Cliff Feiring

Hi Cliff!

I found this post really interesting for several reasons. My family is a big football family, so we’ve been following the Antonio Brown saga, (also because we are a Steeler’s family), so we all heard when Nike cut ties with him. There have been many instances where brands have cut ties with athletes due to social sentiment turning against them, or violating some part of the moral clause within the contract they signed, and I found this article, “24 Athletes Who Lost Their Huge Endorsement Deals” really interesting. It lists the athlete, the deals lost, as well as the estimated amount of money lost. Here are a few that I think many people will remember reading/hearing about:

Lance Armstrong – lost his endorsement deals because the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a report containing evidence that he had taken and concealed his use of banned substances.
Deals lost: Trek, Easton-Bell Sports, 24-Hour Fitness, Nike, Anheuser-Busch, RadioShack, Oakley, Honey Stinger, FRS
Money lost: An estimated $150 million

Tiger Woods – lost his endorsement deals after a car crash and very public divorce (although Nike apparently stuck with him though it all)
Deals lost: Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade, Buick
Money lost: $22 million

Ray Rice – lost his endorsement deals to a release of a video allegedly knocking his fiancee out.
Deals lost: Nike, Vertimax, Electronic Arts, Dick’s Sporting Goods
Money lost: $1.6 million per year

Adrian Peterson – lost his deals after he pleaded no contest to child abuse charges
Deals lost: Radisson, Castrol, Nike
Money lost: $4 million

Mike Tyson – lost his deals to a variety of incidents, such as car accidents, street brawls, police encounters, and an interview with his then wife that he was a violent, abusive drug addict. In this instance, different companies and sponsors decided he was “more trouble than he was worth.”
Deals lost: Pepsi, Toyota, Kodak, Suntory Beer, USA Today, Nintendo
Money lost: At least $10.75 million

Several people in my circle of friends have bought items that were endorsed by athletes, although I am not one of them. (I have however, been influenced by bookstagrammers when they promoted new releases or advocated for a new book! I often look the book up and if it sounds good, purchase it! These bookstagrammers are sometimes the catalyst that pushes me to look up a new book that I otherwise wouldn’t have known about or discovered on my own!)

Another of your points made me think, when you asked if you would take on the risk of hiring an athlete promote “my” brand. I think I would look for an athlete that had demonstrated stable behavior for a period of time, and choose them, even if they aren’t considered to be as popular as some of the new entrants to the various sports. They may not be as popular, so may not generate as much buzz, but I think it lessens the risk of potential scandal with an unknown athlete. However, it seems that a lot of times companies want to form a partnership with “new” athletes, the ones considered the “stars” and if they haven’t been in the scene/sport long enough, that runs the risk (at least in my opinion) of having all the fame and money go to their head, which can lead to questionable actions, which can hurt a brand if they get caught up in a scandal. But I don’t deal with influencers and in class the other day, some classmates were discussing what criteria their companies look for when forging these partnerships, so I’d be interested in learning more about how they make these decisions!

References:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/24-athletes-lost-huge-endorsement-090239873.html

Cliff, this is a great post!

As I was reading and you mentioned Nike and controversy, all I could think of was their relationship and different responses during controversy with athletes such as Antonio Brown, Serena Williams, and Colin Kaepernick. Following the Antonio Brown saga for the past few weeks has been a whirlwind. But the events this past week, has definitely turned his social sentiment sour and I can see why Nike wouldn’t want to be associated with him. But I also think Colin Kaepernick and Serena Williams were significant examples of athlete influencers with their associated brand. When Nike dropped the controversial – in some eyes – commercial about Colin Kaepernick last December, Nike’s stock blew threw their expectations of second quarter sales. Nike reported a 10 percent jump in income to $847 million [1] – proving critics wrong when they said that sales were falling because of the partnership they still held with Colin.

Personally, I have not been influenced by athlete influencing, but I do know of some people who are easily persuaded by a product or service because an athlete uses it. As Nike has proven time and time again, there is a value in athlete influencers.

