Apple’s TV ads for iPhone apps declare: “We have an app for that”. Seems like Apple has an app in its App Store for just about everything–stain removal tips, color sampling, meal planning, coffee runs and a slew of time-wasting novelties.

The growth in mobile apps is being fueled, in part, by consumer marketers that are throwing their hats into the app development ring. My new report, “Mobile Apps and Consumer Products Brands”, which is available on eMarketer Total Access, cautions marketers to think about where in the mobile, digital marketing and media plan an app fits before they get too excited.

“The question isn’t ‘Why would P&G or Kraft or Clorox want an app?’” John Hadl, founder and CEO of BrandinHand, told eMarketer. “You start with the premise of ‘I don’t know if I want an app. I know that I want to help and touch and improve consumers’ lives and make products to do that.’ You start there, then ask whether mobile can play a role. And of all the things one can do in mobile, is a mobile app the best way of doing it?”

Your customers are a good place to start. Then, after analyzing how your brand’s customers might be helped by an app, marketers should come up with a strategy where the app fills a unique and compelling need. It should make a consumer’s life easier and more fun, or offer a useful benefit—or it might successfully combine both of these objectives.

We’ve published several interviews and case studies on consumer brands and mobile apps in the past few weeks. Here’s a rundown:

• Jeremy Lockhorn, Razorfish: Why Consumer Brands Should Be Thinking About Mobile Apps.
• Jami Lawrence, Publicis Modem: Mobile Marketing & App Strategies for Food Brands.
• Chris Epple, PepsiCo: Propelling the Pepsi Spirit with Mobile Apps.
• Ed Kaczmarek, Kraft: Kraft’s Mobile Branding Recipe.
• Amanda Mahan, Clorox: Clorox App Gives Consumers Content They Want.

A lot of brands are struggling to figure out what they want out of apps. Sure, they want to collect more consumer data, insights into shopping habits and preferences, behaviors at home and elsewhere and links to their loyalty programs. But like any other digital or non-digital marketing program, they are looking for benchmarks and metrics by which they can evaluate an app’s “effectiveness” and engagement. It’s not enough for someone just to download an app, play around with it once and never use it again. There has to be some pattern of repeat usage and links to social media.

Here’s something noteworthy on that score: iPhone users downloaded the most apps in Q4 2009 with an average of 37 per user, according to The Nielsen Company’s App Playbook. No surprise there. But Android users had an average of 22 app downloads per user, showing that the Google platform is running hard and fast. The Playbook found that users of other mobile devices downloaded an average of 16 apps, Palm had 14, Microsoft Windows Mobile scored 13 and Blackberry came in last with 10.

But don’t you want to know how many times each of those users actually engaged with, i.e., used the app? I do.

More consumer packaged goods brands are getting into the online video content game. Take the case of consumer products giant Clorox–its Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing brand has produced “Garden Party”, a series of original Webisodes extolling the virtues of fresh, seasonal veggies. The series of Web shorts star actress Jennie Garth of “90210″ fame, a mom of three and an advocate of healthy eating. The Webisodes are being distributed via iVillage.

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Here’s a quick round-up of interviews and social media case studies eMarketer has conducted recently. Take a peek:

• Building Customer Relationships with Kraft: Kelley Woodland of Kraft North America discusses the company’s CRM initiatives and the ways in which consumers and brand loyalists are influencing everything from product development to meal planning tips.
• My Coke Rewards: Combining Mobile and Social Media to Drive Brand Loyalty: We recently chatted with Michael La Kier of Coca-Cola about how the company ties social media and mobile marketing into its My Coke Rewards program to drive brand loyalty.
• How Facebook Can be a Revenue Source for Retailers: A look into Best Buy’s Twelpforce efforts on Twitter, as well as their innovative virtual storefront on Facebook.
• Showing CPGs How to Socialize: Susan Baba of Proctor & Gamble discusses how social media is a way for Dawn “to have a voice other than ‘Hey, I’m your dish liquid.’”
• The Changing Mobile Social Ad Space: Justin Siegel of MocoSpace talk about how the mobile social networking space has evolved and where MocoSpace differentiates itself from some of its larger competitors.
• The Challenges and Opportunities of Mobile Social Networks: Adam Broitman of Circ.us chats about the what’s to come in the emerging mobile social networking space, and how marketers stand to benefit.
• Finding (Southern) Comfort in Online Marketing: Lena DerOhannessian of Brown-Forman discusses the company’s recent switch to all-online advertising and how they are thinking ‘outside the bottle.’
• Going Social for the Holidays (and the Rest of the Year): Gordon Magee of Drs. Foster & Smith chats about the company’s holiday marketing plans and the need for communicating the company’s value and building customer relationships through social media and community.
• Marketing in a Tough Economy: David Lonczak, the Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of drugstore.com, chatted with us about what — despite the recession — his team does to boost sales, retain customers, prioritize marketing initiatives, and more.
• Helping Wal-Mart Get Interactive: Kenny Tomlin of Rockfish Interactive chats with us about the company’s work with Wal-Mart and the social media forecast.
• Clorox: Rewiring The Brand Experience With Social Media: Mary O’Connell of Clorox talks about the company’s efforts to make digital and social media part of its brands’ success. O’Connell referred to creating a new vision of digital marketing that is “rewiring and re-imagining our entire brand experience. Read on.
• The Customer Relationship Management Opportunity on Facebook: Rahim Fazal, CEO of social media application company Involver, says that businesses should assign more value to consumer interactions in social media, and measure the impact over the long term, not just during a promotion.

