows marketers to set bid thresholds, customize their own inventory mix for optimal performance and obtain URL-level performance metrics amongst other things.

Some marketers see programmatic buying as a challenge since it involves working with their holding company’s trading desk— which is separate from the day-to-day media team.  At 360i, we have a dedicated programmatic buying group that handles such efforts directly on behalf of marketers, and works closely with the media and analytics teams to inform optimization strategies.

*****

Programmatic buying methods, especially RTB, are on the rise. According to a recent eMarketer study, digital display ad spend is projected to increase 73 percent this year. This means that about 1 in 5 display ad dollars will be transacted via RTB in 2013 – a healthy and growing share of the display market.

As programmatic buying continues to grow in prominence, advertisers and media buyers can no longer afford to be afraid of or perplexed by automated processes. Education will be paramount to socializing programmatic within the media buying space and dispelling the myths outlined above.

Planners should feel empowered to ask the same questions they would of a third-party vendor and recognize that a sound strategy is core to the success of any programmatic campaign. Though automated, programmatic is far from a ‘set it and forget it’ panacea for digital media buying. It’s simply another tool in a media planner’s ever-expanding toolbox for achieving client objectives.

Cover photo via MITSloan

Tickets to the May 22 event are still available at curationnation.eventbrite.com, but limited spots remain so be sure to RSVP as soon as possible.

The event will share how four leading curation startups are using technology to help brands and consumers surface content more efficiently. Each speaker will have the opportunity to solo-present about their respective companies and then panelists will join on stage for a moderated Q&A session. During this time we’ll take live questions from the audience via Twitter, an experience powered by Mass Relevance.

The panel will include: Matt Corey, Chief Marketing Officer at Mass Relevance; Sam Epstein, VP of Platform at RebelMouse; Toby Hervey, Director of Strategy & Business Development at #waywire; and Freddie Laker, Founder & CEO of Guide.

That’s when we created and developed the campaign “Soften the Blow” to wrap the web in ComfortBlend – sharing demolition-style content that leverages the power of digital in a creative way. To put this into action, Hanes launched four separate web videos as part of a series that feature Al Lenderson – a quirky guy so obsessed with ComfortBlend that he can’t wait to share it with the world – in extreme scenarios where he wraps delicate items in such products to see if they’ll survive falls, crashes and even catapulted hurls at hard objects. Paid media is supporting the effort to help Al further spread the word about his passion for ComfortBlend.

Cover photo via Cargo Collective

Since being purchased by Facebook in April 2012, Instagram has consistently inched toward full integration with the Facebook platform. Instagram has expanded its mobile application to web profiles, dropped Twitter support (users can no longer view Instagram images within the feed) and even updated its privacy policy.

Last week, Instagram launched a new feature called “Photos of You” – marking its very own take on Facebook’s popular tagging feature. Now, users can tag their friends and those photos will show up in a separate section of the profile.

While the update itself isn’t particularly ground-breaking, “Photos of You” seems to indicate Instagram’s growing desire to appeal to brands and businesses. On its business blog, Instagram writes, “As a business or brand, ‘Photos of You’ gives you a new way to curate and share the photos that best showcase your brand as documented by your biggest fans.”

Though Instagram hasn’t yet established an advertising platform, that hasn’t stopped brands from finding ways to reach engaged consumers within the platform. As noted in Ad Age, brands have been able to increase reach on the Instagram platform via earned media and influencer marketing efforts.

The “Photos of You” feature gives brands an opportunity to do more than simply use word-of-mouth marketing to reach fans on the platform; it gives them insight into how their products are being used and experienced— and then captured by consumers in their everyday lives.

Knowing that Instagram is all about sharing memories, brands on Instagram are positioned to be featured in a seamless, lifestyle experience. As Instagram states on its blog, “Photos are memories of the people, places and moments that mean the most to us.”

The good news for brands is that Instagram is fully vested in providing a platform for them that to build out their communities. Now, more than ever, brands will be at the forefront of visual content – what they choose to do with that spotlight is up to them.

