Our views on the iPad

There’s a lot of confusion and polarised opinion about what impact the iPad will have on digital marketing.

With a passion for everything digital, we couldn’t wait to get their hands on the iPad to see what all the hype was about and to personally evaluate how it will shape digital strategies for their clients in the future.

And having played around with it during its inaugural week in the UK (all in the name of research of course); here’s what us straight talking digital marketing experts at Code think about the iPad.

My iPad Weekend

We always start with what consumers are doing, or importantly are going to be doing a few months hence, when we approach digital strategies. So I did just that. Played with it non-stop, all weekend.

And my overriding thought? That the iPad is another landmark device that will change consumer behaviour and device trends in a similar way to the iPhone.

This is firstly due to its size, portability and convenience. It will bring the internet and online social connectivity further into the home and deeper into people’s live much more than the laptop ever did – they’ll want to take it everywhere from the living room, kitchen, bedroom, to the toilet!  The sleekness of the design also gives it that ‘social acceptance’ when using it in public places that you wouldn’t get with a standard laptop either.

As well as the games, its biggest potential impact is what it will do as a reading device.  People talk about the death of printed newspapers caused by online news services, but the iPad will truly hammer nails in those coffins.

Further still, when you consider what it could do to the printed book market in general.  I’ve already downloaded four apps for purchasing, downloading and reading electronic books and reading is perfect, really comfortable and easy.  Considering I could have 1000’s of books on the one device, it’s again a real alternative to how we will consume written information.  Publishers have a real opportunity now for pushing their content onto a digital platform that has the ease and portability of their offline equivalents.

—Louis Georgiou

So what does this mean for brand marketers?

As Louis pointed out, publishers and game developers should be all over this, and apparently Nintendo now see Apple as their number one rival.

With any new technology innovation, it’s important for companies to look at what barriers have been removed that might alter business models, consumer behaviour and create opportunities for companies to get closer to their customers.

The iPad certainly fits into that bracket for me, but with only 2 million of them sold worldwide, unless your target audience is well-off, tech-hungry, Apple enthusiasts then you should be putting your mobile phone app strategy first, before iPad, while ensuring the development team is considering an iPad version of the app.

Perhaps it’s not about the iPad as much as the launch of the tablet platform; and not so much introducing a new platform, as going after an existing one – the net book laptop, which is much more fitting for the portable lifestyle role in our lives.

The platform is perfect for content consumption, and it’s a game changer because it’s the first sit back to consume truly interactive platform. You would actually pay to receive content on this device. For our clients, as the mobile opened the door to branded utility, the tablet does the same for branded content as well. I know of course this opportunity already exists on the web, but this is a more immersive and one-to-one experience.

Initially I think the real opportunity for our customers is in service innovation, which to start with is where I would be concentrating as a brand marketer evaluating the potential of the iPad.

As a piece of hardware it’s comparative low price point, ease of use and portability means it can be given to a work force. So as a client, I would be working with my agencies to look across the consumer journey to see where the iPad could enhance or add value to customer interactions. In today’s word of mouth driven landscape innovations around the customer experience can generate buzz and differentiation. 

The iPad will make a fantastic sales and learning tool, as well as a one-to-one customer service tool, for checking in, checking stock, order taking etc, answering questions and problem solving. Data input and data capture is easy on the iPad, as the keyboard is actual size and instinctive. The fact that it is a gestural user interface means you can pass it to the customer and involve them in the experience. It’s perfect in the area of customer service in that brands can invest in a core technology platform that then gives them the flexibility to develop customised dash boards and multiple role-specific applications for anyone in a customer facing role.

Once penetration of this platform, and others like it, does pick up then it will also be a great place to support high value or research heavy purchases, as brands can offer an isolated immersive research experience – away from competitors online. If you invest heavily in brochure do it on the iPad, but understand that this digital platform can stay with the consumer all the way through the purchase journey, so it’s more important than ever to know what the consumers need at the different stages in the journey and ensure the promise matches reality.

So in summary, the iPad is different because its
• size and shape means a shareable device
• price bracket makes it accessible
• a sit back to consume medium 
• superior quality experience in size and legibility makes it worth paying for content
• application platform also allows for payment of instalment based content

But for now the marketing opportunity for your brand is more likely to be in enhancing customer experience of your existing touch points through service innovation.

—Tony Foggett

Time For Brands To Invest In Apps

The iPad is already attracting the more premium apps, which are being supported strongly in the App Store and which appear to have a higher price point; but this is because they are more akin to considered software purchases rather than short-lived, disposable amusements.

This offers brands a new medium for added value, innovative services. Viewing apps requires dedicated attention and this is of great value to brands.

Like Louis, of the apps I viewed, the newspapers and blogs were the most impressive. I find the screen easy to read with imagery and videos looking the best I’ve seen. I can certainly understand why papers are considering this as a new revenue option through paid for subscriptions.

Typing is surprisingly easy. The onscreen keyboard is just large enough to allow for touch typing, giving the iPad scope for a business market as well as consumer. The app iWork offers access to Microsoft Office documents making it ideal for mobile working, instead of a laptop. And it is so easy and enjoyable to sit back and check your emails, browsing the internet, reading and watching videos while lounging around. Laptops, normally used for this purpose, suddenly feel incredibly cumbersome and unnecessary.

The ease of browsing while watching the television gives it great scope for being used in conjunction with TV programming to support audience interaction. It could also put more impetus on TV advertising supporting ecommerce sites. I can see it being much easier to drive someone to a website to make a purchase based on viewing a TV ad, and this could influence who and how brands are currently advertising.

—Jen Williams

And Finally… A Developer’s Point of View

The initial success of the iPad represents ‘the thin end of the wedge’ in terms of how we will interact with and expect computers to behave. Apple has taken a previously dead in the water device concept, the tablet, and made it work. This success is, in part, not only due to their overall product and interface design expertise, but more importantly, by building the device to work on top of an existing, highly successful e-commerce and delivery platform i.e. the App Store and the iPhone operating system.

For those working in digital marketing, it’s an exciting time. We have a new, compelling platform with which to engage our audience with.

However, it’s a double edged sword.

The release of the iPad is only the start. Other manufacturers and vendors are hot on Apple’s heels, like Android smart phones, and it won’t be long before we see competing tablets running competing operating systems with their own distinct delivery mechanisms. This brings incompatibility issues and fragmentation of the market, especially in the short term.

Finding a way to get campaigns out successfully on the increasingly diverse device market will be a challenge. Targeting multiple devices and vendors effectively will be costly until a common platform becomes established.

For now however, that shouldn’t worry us too much. Enjoy the new device and embrace the change and challenges the new platform and its competitors will offer.

—Ste Brennan