References:
[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Business/nike-sales-booming-kaepernick-ad-invalidating-critics/story?id=59957137

This is extremely interesting, Cliff. Especially the section where you wrote about push notifications in junction with PWA’s. I recently spoke with a representative from BuildFire, a SaaS platform that helps you create the app, or in this case, the PWA of your dreams. In my discussion with him, he informed me that when utilizing PWA’s, the push notification option is not available. It is certainly interesting to read the article you shared about from Business 2 Community. I wonder if this is a platform-specific fail or if PWA’s don’t particularly support push notifications. Would be interesting to dive deeper into.

https://buildfire.com/progressive-web-app/

First off, I just want to acknowledge this is a beautifully laid out post. Well done!

Cliff, do you think that the usage skew reflects more how the phone is used (quick hits on repeatable behavior) than preference for apps? It would seem other devices are better suited for the journeys down the “content hole” that likely describes the typical browser experience?

Amanda, were you specifically discussing PWAs on iOS? Going back to my uncertainty in the Learnathon, PWAs to my knowledge were more prevalent in Google/Android. I’ll add a few links to fuel the discussion supporting notifications through PWAs?

https://medium.com/better-programming/everything-you-need-to-know-about-pwas-push-notifications-e870bb54e14f

https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/codelabs/push-notifications/

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web_apps/Re-engageable_Notifications_Push

The Medium post makes me think it’s possible with Safari, but likely is more complicated/requires a different approach that might get overlooked?

I’ll freely admit that I’m only playing the role of developer on your screen, but this seems like a great “quest for certitude”!

If all browsers can support PWA notifications, does that change Cliff’s preference (or any of yours)?

If Apple is a hold out, how does the availability of PWA notifications on Android or in non-Safari browsers ultimately affect iOS users over time? Apple typically doesn’t bend to market pressures; it’s usually the one applying them!

Cliff I, like you, went back and forth between apps and responsive Websites as to which is better. I think for me it really comes down to the usage scenario and the desired outcome. For an app to take up valuable space in my phone it has offer me something in term of an experience or create value that no responsive site can offer. If the app does a better job of getting me from point A to B or offers something so unique as compared to a responsive site I will download it. But if the responsive site is good enough for what I need in the moment there is no need for the app.

All of my rationale for using an app versus a responsive site is 100% determined by my behavior and what I need to accomplish. (Side note: I think as marketers when determining whether to build a responsive site versus an app we need to understand what is the behavioral driver for the user and how can we best accommodate that need—with an app or a responsive site. )(1)

For example, here are a few apps that offer value to me and because of that I use the app over a responsive site.
Apple Music- Offers speed and ease of selecting songs/artist on the go as compared to a site. (Easy to use)

The Stock App that came with my iPhone- offers a quick glance of how the stocks performed that day. No need to log onto a site to find out that info. (Speed)

MyFitnessPal- Allows me to easily log meals and exercise and see graphs of my progress. I imagine a responsive site would need pages upon pages and navigation to get me through what a few clicks on the app can do. And I could not do that at the gym where the Wifi is terrible. With the app I can log anything and everything in while it is top of mind for me. (Speed and Ease of Use)

Citizens Bank’s App & Capital One’s App: both allow me to easily log into my account with my fingerprint. On a Website, even a responsive one, I would have to likely remember a username and password. Since I make my passwords super secure remembering them all is a real challenge. (Convenience/Speed)

Waze allows me to quickly find directions and get navigation even if my internet connection is poor.(Reliability/Ease of use)

All of the above examples started with a behavioral need and allowed me to accomplish it—quickly. When you think about it, typically people don’t first go to apps for information, they go to Websites. Apps are usually only downloaded when the user has a specific reason to satisfy a behavioral need. So if the app is created for the right reasons and done right, I agree with you 100% it’s apps for the win! After all, apps allow brands the opportunity to further the relationship with a customer on a psychological level more so than any site can be because they are literally at their customer’s fingertips at any given moment, (2)

References:
(1) “Motivating Users: Behavioral Psychology in Mobile Design.” Worry Free Labs, 30 Nov. 2016, https://www.worryfreelabs.com/ux-triggers-behavioral-psychology-ux-mobile-design/.

(2) “Responsive Website vs Mobile App: Comparison.” Thinkmobiles, https://thinkmobiles.com/blog/responsive-website-vs-mobile-app/.

Hi Cliff,

You bring some great points, some of which I probably wouldn’t have even considered about app capabilities. With well-designed apps, I am absolutely on the same page. It is great to have the necessary functionality, and than some. Where I struggle with mobile apps is when the website has a superior offering or the app proves redundant.