Cover photo via The Verge

This post summarizes our collective learnings from the 2013 NewFronts. Similar to last year’s roundup, we’ll dive into the key themes that emerged, and share what they mean for marketers. We’ll also highlight a few content pieces that caught our eye over the course of the week.

The maturation of the NewFronts – now in their second year – brought three new themes of note:

1. Partnerships & technological enhancements were prominent. This year, several publishers and platforms sought out external partnerships to enhance their content portfolio, while others locked in third-party distribution avenues for their homegrown content. At the YouTube upfront, AwesomenessTV was featured as a channel that is focused on programming for the teen/tween crowd. After showcasing pieces from the channel, it was announced that they were acquired by DreamWorks, which will likely further increase their popularity and visibility. On the tech front, Hulu promised to enhance its platform to help viewers better engage with content.
2. There was an increased focus on diversity and breadth of content. Many publishers showcased digital’s capacity to find a home – and an audience – for unique video content, that otherwise might not have made it in primetime. They emphasized the creative openness of the digital space (with creators frequently citing their decision to go digital explicitly so they can maintain the integrity of their vision). Moreover, a large number of documentary-style programming is set to hit the digital video market, which seems in tune with this focus on authentic content with a unique point of view.
3. Connected, cross-device viewing emerged as core to digital content. Perhaps the greatest advantage of digital video content is its ability to build passionate fan bases that can now watch videos from virtually anywhere – from on their desktops to mobile, on gaming consoles, tablets and more. As Hulu noted: “digital video is available to consumers when, where and how they want it.”
    
   In the same vein with this trend, MSN is exploring a partnership with Nielsen Ratings to further test how video complements TV, and will be unveiling a new XBOX interface later this month that will enhance TV-streaming abilities. Social co-viewing was also a prominent theme, as Hulu unveiled social watching options that incorporate online chatter directly within the TV environment as well as Hulu clips that can be displayed directly in Twitter feeds.

Key Implications for Marketers

• Expanding the definitions of what qualifies for a NewFront: From Yahoo! introducing its new in-stream ad unit, and niche entries to this year’s NewFronts schedule in the form of gaming giant Zynga, and even a pending mobile upfront event being held later in May – marketers can expect to see these types of intensive content reveal/appeal events continue to gain popularity. It may very well be commonplace to see broad forms of digital media become part of this landscape.
• Democratization of NewFront packages: Last year, there was a collective sigh amongst marketers interested in certain YouTube channel blocks when they learned that other brands had already locked in the lion’s share of inventory for the year. YouTube responded to marketers’ concerns and revised its approach to offer more limited and confined content packages, making their content more accessible to the masses. For the NewFronts to have widespread success, offerings must appeal to both deep-pocketed marketers as well as the long tail. We saw other NewFront players address this as well through their promotion of extremely niche content (e.g. extreme sports and MSN’s electronic dance packages).
• It’s not about being better than TV; it’s about being different: A palpably more confident NewFronts took place this year – though we did see the occasional reference to the scalability of NewFront environments as compared to TV (i.e. YouTube reaching the 1 billion user mark), as well as some delicate comments around not wanting to steal from TV, but rather to complement it.
   
  That being said, the more pervasive feeling from the 2013 NewFronts is that the strength of digital content lies in its deviations from the traditional model – and not in its points of comparison or contention. Nowhere was this more overtly demonstrated than at the Hulu event. Hulu lives and breathes digital video, a fact prominently conveyed through its quality of programming, in its device-centric approach to consumers and in the deftness of its advertising packages.
   
  From the way content is created to the type of advertiser integration opportunities available, and from the breadth of devices and platforms where it’s being consumed, to its social connection opportunities – digital video content offers marketers unique opportunities that can no longer be achieved by merely extending spots. This year’s NewFronts underscored that marketer success in this space hinges on the ability and willingness of brands to be digitally explicit in their approach.

