Grapple is moving beyond its roots as an app developer into mobile app marketing. This is one of three new services being launched by the company under its monetisation division in a bid to ensure the apps they develop are used by consumers and that they make money.
In an interview with Mobile Marketing, Grapple’s chief strategy officer Adam Levene admitted that the company had been so focused over the last three years on getting products out the door, it had “let the clients down in some ways… particularly when you hand over to them.”
Jason Barrett joined Grapple in March as director of monetisation and will be in charge of the three business areas: discovery, mobile CRM and revenue optimisation. “The kind of conversations we have with clients now are about retention and optimisation,” he said “They’re not looking for a whole load of mobile media discovery campaigns.
“But it’s not one size fits all,” he said. “Every single client’s mobile usage data is different.”
The company’s mobile-first ad tracking and insights dashboard will support the efforts, along with particular focus on push messaging in-app, email and SMS.
Grapple has debuted usability videos for its clients to demo their apps, Barrett says, for people who might “only have handful of apps but they could be your most valuable customer.” 
Barrett, formerly of Samba, Unanimis and Blyk, also pointed to a “clear skills gap” in mobile CRM.
David Murphy writes
This is an interesting move from Grapple, which has won plaudits for some of its output – including apps for B&Q and Premier Inn – into more of a full-service offering. To use a baby analogy, instead of giving mum and dad a couple of days to get used to the idea of being parents and then leaving them to it, Grapple is effectively offering to escort the new family home and move in for a few weeks, months even, to make sure it’s eating and sleeping well and doing all the things a new child should do.
After all, the company that developed and delivered the app should know better than anyone what’s best for it. The only question is whether the company has the required skillsets inhouse to compete with the traditional app marketing specialists such as Fiksu and Trademob. Time will tell.