For example, I do not have the Facebook App downloaded, and prefer to access from a phone or desktop. To me, it offered no critical benefits, and if I download the app then I need to also download the Messenger app to pair with it, while I can avoid this by accessing the website via mobile. Many shopping experiences are also a let-down, where downloading the app may flatten some of the required steps. but also worsen the experience or do not make it “worth it” to download. When it comes to downloading apps, I can be very lazy, and similarly do have increased expectations as a result. Hence, when the app doesn’t meet expectation, like the that areas you called out, I am further disappointed overall.

After having a handful of bad experiences, I am very reluctant to download apps. Sounds like “trust issues'”.

The Amazon thing is super annoying! I have an Amazon Fire, that I purchased for school a year ago. I use it to download our readings and highlight things as I read them. Last semester we had that UX book we had to purchase, and I used the Amazon Kindle Function since it was an actual ebook. The UX absolutely stunk in it and it was so much harder to use. I also hate that Amazon doesn’t carry certain Apps in their App store. I had to hack my tablet to get OneNote on that thing, so I could get the App through the Google Store. Another thing with OneNote, you don’t have the ability to highlight anything if you are using the App on an Apple phone. That really grinds my gears!

Great post Cliff!! So funny, I am the same way with the push notifications. It’s also very difficult for me to ignore them as well. Before this class I didn’t really think about exactly why I prefer apps on a practical level, but the features you pointed out are exactly why. To answer your question, I immediately thought of Spotify, which is a personal app I interact with on a daily basis. The “Apps Don’t Always Require the Internet” feature you pointed is exactly why Spotify is great. If there’s no internet connection I can rely on the songs that are downloaded within the app so that my experience isn’t interrupted.

Apps are definitely ruling most people’s mobile experience and the question then becomes, do we even need responsive sites at all? I think we do, as noted in the “Responsive Website vs Mobile App: Comparison” article, that it’s important for companies to maintain a great responsive website. “Many companies today have responsive websites in order to make their information, goods or services available on various platforms and devices. This is especially crucial if you are looking for new customers.” (1) When people are searching or information, they don’t download the app, they will most likely go to the site first, with this trend it’s important for companies to create and maintain a great responsive sites for new potential customers looking for information.

1. https://thinkmobiles.com/blog/responsive-website-vs-mobile-app/

Nice post, Cliff. I’d have to agree that I like using apps better, mostly for the in-app integrations (I’m a sucker for a good customer loyalty program). I think these types of feature are crucial to the success of a company. In fact, 60% of mobile coupon users say they will gladly switch brands if they can get an in-app discount/coupon. Also, 66% of companies saw a decrease in customer loyalty in the past year if they do not have a mobile app (1).

Another reason why in-app loyalty programs are so successful is because it builds on the “endowed progress effect,” which is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when people feel as though they are working toward a goal or objective (maybe this is why I still go to Starbucks even though their coffee is mediocre at best?) (2). These in-app integrations, combined with push notifications that increase mobile participation, can truly leverage a company’s success.

1) https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/09/using-apps-to-build-customer-loyalty.html
2) https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/11/mobile-loyalty-programs.html

I agree with Cindy, I will download an app when it fulfills a need and am happy to interact with a responsive site if it’s a quick search for information. I however am not a fan of the notifications of apps, I like Alyssa turn all of them off unless they are important, all the red buttons with numbers gives me anxiety and the constant buzzing is disruptive.

Justin below likes Spotify, as do I, because it is a dual usage app, where in you can use it with internet access or without. Their download feature makes it nice to listen to music anywhere. (I was able to listen to my music on a cruise recently and it made for a nice feature of the app experience.)

My favorite apps are food apps, especially pizza apps. The convenience of the process is so easy, picking out toppings, paying for it, tracking it. It makes my life so easy on the nights I don’t want to cook and can quickly order after picking up my son and it’s ready in 20 min or less. I have download a few other food apps for the drive-thru places, but haven’t tried them yet..I guess I’m still old school when it come to drive-thru.

I think people download apps when there is a need; potentially after finding their responsive site helpful. As a marketer I think we have to make sure we’re building the app for the right reasons; meeting the customers needs.