Individual Event Highlights

Appendix: The content that caught our eye

• “How to Be a YouTube Star?” – YouTube: Stemming from the DreamWorks acquisition of AwesomenessTV, and consistent with YouTube’s celebratory spirit of their homegrown user talent, this new program from AwesomenessTV will provide the tools and tips for future teens and tweens to join the ranks of YouTube celebrity.
• “Losing Your Virginity with John Stamos” – Yahoo!: John Stamos interviews celebrities about their first sexual experiences, occasionally incorporating sock puppet re-enactments and other humorous recreations. This series is co-produced by Warriors Poets and executive produced by Morgan Spurlock and John Stamos.
• “#CandidlyNicole” – AOL: Nicole Richie draws inspiration from her nearly 4 million Twitter followers to shape a unique perspective on life, love, motherhood and style. The series launches later this spring.
• “The Awesomes” – Hulu: Saturday Night Live talent, including Seth Meyers and Bill Hader, lend their voices to Hulu’s first animated original series. The overbeat superheroes program premieres July 20.
• “The Wrong Mans” – Hulu: This Hulu original, in partnership with BBC Two, features two lowly office workers who become caught up in a deadly criminal conspiracy.

Cover photo via New Media Rockstars

Victoria Austin, Associate Media Director at 360i, contributed to this report.

People in the marketing community have been quick to cite reasons why Facebook apps are on the decline, but it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not always about us. It’s actually about them – your brand’s target consumers. It’s their personal preferences and surrounding culture that truly matter, not the latest claims or myths propagated by industry insiders.

Building within the Facebook environment can prime your brand to reach a larger, more engaged audience. Facebook has more than 1 billion monthly active users that spend 6.75 hours per month on average browsing the site. With this kind of built-in reach, why wouldn’t marketers lust at the opportunity to build an experience where people already are?

Just consider the success of both The Walking Dead “Dead Yourself” app’s 2 million unique visitors and 360i client H&R Block’s “Dreamfund” app’s estimated 1 million dream submissions.

1. Since Facebook did away with true tabs* on pages, they’re now too hard for people to find. This was once true, when Facebook made the switch to Timeline, but it isn’t anymore. Not only has Facebook paid media evolved to seamlessly direct users to such apps, but tradition has it that Facebook will bring the tab design back for brand pages following the recent redesign for users. Additionally, direct linking to apps from posts has evolved to allow a more seamless user experience, thus allowing brands to abide by best practices when promoting an app
2. Facebook iFrames don’t allow for enough creative freedom. Again, once true, but developers have now evolved beyond “boxy” template offerings to what are essentially full microsites within an iFrame. Grey Poupon’s “The Society” and The Walking Dead’s “Dead Yourself” Facebook apps are examples of strong creative design and usability
3. Facebook apps don’t translate well on mobile devices. This has never been true; though it is a fact that designing for mobile is a more rigorous (and expensive) endeavor from a development standpoint – especially if you aim to deliver the exact same user experience on mobile and desktop. However, as developers adjust their capabilities to account for the ever-growing importance of mobile (as they should), the prices are adjusting as well.

***

Now that we’ve dispelled these myths, it’s hard to ignore the inherent sharability and higher potential for engagement that branded Facebook apps bring to the table. If the goal of your activation is to garner engagement and facilitate conversation, then building within Facebook may make sense for your brand. While community size may play into the app’s organic discoverability, the tool shouldn’t be discounted due to a small Facebook fan base – in fact, it could help drastically increase the number of fans in a brand’s Facebook community.

As branded content continues to skyrocket, it becomes increasingly critical for brands to be discoverable, relevant and seamless when it comes to targeting consumer activity. Given the massive reach that Facebook provides, it’s likely that no matter who your target audience is, they are on Facebook for a significant portion of their day.

*In this post we define a Facebook ‘App’ as anything custom a developer creates within the Facebook platform. A Facebook ‘Tab’ is the entry point to a simple app. You might have also heard the term Facebook ‘Canvas,’ which is a microsite-like experience that requires permission from a user to view.

Cover photo via Shinesquad