By: Tim Rosini Published: January 19, 2011
The Associated Press recently announced the development of a mobile application that will give consumers digital access to daily and weekly ad circular inserts.
With the widespread usage of mobile media platforms, iCircular gives newspapers and retailers a means of adapting to changes in consumer demand. Jeff Litvack, one of the lead executives in charge of the iCircular development project at AP, described the main idea of what iCircular is and what it will do for the consumer.
“iCircular reinterprets the best features of the print circular experience for mobile devices. It is a hyperlocal weekly marketing and shopping tool that brings the circular into the 21st century,” Litvack said.
The app gives newspapers an opportunity to hold onto circular revenue even while consumers change the platform of where and how they get their information.
“From a newspaper perspective, the fundamental goal of iCircular is to preserve a strong relationship between newspapers and retailers in the digital transformation through creation of an efficient system to migrate that relationship to mobile,” Litvack said.
The project is not without its potential pitfalls. With other coupon applications such as Grocery iQ, Coupon Sherpa, and Yowza already on the market, the competition will be fierce from the moment the app is available. For newspapers to maintain advertising revenue, they must plant themselves firmly between the consumer and the retailer. By understanding what worked in the past, the AP hopes to digitally re-create that revenue stream for the future.
“While there are rich-media banner advertising options in the market today, there is no other mobile ad platform that provides the capabilities and functionality
to retailers and consumers that iCircular will offer,” Litvack said.
iCircular will be introduced during the first quarter of 2011. Litvack said he hopes it will show other newspapers the potential for ad revenue waiting on the mobile platform.
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