When I go back to NJ to visit my family, I use this parking meter app called AsburyPARK when I need to park in a nearby town. It is so much better than having to remember to run back and feed the meter if I wanted to extend my stay. They just recently made some updates to the app and process that are even more user friendly! Now, the user selects a “zone”, which is comprised of a few select blocks. Next, the user enters their vehicle information (license plate, make, model, etc.). Then they select the parking duration. The app has the ability to send push notifications to warn the user when time is running low. Users can link a credit card to their account, so they can add additional time if necessary. No more fumbling for change!

The zoning was a great feature because individuals were no longer responsible for remembering the space number they parked at and could move within a single zone, if necessary. I wish AsburyPARK had the ability to refund money if you over estimate time, right now I just eat the loss. I think that’s a great benefit!

Great post! I’m a regular user of ParkMobile (which I believe MeterUp is a reskin of). The ParkMobile app is considerably better than MeterUp, FYI.

I fall in the “elder Millennial” camp, but I also almost never have cash or change on me. Even if I did, I can’t imagine having $8+ in coins available (or wanting to carry that much). Swiping a card on the meter or locating a kiosk is also less than ideal. This is definitely a space where my phone feels more secure.

I hear everything you are saying about the convenience fees. Unlike my point on other posts here, I can’t see these municipalities getting their acts together to offer an alternative (though Asbury PARK may prove me wrong).

Has anyone in the class used SpotHero or another alternative? I’ve used it on occasion and it’s an interesting dilemma on whether to pay a higher flat fee for a set-it and forget it experience vs. the cost savings of a potentially shorter stay that can rapidly escalate in cost via ParkMobile, etc.

Hi Cliff!

Great post. Mobile technology has absolutely influenced all of the ways I travel, from feeding parking meters through my GoMobilePGH application to which route I’ll take or even how I decide to get where I’m going. It has literally made me more mobile.

Earlier today, I made a huge mistake while running errands by not checking Waze before I left my apartment. I was five minutes into my drive when I came up on one of my least favorite things in Pittsburgh: Heinz Field-related traffic. I’ve lived here for the past eight or nine years but, despite my ability to navigate through the city, I almost always pull up Waze or GoogleMaps to determine whether or not there is congestion, alternative routes due to construction, car wrecks, SPEED TRAPS, etc.

In addition to using mobile tech as a web-mapping/traffic condition service, I also use it to determine what type of transportation I will take advantage of. If I’m going to an event where I know parking will be too difficult to find or too expensive, I may opt to use the TransitTracker application on my phone to see, in real time, when and where the bus or metro is. If I’m going to an event where I know I will be drinking alcohol, I pick up my phone and reserve an Uber or a Lyft. I’m not in the minority, of course. According to Mintel Research, “the number of active (Lyft) riders has grown nearly six-fold from 3.5 million in December 2016 to 18.6 million in December 2018. Over the same period, the number of rides increased from 29 million to 178 million” (1).

One interesting article I read discussed a few emerging vendors that are “creating engaging, highly automated mobility solutions” to better understand both vehicular and pedestrian travel patterns (2). Although I’m still holding out for a hover vehicle, I’m eager to see what else the future holds for mobile technology in the transportation industry.

1. White Boehm, Jennifer. “Car Sharing, Ride Sharing, and Alternative Transportation.” Mintel, 2019, academic-mintel-com.libproxy.temple.edu/display/918706/.
2. Isert, Carsten, and Jonathan Davenport. “Cool Vendors in Automotive and Smart Mobility.” Gartner Research, 2018, http://www.gartner.com/document/3891412?ref=solrAll&refval=229833169&qid=ebc608f1ffa88cdcd9eeb69d.

Cliff, this is a great post!

I love MeterUP for its convenience as I fall into that category of millennials that don’t carry cash. But I also love MeterUP because it works in other cities such as DC when I’m parking for a quick trip into the city. The app adapts to my location and boom. I can go on about my day without having to worry about a ticket when I get back.

I will say after using the app after a parking experience during Penn Relays, I did delete the app for awhile.. I was disappointed after coming back to my car after three consecutive parking sessions and seeing that the rate tripled. If I knew about that beforehand, I would’ve taken the train like I did the past two days. Maybe I was in a rush during the hustle and bustle of my day and the app did warn me, but I would appreciate if I am still in the same parking spot that the rate wouldn’t increase. Now if I know that I am going over time, I just suck it up and leave or move to another spot.