The interviews and case studies are available in their full form to eMarketer Total Access subscribers only. Every day they have access to new interviews with digital marketing leaders and trendsetting entrepreneurs.

We’ve posted a few great interviews recently from our Total Access database — here’s a quick roundup of the action:

• Helping Wal-Mart Get Interactive: Kenny Tomlin of Rockfish Interactive chats with us about the company’s work with Wal-Mart and the social media forecast.
• Clorox: Rewiring The Brand Experience With Social Media: Mary O’Connell of Clorox talks about the company’s efforts to make digital and social media part of its brands’ success. O’Connell referred to creating a new vision of digital marketing that is “rewiring and re-imagining our entire brand experience.
• Integrated Marketing and Media at P&G: Clark Reinhard of Procter & Gamble describes the integrated marketing and media strategy for launching the Scope Outlast product line, which includes online video consumer testimonials and multimedia tie-ins with “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest.
• Best Buy Talks Social Commerce on Facebook: We chat with Tracy Benson, the Senior Director of Interactive Marketing & Emerging Media at Best Buy, about the company’s recent launch of social commerce campaigns on Facebook and Twitter.
• The Social Power of User-Generated Content: Sam Decker of Bazaarvoice explains how retailers use customer reviews and stories to drive measurable business results.
• Coke Weighs The Value of Social Media: Carol Kruse develops interactive marketing programs and experiences for Coca-Cola’s global brands around the world. Here, Ms. Kruse discusses Coke’s use of digital media and marketing and the evolution of social media.
• How Honest Tea Brews Buzz Online: Jesse Merrill, the director of marketing at Honest Tea, chats about the company’s word-of-mouth and grassroots approach to marketing.

I spoke recently with Mary O’Connell of Clorox about the company’s efforts to make digital and social media part of its brands’ success. O’Connell referred to creating a new vision of digital marketing that is “rewiring and re-imagining our entire brand experience. Read on:

eMarketer: What role does digital marketing—and media and social media, in particular—play for Clorox brands?

Mary O’Connell: We’ve been looking at social media intensely in the past 18 months or more. We’ve made great strides as a company in incorporating digital marketing and media into almost all of our marketing communications plans, so we made a conscious move into social media. My group is creating a new vision of digital marketing, which is we are rewiring and re-imagining our entire brand experience.

eMarketer: Green Works is a relatively new brand in the Clorox portfolio. How is it using social media and digital marketing to enhance brand awareness?

Ms. O’Connell: When we launched Green Works, we made certain that we went where our consumers are. This was a very conscious decision and the Green Works consumer is highly evolved in the digital space.

We have a blog site called the Shades of Green Journal and a program called 30 Days to Natural. With Green Works, we were very transparent about the ingredients in the products. At the beginning of this year, we began providing full ingredient disclosure about all of our cleaning products on our corporate Website and the Green Works site.

The Shades of Green Journal is a blog where we share relevant news and developments at Green Works and the natural category. 30 Days to Natural is a very lightly branded way of engaging consumers and providing tips on the things they can do to lead a more natural lifestyle. We also have a ratings and review function on our Green Works site. Consumers post and tell us what they think about the products, which we think is hugely important.

eMarketer: Has Green Works sponsored any online content on green or natural products/living sites and blogs?

Ms. O’Connell: We were the platinum sponsor of the BlogHer conference this year. We also had a conference of aggregated Twitter and blog content with live feeds offering information based on Green Works microsites. We also have a relationship with the Sundance Channel for paid media. Brita had a program called “Show Us Your Green Room Contest” that targeted college students and was tied in with Facebook.

Fresh Step cat litter has a Facebook presence and a cause marketing relationship with the ASPCA. Clorox has its own Facebook page aimed at the issues mothers and families face with respect to the health and wellness of their family.

Just before the Labor Day holiday this year, Clorox offered free disinfecting wipes to teachers. So, in the midst of concerns about the H1N1 virus, we teamed with the National Education Association and offered wipes to every teacher in the country. Teachers went to CloroxClassrooms.com to register for and download a free coupon for Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. In a four-day period, more than 100,000 teachers redeemed coupons—that was a program launched through social media in real time.

eMarketer: How was the site promoted?

Ms. O’Connell: Teachers knew to go to the site through promotion by the NEA. We did some traditional media, but most of the promotion was done through bloggers who cover teachers, health, education and schools, and on Twitter. Even bloggers who just write about free things wrote to us and asked for the link to the program.
We’re also very active on Twitter. The Twitter homepage lists the top 10 trending topics and Labor Day weekend, CloroxClassrooms.com was among the top 10 topics of the day. We knew the word would be spread through teacher blogs and mom blogs. It really demonstrated the power of social media in a situation like this.

It’s critical for us to offer something of value to consumers. Earlier this year Clorox was recognized by the Marketing to Moms Coalition for excellence in how we outreach to bloggers. Bloggers gave us a high rating in terms of offering the mom bloggers valuable information that they could share with their readers. We want to offer useful information and have an ongoing dialogue with this audience.

The full version of this interview is available here, to eMarketer Total Access subscribers only. Every day they have access to new interviews with digital marketing leaders and trendsetting entrepreneurs.