On Digital

Irfan Kamal July 2nd, 2008

Organic recently (ok, about 3 months ago, but that’s how long it takes to catch up) posted an interesting perspective on how difficult it is to make branded Facebook apps work (along with some thoughts on similar issues in Second Life).  Their team also posted some tips on how brands could more successfully leverage Facebook, and the Digitas Digital Hive blog team also commented on the post.

One tip was to leverage existing successful apps – for example, take a look at Sony’s very successful use of the Vampires application to launch their new vampire movie 30 Days Night.   Sony rebranded the Vampires application (facilitates virtual biting) with movie-related banner ads and sponsored a contest with prizes.

So, which brands might use the existing most popular Facebook ads?  Here’s a recent list of some of the most active Facebook apps and some ideas on who could leverage them, and how.

Are you creative?  Share an idea or two in the comments (for either these apps, or others).

Apps: Super Wall (By RockYou)

and Fun Wall (By Slide)

Description: “Share videos, pictures, graffiti, and more with your friends”

Branding Idea:

The grafitti feature allows the user to choose from some images in their graffiti.  Graffiti would tie in well with a slightly gritty product/brand; e.g. for the movie like Legend, tie-in images and banners would be fun (because we all know there’s going to be a lot of graffiti when things go bad).  Wall-E would’ve been a fun tie-in too.

App: Bumper Sticker (By David Hahn, Bryan Haggerty and 8 other people)

Description: “Stick your friends with funny stickers! Win facebook!”

Branding Idea:

Pretty versatile but best tie-in would be to a quirky visual campaign with an existing element of humor.  How about interspersing “sponsored stickers” like a series of Geico gecko stickers with tie-ins to their recent quirky campaigns.

Apps: Owned (By Coolapps.com) and Friends for Sale (By Serious Business)

Description: “Own Your Friends! Give Human Gifts! Put yourself on the market and find out how much you’re worth!” (Owned) and “Buy and sell your friends as pets! You can make your pets poke, send gifts, or just show off for you. Make money as a shrewd pets investor or as a hot commodity!” (Friends for Sale)

Branding Idea:

This is a fun (and a bit bold) opportunity.  Investment firms often have trouble convincing younger people to start saving.  How about an ING or Fidelity youth-focused campaign/banners tied to these apps that goes something along of the lines of “Not worth much? Maybe it’s time you started saving.”

App: (Lil) Green Patch (By By Ashish Dixit and David King)

Description: “(Lil) Green Patch needs your help to fight Global Warming. You build a Green Patch with your friends. The application shows a running count of the square feet of rainforest saved by everyone as they use the application.”

Branding Ideas:

Is there a brand out there that wouldn’t want to be associated with this cause?  Dell’s plant-a-tree initiative and Expedia’s carbon footprint reduction initiatives are just two campaigns that could benefit from affiliation with an app like this.

App: Who Has the Biggest Brain (By Playfish)

Description: “Think you are smart? Play this highly addictive brain training game to prove it! Ever wondered Who Has The Biggest Brain amongst your friends?”

Branding Ideas:

Along with Friends for Sale and Owned, this is another one of my favorites for branding.  A contest for the biggest brain (and most improved in size) would be fun for a brand/product with a “nerdier” audience (say, GPS brands) or — of course — a movie like Get Smart.

Any other Facebook users or app developers have ideas? What’s your favorite app and who do you think would be a fun fit with it?

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