Innovative PR Strategies to Promote iPhone Apps: Toktumi and Line2
Toktumi may not be known… yet. But the company launched an iPhone app, Line2, that has all chances of becoming one of the top apps of 2010, and it should. Aside PR, this particular innovation has a number of features that recommend it. For starters, it’s free to try. Then the $9.95 a month fee is a bargain, since the app basically lets iPhone, iPod and iPad users make unlimited US/Canada and low cost international calls over WiFi or Cellular using the same number, even when there is no cell coverage. I can think of a number of ways to use this app to reduce my phone bill as well, but this is not a tech review.
Toktumi managed to get media attention from the start, with BlueGlass, one of Everything PR’s most acclaimed marketing companies of the year. The first reviews came from prestigious publications, like The New York Times, Mashable, and GigaOm, but somehow these were not enough. And savvy marketers know why: online, when you stop broadcasting yourself, the media attention shifts over to a competitor. The life of a product launch PR campaign can be measured in days, if not hours. You simply cannot stop, and finding innovative ways to capture media attention is a must.
When those innovative ways mean hiring a somewhat controversial JetBlue flight attendant to represent the brand, even better. And who else can be a better judge in a “crazy flight story” competition, than Steven Slater, who reportedly lost his temper after a dispute with a passenger, then fled the parked jet by deploying the emergency chute and walking across the tarmac to an unlocked door that led to the street? The event made Steven Slater a media darling and a popular hero of sorts, and now, Line2’s public face as he promotes the Mile High Text Club contest.
This contest in itself is an innovative way of promoting the aforementioned iPhone app, and downloading Line2 is a prerequisite of participation in the contest. But the rules are simple and fun: travelers are invited to text their “craziest” (i.e. most outrageous) flight stories to 222-222-2222 to enter to win prizes, including iPod touches, free Line2 service, and a Grand Prize of a weekend holiday shopping trip for two to New York City, including airfare, luxury hotel, lunch with Steven Slater, and a $500 Gift Card.
Toktumi’s Mile High Text Club Contest, runs November 16 through December 3 and it already features some funny entries. Since it started only two days ago, expect to see more on site by December 3.
