Creative Tactics for Software Distribution
Marketers are challenged with how to grab people’s attention and how to keep it. Software marketers are no exception. Of course, given the nature of software applications, software distribution campaigns can become more creative than your typical “durable” product.
With the recency of the Super Bowl, I remember the one-time-only showing of the Orwellian Macintosh ad, which generated considerable interest in Apple’s Macintosh; but there are more light-hearted examples than 1984.
- Thanks to LimeWire for some search power and a new recipe combination
When LimeWire launched their application, the LimeWire team dressed up in bright green clothes and gave out jars of Nutella, with a Limewire.com sticker on the top, to students at NYU. They only gave out a few hundred jars, and things grew virally from there (100 million downloads and counting). I have one question, what would Nutella with a squeeze of lime taste like? (find out here)
- I learned the word “ubiquitous” and got my first taste of the internet at home from AOL
As the price of copying a CD went down, (and I am sure a volume discount was involved), the world saw the AOL free-trial CD as the new software distribution model. Not to mention some great artwork.
- The perfect tag from Apple
If my sources are correct, the reason Apple is Apple is because no one was coming up with a name, and since apples were Steve Jobs favorite fruit, and, for lack of a better option – ta da. Putting aside the tribulations with Apple Corps and anything musical from Apple Inc., how great is that name now? There’s an app for that, from Apple. It is almost like they planned to write software and mobile applications from the very beginning.
- Jerry Seinfeld for Microsoft (and the memorable butt wiggle)
Ummmmm…. yeah, moving on….
- CNN’s exposure of the gullibility of the of the United States
I personally don’t believe this was an advertising campaign to increase software distribution, rather a hard-hitting undercover story revealing that people BELIEVE everything on the internet is true. The comments really drive it home. Either way, it caught my attention. The concept is a silly low budget commercial featuring two guys who created the ZapNewsApp being foiled by the much better CNN News App. If you believed there really were two guys being wronged, I am sorry to be the one to break the news to you.
- Digsby Gains Awareness by Advertising on New York Garbage Cans
Digsby created a great following by building an avid community and an interesting ad campaign with eye-catching artwork on garbage cans lining New York’s busy streets.
Ultimately, every one of these companies achieved great distribution for their software, whether we thought their marketing campaigns were silly, lucky, or something else. If you are looking for a unique distribution model for consumer software, check out W3i.
Kristin Oberhaus, Product Manager, W3i Holdings, LLC
Kristin has over 13 years of product management experience and is a certified usability analyst. She is an avid believer in pragmatic marketing.
Find Out More on How W3i Can Grow Your Consumer App Business
RSS Feed
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:17 am
I would like to personally thank Mike Noble (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-noble/0/1a2/390) who is presently at Huckleberry Ventures for recently sharing the Limewire story with me over breakfast. Great story Mike!
April 26th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Apparently, Xobni is running several unusual software advertising campaigns targeting Microsoft employees lately. So far, they’ve had people on street corners holding Xobni signs, an ad on the back of a bus (see http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/library/20100421xobni.jpg), and even an airplane flying their banner behind it over Microsoft’s campus.