Quizboard – Now Available in the App Store!

Words with Friends meets Trivial Pursuit in this great new trivia game now on iPhone and iPod Touch

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Sacramento, CA    Nov 30, 2011 – New York, New York

It’s been a busy last few months for CB Labs, who published their first game The Adventures of Timmy: Run, Kitty, Run with developer studio Rain Interactive. From launching at the Adobe MAX Keynote back in October, to being featured in the Apple “New and Noteworthy” section, it was still a huge surprise when the game showed up in the finals of the Mashable Awards for the Best Mobile Game category.

“We’re going up against the likes of Angry Birds and Cut the Rope,” Creative Director Adam Kahn said. “That’s huge in and of itself, especially for a game that’s only been out for about a month and a half.”

The game itself tells the tale of a young school boy named Timmy who wears a cat suit to school one day. While all the other kids on the playground make fun of Timmy, one girl named Kitty tries to befriend him. Unfortunately, Mitch, the schools bully, has already taken a liking to Kitty and kidnaps her. Timmy must find a way to stop Mitch and his minions and get Kitty back safe and sound.

About Rain Interactive:
Rain is an internationally recognized and awarded digital creative software agency dedicated to providing clients with solutions that allow their customers to connect with them wherever they are through the web, desktop, or mobile. Clients include HP, Google, Ancestry, Sony Music, Universal Music, Hess, Corona, Adobe and Skullcandy.

Device Requirements:
* iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, 2/3/4G iPod touch and iPad
* Requires iOS 4.1 or later
* 96.2 MB

Pricing and Availability:
The Adventures of Timmy: Run, Kitty, Run 1.2 is $1.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.

The Adventures of Timmy: Run, Kitty, Run 1.2
Purchase and Download
YouTube Video
Screenshots

In 2010, Crossborders created a subsidiary CB Labs for the sole purpose to create creative intellectual property in the digital products category. Leveraging smart phone and tablet distribution outlets CB Labs has launched its first iPhone/iPad game The Adventures of Timmy: Run Kitty Run. Copyright (C) 2011 CB Labs. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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Brian Collins
Account Executive
916-765-5949
United States

Okay, I don't usually simply re-post something that someone else created… but this video, created by apple fan gave me a good chuckle and I thought our readers would appreciate it. (In case you haven't seen the original commercial that this is a spoof of – click here).

Is the Droid an iPhone killer? I doubt it. Will it help the Android platform gain traction on Apples iPhone? Absolutely. The gloves are off – and as consumers we will only end up getting the best out of it as OEMs fight to create better platforms. Bring it on!

How long have you been sitting in front of the computer developing the next killer iPhone app? 50 hours? 100 hours? More? How much money have you put into becoming a registered developer, paying artists, hardware, software, and training? The day has finally come to submit your hopes and dreams to the whims of the Apple approval team and hope that you don't get that fateful rejection email in your in-box. But… did you forget something?

In order for your app to succeed, you need a strategic approach to marketing it. With almost 100,000 active apps in iTunes, the likelihood of your app being "discovered" and succeeding on its own gets harder every day.

I don't know how many times I've heard a developer say, "That's okay though… I'll get to the marketing thing once the app gets approved and goes live". By waiting until an app goes live, the developer looses a number of significant marketing opportunities right off the bat.

To start, one of the most important components of your marketing, Search Engine Optimization, can ONLY be performed before your app has been submitted, or when uploading a new binary. Too many developers we have worked with didn't realize this, threw a couple of keywords into the keywords field and figured they would come back to it later… they simply wanted to see their app in the store. We even read a story of one developer that simply didn't use keywords because they were worried the wrong keywords would get them a rejection and their application was Halloween themed meaning a delay would render their app useless. Unfortunately.. having no keywords will render your application practically useless as well.

There is also a period of a few days at most where your natural browsing will be higher. The default browsing of iTunes is by "Release Date" – giving you first page visibility when a consumer wanders into your category. Depending on the category, you might be on the first page of this listing for close to a week! This is a great time to take advantage of the boosted sales and use a blitz marketing campaign to drive yourself into the higher rankings – shooting to either get in the top 100 listing, or get noticed by Apple and featured.

Social media is another tactic that requires some pre-planning. Most social media tactics rely on "followers" of your content. If you have not started building a following before you launch.. you are already missing out!

Finally your PR buzz is much more effective if its about a "new" product. Reporters are less likely to cover a story about something that has been sitting available for a while unless there is something new and unique about it. "Company X releases a new app that is the first to do Y" is much more of a story than "App Z is still in the App Store and still not doing that well even though its a good concept.."

Already launched? Its not optimal… but its not too late either. Drop us an email and we will be glad to take a look at how your app is being marketed.

In our last article, we talk about Schiau studios and their use of publicity stunts to gain promotion for their app and generate sales. There’s an old adage in PR that says "any press is good press".

Or is it?

Take Pepsi for example. Pepsi’s energy drink Amp takes an approach to marketing that is reminiscent  of Axe Deodorant in its hayday. Targeted primarily to men, er, "guys", their marketing message is full of extreme sports, hot girls, and rock music. The target demographic that this appeals to is a younger male audience, mid teens to early 20′s still living in a hormone driven haze where "hooking up" with the opposite sex ranks high on their daily priority list.

Um… is that one on the right a  guy with a wig on?

Enter the iPhone.

As the newest and if I might say, sexiest way to get your brand message out these days, it’s no surprise that Pepsi and Amp decided to jump on the bandwagon and launch an app of their own.  Grab the creative agency, brainstorm around the table for a few hours while hyped up on their own product, and the "Amp Up Before You Score" app is born.

The Premise: an app to help you hook up, complete with pickup lines and a how-to guide.

The Execution: Not only did Pepsi create an app that asks you to sterotype women into one of 24 categories including but not limited to "Cougar", "Princess" and, um… "Married" (lets hear it for Pepsi family values… I’d like to also mention that PepsiCo’s mission statement includes the following line: "in everything we do, we strive for honesty, fairness and integrity.").  The app then gives you a handy way to keep track of all the women you have ‘scored’ with and finally, my favorite… a way to brag about it to your buddies. In fact – the social mavens that they are – you can brag about it via Twitter, Facebook or Email! Now the whole world can know how misogynist you really are.

While I disagree with the execution – I understand that they are trying to speak to a very specific target that will frankly get the albiet misguided humor in this. The problem comes when we look at the target they are trying to reach, and the demographics of the typical iPhone user. They started out right – 75% of iPhone users are male, however according to Neilson, only 13% of users fall into Amp’s prime target age of 18-24. You can boost the percentage to 18% if you drop the age as low as 13. Add to that a society that is highly charged with conservative religous values, and you have a PR disaster on your hands. 

Calls have been coming in from all sides that Pepsi should pull what is being called "offensive", "sexist" and

Amp’s twitter site on October 12th posted this appology: "Our app tried 2 show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women. We apologize if it’s in bad taste & appreciate your feedback. #pepsifail"

The creation of this hashtag on Twiter has created a forum for tweeters to sound off about the app – both in the positive and the negative…. and it seems like consumers either love it or hate it.

So lets hear it readers – #pepsifail or #pepsiwin? IS all press good press or do brands have a social responseibility to live up to? Do you think this was created purposefully to stir up controversy?

I would have to say it was on purpose. Why? Because the app is still live in the app store. Who apologizes in earnest and then keeps doing what they were apologizing for?