RTCRM Sparkblog » Mobile

What The New FDA Draft Guidance on Mobile Medical Apps Means

Rebecca Johnson — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:29:57 +0000

On July 19, 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a new draft guidance detailing how the regulatory body defines, classifies and regulates “mobile medical apps.”

As part of its ongoing monitoring and reporting on FDA guidance, RTCRM has produced a two-page POV that analyzes the issued guidance and provides condensed key information, top-level points, implications and actions item.

Download the entire POV: RTCRM POV FDA guidelines_mobile

Perspectives 2011

Nicole Franklin — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 20:03:33 +0000

The summaries, views and opinions on the latest digital and marketing trends in a one-page format. Published monthly.

RTCRM Perspectives January 2011

RTCRM Perspectives February 2011

RTCRM Perspectives March 2011

RTCRM Perspectives April 2011

RTCRM Perspectives May 2011

RTCRM Perspectives June 2011

RTCRM Perspectives July 2011

RTCRM Perspectives August 2011

RTCRM Perspectives September 2011

RTCRM Perspectives October2011

RTCRM Perspectives November 2011

RTCRM Perspectives December 2011

Perspectives – Vol 1, Issue 5

Nicole Franklin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:16:12 +0000

Happy Holidays from RTC Relationship Marketing! Please enjoy this holiday themed edition of Perspectives.

RTCRM Perspectives December 2010

Perspectives – Vol 1, Issue 4

Nicole Franklin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:57:52 +0000

Each month we have brought you a collection of one page articles on digital trends and their implications from the Digital Integration and Innovations group (formerly Interactive Strategy) of RTC Relationship Marketing (RTCRM). This month is no exception but I’ve flung open the doors at Perspectives H.Q. (my cubicle) to include a piece written by Katie DeGenova from the Strategy and Insights team.

Enjoy!

RTCRM Perspectives November 2010

There’s a Costume for That…

Aly Hardy — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:24:02 +0000

Need a costume? Got an iphone? This app has all the ingredients for success: It’s free, it’s simple to use and most impressively, it encouraged me to make a purchase. Oh yeah, and it’s fun. How many apps can you think of that do all that?

It’s Pottery Barn Kid’s Halloween costume application, an app designed to help you envision your child (or unsuspecting co-worker) in one of their many cute Halloween costumes. Simply snap a picture of your child using your phone, upload and bingo – you can scroll through each costume overlaid on your child’s photo and get a sense of how they will appear wearing it. You can e-mail it to a friend, share it to Facebook and then hit the shopping cart when you have made the decision.

What I love about this app…

I tested this out at first on very tolerant coworkers. I snapped a test picture of my boss, and found it so shockingly easy to use I continued to capture almost every person on my team. And then I finally got my two-year-old child. After two days of toying with this I ventured out to Pottery Barn kids nearby with my little one in tow to purchase my selected costume.

As I embarked on the customer journey, a few of the key consumer insights came to mind that made this app make strategic business sense:

Pottery Barn Kids (at least this location) does not have fitting rooms. Therefore, having your child “try-on” a costume really isn’t easy (unless you insist and put them in it in the middle of the store as I did)
Many people do not even bother to try costumes on small children. How many costumes can you get an infant or toddler to try on anyway? I was able to get by 2 year-old into one of the two finalists, and even that received protest
While shopping for a seasonal costume, my child of course found many a toy in the store he would like to have… great timing with the holidays around the corner

Area of improvement (Suggestions for next year):

Make it possible to upload an existing photo (currently you have to take a new one) — this would help make this app useful for the shopper who doesn’t have their child with them or a friend or family member
Some of the costumes were only available online – while the app may help to encourage the decision to purchase a $50 costume for a young child online, it backfires when those super cute costumes are not even available to see in-store for those of us who want immediate gratification (and I really wanted that sold-out dinosaur…)

These two suggestions are minor enhancements to an already great app — the online comments are also very positive). You can find it here:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pottery-barn-kids-costume/id387049651?mt=8

There are many apps that are entertaining. There are apps that are informative. There are apps that can help generate buzz. It’s exceptional to see an app that does all this as an effective marketing tool and that can affect sales. Now I bet there’s an ROI for that.

Perspectives – Vol 1, Issue 3

Nicole Franklin — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:34:24 +0000

It’s here, the latest version of Perspectives. The Interactive Strategy Team has really out done themselves this time. STD tests, music sharing and QR codes are just some of the topics covered in this issue. Give it a read an let us know what you think.

RTCRM Perspectives October 2010