In April, we set out to explore the world of apps at Lunch Ann Arbor Marketing (LA2M). Tom Crawford, owner, designer, lead developer at VizNetwork presented The App Revolution: The Who and What of Mobile Marketing where he went over 80 apps and broke them into three categories:

Company (Me, Me, Me):  Relays information about the company from history to products. According to Crawford, this is comparable to more traditional advertising, it usually isn’t very interactive and shows off the “cool” things the company has done. For example...

Mustang Customizer App: Mustang offers an interactive brochure that allows the user to customize their Mustang from the model to the exterior color.

U-M Dividend Alumni: The Alumni magazine published by Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Relationship (You and the customer): Interacts with customers by offering tips and personal account information. For example, the Meijer find-it app helps customers find what they are looking for in their local Meijer grocery store.

Customer (The customer only): This type of app addresses customer “pain points”, promotes causes and offers games. For example...

AT&T: Created an app where customers can indicate a location where they were unable to get signals. As Crawford pointed out, this is customer service oriented.

Manage my life: Features projects users may want to undertake. Plus, users can ask questions to live experts. This app was developed by Sears, but interestingly, the companies’ name is not promoted.

Dominos Pizza Hero App: This allows users to be the chef of their own Domino’s pizza. After you’ve made your pizza, other users will have the chance to rate the quality of your pie and can order it afterwards.

To Sum It Up...
Crawford advised everyone in the audience to go beyond “the obvious” apps. For example, Varsity Auto Group Ann Arbor could have created a brochure-like app that lists their available cars. However, they took it beyond that providing users roadside assistance, as well as a tool for them to schedule service and  find local gas prices.

Ready to create your own app?
Just keep Crawford’s app tips in mind:

• Be unique
• Be Useful (Don’t be like the Coca-Cola history app mentioned during the event that reports the company’s history via a timeline)
• Do it right

 
By: Jade Grammatico
Edited by: Kim Beson

Not your typical Saturday night-on-the-town, maybe, but MOVEians Don and Carol Hart, along with David Peterson, owner of Stone Bridge Productions, and his wife, Beth found plenty of food for thought last weekend at the Michigan Theater’s premiere showing of “American Meat,” a new documentary produced and directed by hometown filmmaker, Graham Meriwether. 

AMERICAN MEAT TRAILER from Leave It Better on Vimeo.

“If you could get paid a nice wage for working with your hands, something that was healing, would you give up your globalist agenda, dilbert cubicle job??? A lot of people would.”

Here at MOVE, we jump at the chance to say yes to local food.  Many thanks to Meriwether and Team, and our friends at the Michigan Theater!

As-Built Installation
With lines out the door for businesses like Slows BBQ and Astro Coffee and the opening of new art galleries, there’s a new energy in Corktown.

A group of graduate students from the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning are building on this energy—literally. They took a vacant auto body shop in Detroit’s historic Corktown neighborhood and turned it into an installation, As-Built, as preparation for their thesis.

The project acknowledges that there are parts of architecture that “cannot be fully expressed, explored or known when left on [trace] paper.” So utilizing the university’s fabrication lab, the students took their digital designs to the actual site to build full-scale mockups. With one requirement, to make a secure façade with an air-tight seal, and working with the client, engineer and contractor they were able to explore how the interaction between design and materiality can affect a realized space.

The result is a full-scale installation that uses light and open space to create unique viewing opportunities. It will not only benefit the community aesthetically, but the space is planned for a live work program.

 MOVE and Architecture
Although we at MOVE use design to communicate ideas visually and strategy to market brands, we appreciate this experiment with design and space. Not to mention, the way these U-M students are marketing their architectural thought through an installation.

"We believe design is an amazing balance between planning and creative discovery. Seeing this kind of passion and commitment to the craft in our community, inspires us all," said Jamie Bolak, MOVE Senior Art Director/Creative Manager.

This space speaks to creativity and reshaping the lived environment. We hope that artists, young professionals and entrepreneurs alike will continue to be attracted to this area and play a hand in building a new, rejuvenated community.

 Blog Post By: Don Hart, MOVE President, Pete Ayers, Assistant Web and Video Editor and Kim Beson, Associate Writer/Project Coordinator.

