1. Branded apps for high involvement products:
the results of an empirical study
Federica Pascucci
Sara Bartoloni
Department of Management,
Università Politecnica delle Marche
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

2. Branded applications
« Software downloadable to a mobile device which prominently displays a brand identity, often via the name of the app and the appearance of a brand logo or icon, through the user experience.» (Bellman et al. 2011, )
In 2012 annual downloads of mobile apps reached 64 billion, with a total revenue of $18 billion.
Branded mobile applications enable companies to implement pull-type communication.
In contrast to the other forms of advertising, branded apps are welcomed by customers because they are useful.
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

3. Literature review
Despite the great increase of the phenomenon, mobile marketing and branded apps research is still in its early stages.
Much of the research is still focused on push-based mobile marketing, such as SMS and m-advertisement. There is a gap regarding pull-based mobile marketing, such as branded applications.
Further research is needed to gain an in-depth understanding of how applications are and can be used in the marketing strategy.
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

4. The focus will be on high-involvement products, such as furniture
Research questions
Analyze the propensity of firms to use branded apps in their communication strategies.
Explore the reasons why and the way how some firms are already using them.
The focus will be on high-involvement products, such as furniture
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

5. The adopted methodology can be divided in two different steps:
Descriptive and quantitative analysis of the existing situation of the mobile branded applications market in the Italian furniture industry.
Longitudinal analysis across two different years (December 2012, February 2014)
The sample consists of the one hundred companies with the highest turnover in the Italian furniture industry.
The analysis included the following variables: number and type of apps developed by each firm, operating system chosen (iOS or Android), mobile device (smartphone or tablet), integration with the corporate site, optimization of the site. .
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

6. Results of quantitative analysis
2012
2014
no. of companies with at least one app
13 (13%)
20 (20%)
Total no. of apps 19 28
no. of iPhone apps
11 (57.9%)
17 (60.7%)
no. of iPad apps
17 (89.5%)
26 (92.8%)
no. of Android Phone apps
4 (21%)
6 (21.4%)
no. of Android Tablet apps
5 (26.3%)
7 (25%)
Total no. of iOS apps
18 (94.7%)
27 (96.4%)
Total no. of Android apps
7 (36.84%)
8 (28.57%)
no. of companies with at least one app among the top ten
1 (1%)
2 (2%)
no. of companies with at least one app among the latest 15
4 (26.7%)
Integration with the corporate website
10 (52.6%)
12 (42.9%)
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

7. Results of quantitative analysis CLASSIFICATION OF APPLICATIONS
2012
2014
no. of marketing apps
18 (94.7%)
27 (96.4%)
no. of institutional apps
1 (5.2%)
1 (3.6%)
no. of m-commerce apps
no. of information content apps
16 (84.2%)
25 (89.3%)
no. of service content apps
2 (10.5%)
2 (7.1%)
no. of entertainment apps
1 (5.3%)
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

8. METHODOLOGY
Step 2:
A qualitative study carried out through the analysis of three case studies. Data were collected through in-depth interviews.
Company A, B and C:
are included in the sample of the 20 companies operating in the sector, that have developed at least one mobile application;
are interviewed about their digital communication and about the characteristics of the branded app (motivations, objectives, target, contents, results) . .
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

9. Main findings and managerial implications
Companies are still reluctant to incorporate branded apps into their marketing strategies.
This is probably a consequence of the industry’s nature.
19% realizes the optimization of the website. They are not the same ones who developed branded apps.
Branded apps and mobile site are seen as an alternative choice by firms, which are not aware of the differences between these two formats.
Firms continue to not consider the Android target in their mobile marketing strategy, even if nowadays it represents the widest App Market in the world.
There is a gap in the technology adoption process between customers and firms.
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

10. Main findings and managerial implications
Companies opted for a marketing app with an information content. The predominant function among all applications is the catalogue-viewing function.
Branded apps could become a useful tool to vehicle company’s and product information to customers.
Regarding high-involvement products the app’s goal is not to create brand awareness, but to provide information and services.
The past literature is primarily concentrated on mobile applications for the consumers, while this study draws attention to BusinessToBusiness applications.
Apps could be an effective support tool for sales force:
Catalogue function solves the problem of space
The app is a means of direct communication
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

11. Limitations and Future Research
The research method does not allow the generalization of the findings. As a consequence, there are some open-ended results:
The use of branded apps could become an effective tool for companies that want to reach international markets. Future research could verify the existence of a relationship between export intensity and propensity to use mobile apps through a quantitative analysis.
Lack of quantitative metrics to measure the apps’ return on the investments. There is the need to define a pool of quantitative metrics that can help managers to measure the results, especially in the case of apps different by m-commerce apps.
The research takes under consideration high-involvement products only.
It would be interesting to investigate low-involvement products in order to identify different strategy and different uses of branded apps.
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy

12. Thank you for the attention
Wednesday, July 16th 2014
Ancona, Italy