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.

We recently spoke with Chris Epple, senior manager of media strategy at PepsiCo, about the company’s Propel brand of low-calorie flavored water. Here’s a clip from the full interview about the brand’s new mobile app, and how along with product enhancements and various promotions, Pepsi is working to streamline the lives of busy female shoppers (and sell more Propel). (Read more…)

In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, and the days following it, the ads that appeared in the game got plenty of online buzz, especially if they had social media tie-ins. But what about Pepsi, which decided to opt out of the game? Will it get better ROI from the Pepsi Refresh Project that than it would have from being on the Super Bowl telecast?

A few results are starting to come in. Clickz tallied up the number of Facebook fans that Super Bowl advertisers had before and after the game. Pepsi’s rival, Coke, which had several spots during the game, added nearly 390,000 fans to its page. Pepsi added about 300,000 fans, but it still trails Coke in total fans. Coke now has nearly 5 million, while Pepsi has around 515,000.

True, fan count isn’t a very good measure of ROI. But with all the money Pepsi reportedly is devoting to digital marketing for the Refresh Project, it had an opportunity to pull closer to Coke in the social-media wars. At least by this measure, Coke still won.

And while Pepsi has gotten plenty of PR in the marketing community for its decision to skip the Super Bowl, Coke’s in-game ads generated awareness among consumers—the people who actually buy its products.

Some think Pepsi made a mistake by not tying the Refresh Project in with a Super Bowl ad. Jeremiah Owyang, a partner in the Altimeter Group, wrote this week in Forbes: “By not having any in-game discussion on the advertisements, [Pepsi] was unable to use the Super Bowl or its advertisements as a catapult to launch the campaign into the social sphere. In fact, after the game, overall mentions of Pepsi and the Pepsi Refresh campaign remained relatively on the same trajectory as before.”

The Refresh Project is expected to last a year, so the good news is that Pepsi has plenty of time beyond the near-term buzz of the Super Bowl to generate ROI. But it will only be successful if it has clear objectives and ties its social media efforts in with its bottom-line results.

As Geoff Ramsey, eMarketer’s CEO, writes in the new Insight Brief “Seven Guidelines for Achieving ROI from Social Media,” “It is impossible for marketers to measure success if they do not know what their objectives are before they start a social media marketing initiative.” To succeed, Geoff asserts, marketers must establish clear marketing goals, organize their measurements into a logical framework and take a long-term approach.

PepsiCo’s Frank Cooper told SmartBrief on Social Media that he’s looking at three key measurements: relationships with consumers, social media activity and sales lift.

“First and foremost we’re focused on relationships. We are building more relationships and we have more points of contact with our consumers. That’s a positive thing. We can measure that. We know how many more people  that we’re contacting. We can also measure the activity within the social-media space. We already see today what’s happening on Twitter. We see what’s happening on Facebook — and the response has been tremendous. And then third, I think ultimately, this whole idea of allowing people to do good through our platform, we believe will actually serve us at the shelf. I believe we will see a sales lift coming from this.”

Whether Pepsi’s Refresh Project is successful or not depends on its ability to follow through and not only measure those things but also apply them to its entire marketing plan.

“Seven Guidelines for Achieving ROI from Social Media” is part of a series of eMarketer Insight Briefs focused on social media marketing. Available exclusively to Total Access subscribers, the seven briefs, along with a PowerPoint slideshow, answer the most common and most pressing questions that businesses have about social media marketing.

Total Access subscribers, log in and view the Insight Briefs now. Learn more about an eMarketer Total Access subscription today.

Sunday’s big game between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts was nearly as splashy in social media as it was on TV.

Marketers that paid millions to advertise during the telecast also put sizeable energy into making sure that their ads had visibility on the social web. Coca-Cola Co. teamed up with Facebook to distribute Coke-themed virtual gifts and preview its Super Bowl spots for its fans. Pepsi notoriously bowed out of advertising during the game in favor of a cause-related digital marketing initiative that included a major presence on Facebook. Other marketers took to Twitter to keep their ads top of mind among consumers.

Even before the game telecast, the online buzz surrounding football star Tim Tebow’s ad for Focus on the Family was strong, according to Nielsen Co. In the two months ending January 31, the ad garnered 33.4% of all Super Bowl ad-related buzz online. Meanwhile, the NFL created a Twitter tag, #SB44, and encouraged fans to use the tag when they discussed the game.

With all the hype, what was the end result? The most-watched television event of all time. CBS estimates that the 2010 Super Bowl drew 106.5 million viewers, beating the famed 1983 “M*A*S*H” series finale, which was watched by about 105.9 million.

There’s no doubt that all the activity surrounding the Super Bowl is a signal that TV is finally getting more social, though we’re certainly not all the way there. While the coming onslaught of Internet-ready televisions will play a role, the entertainment industry has yet to figure out how to logically incorporate social media into the act of watching television. But they will.

The socialization of TV is one of eight trends that I cover in my new eMarketer Insight Brief “The Future of Social Media Marketing.” Some of my other predictions include:

• Advertising will not be the primary revenue driver for social media.
• Status updates will be key.
• Social will make search more personal—and more powerful.
• Social media monitoring will bring true insights.

“The Future of Social Media Marketing” is part of a series of eMarketer Insight Briefs focused on social media marketing. Available exclusively to Total Access subscribers, the seven briefs, along with a PowerPoint slideshow, answer the most common and most pressing questions that businesses have about social media marketing.

Total Access subscribers, log in and view the Insight Briefs now. Learn more about an eMarketer Total Access subscription today.