Love of the Automobile Endures
Our relationship with cars may not be the same as that of our grandfather or great-grandfather, but that emotional connection continues to be passed down—especially when you live in Michigan.

As a Michigander you not only have a connection to your car—which, of course, is none other than American-made—but more than likely your job, company or your sister-in-law’s cousin has some connection to the auto industry. Don Hart, President of MOVE Communications, can attest to this. In January he attended Autoweek’s annual Design Forum at the College for Creative Studies to hear about the three subjects that affect our company: Cars, design and marketing.

The forum brought together some of the best brains in the business to discuss what it is like to design for today’s consumer. One of the speakers included was the “Father of the iPod,” Tony Fadell, who used to serve as Senior Vice President of Apple's iPod division, where he developed the first 18 generations of the iPod.

Staying Connected Through Technology
Fadell came out of retirement to found Nest and create an energy-efficient thermostat that is Wi-Fi enabled so you can adjust your temperate settings via iPhone app from anywhere around the world.

He brought this concept of “staying connected no matter where you are" to the forum. Sure, technology has entered our cars. For example, our conversations no longer need to end on the way out the door; we can simply enable our Bluetooth headset and drive handsfree. Then there are the latest innovations, like Ford’s new feature that will read your texts out loud and respond with pre-selected messages. But, Fadell wants to see electronics blend more seamlessly with cars for an enhanced consumer experience.

Millenial Point of View
Clay Dean, Director of General Motors North America’s Advanced Design, suggested that the Millennial generation of 80 million strong, who his company is targeting, isn’t asking for the glitz and glam of high-tech features; but instead they desire a vehicle that reflects their culture, triggers emotion and reassures their commitment to the brand. 

Peter Schreyer, Chief Design Officer at Kia, is dedicated to pulling on the heartstrings of consumers, because he too sees a strong emotional connection between people and their cars. “Our fascination for cars is not a matter of age,” said Schreyer. “In our business brand building starts very early. Each of us remembers certain times of our lives and the car we had.”

Designing and the Environment
Max Wolff, Design Director for Lincoln, focused on the designs saying, “Our design must differentiate us.” Comparatively, Peter Horbury, Senior Vice President of Design at Geely Group, who designs for Volvo, shared a perspective from oversees. According to Horbury, car buyers from Sweden and Scandinavia are looking for vehicles that are more environmentally savvy.

A Valuable Relationship
Whether you believe today’s consumer is looking for technology, an emotional connection or design, or all of the above, we can’t deny that the auto industry has devoted itself to keeping up these relationships and inspiring new ones.

Blog Post By: Jade Grammatico, MOVE Winter/Spring Intern and Kim Beson, Associate Writer/Project Coordinator.

Food Hubs
The future of farming has arrived. Geared toward supporting local businesses and community involvement, The Washtenaw Food Hub is the newest trend in agriculture. 

Food Hubs, which are promoted by the USDA, are defined as centrally located facilities with a business management structure that integrate food production and distribution, farmer services, agricultural training and community involvement to help local farming and local food produce thrive in the community.

Housing a Hub in Washtenaw
Organic Tantre Farm owners Richard Andres and Deb Lentz recently purchased a historic farm spanning the 16 acres of land on Ann Arbor’s scenic Whitmore Lake Road. Inspired by Burlington, Vermont’s community agriculture movement and with the farm coming equipped with a handful of farm buildings, electrical and plumbing infrastructure and parking the Chelsea couple saw it as the perfect locale to house their hub. 

The Washtenaw Food Hub, which is comparable to a “farm franchise”, will work closely with local farmers and distributors to provide the community with Michigan grown food. They aim to attract families, retail and wholesale customers—and although it is a lofty goal—school systems, hospitals and universities. The food hub will also offer services to farmers, donations to local food banks and annual summer internships. 

To learn more about this new movement check out Concentrate’s “Cultivating a Fresh Food Hub in Washtenaw County.” 

For more information contact Richard Andres at (734)-475-4323. 

Blog Post By: Don Hart, MOVE President, Pete Ayers, Web and Video Editor, Jade Grammatico, MOVE Winter/Spring Intern and Kim Beson, Associate Writer/Project Coordinator.