There’s a few very good digital tech blogs out there including Cybernetnews, Mashable and ReadWriteWeb, each of them regularly post about the latest apps on the block; here’s one from ReadWriteWeb about a bunch of apps that have stood the test of time and another from Mashable about top sites for web savvy families. The developer community churn out thousands of apps a week, each one claiming to revolutionise our lives for the better, unfortunately the majority of these apps are likely to fail. Having said that a good deal of them will emerge from the market-place victorious, with a few healthy rounds of funding and a few million users to boot.

Like I said, the utility apps market is growing exponentially as the apps become easier to build and developers get better at building them, but the sheer quantity makes it difficult for developers to crack the market and gain critical mass. This is not a problem for the efficiency of the output, mainly because failure is part of the culture and the real gems will naturally find their way to the top. What it is, however, is a great opportunity for brands to get in on the action.

Brands are also getting smart to the potential of applications - brand utility is fast becoming recognised as an effective and necessary means to engage with consumers and build new communities around the brand. I’m thinking about great examples like Metrotwin, Nike Bootcamp and MyVegas; the problem is brands are not as efficient or good at it as the wider developer community.  

So the point I’m getting to is why don’t these two networks get together more, talk more, work together more. Brands have the funds and the need, while developers have the know-how, skills and scale. What’s stopping brands working with the developer community to either appropriate existing apps or work with developers to create altogether new branded applications? 

This kind of collaboration is starting to happen within Facebook where brands are realising it’s easier and more effective to buy successful apps than it is to develop their own. Sony did it a few times when they took over the Zombie app to promote the release of a movie and Trip Advisor did it a few years back when they bought the ‘Where I’ve been’ app.

I guess I’m advocating something along the lines of the ‘Connect and Develop’ initiative A.G. Lafley, CEO & President P&G, created when he turned to the design and tech community to develop new product innovations for P&G (today 60% of all P&G products are developed outside the walls of P&G). P&G used the website YourEncore to accelerate this process, do we need something similar??

Tags: brand utility, branded applications, Brands, developer community, digital, digital branding, Inc., marketing, nike, sony, Sony Corporation