App/Books: Name Recognition, Brand and Exclusive Licensing

What's in a name?  Well, in the case of the iPad and app/books just about everything - at least for now.  In order to be successful with an app/book on the iPad you have to have a title with a well known name. Why? Because the familiarity of the title helps convince folks to take a chance and buy the app/book.

That's not to say that only titles with strong name recognition are worth reading. To the contrary!  An excellent example of an iPad app/book that is really excellent and doesn't have any  name recognition (yet) is "Bella The Great". Bella is a truly excellent children's book with illustrations by Jonathan Ashely that are destined to become classics.  But it's really the big names that catch folks attention and that's where iPad app/book entrepreneurs and established production houses are focused.

Good examples of this strategy are titles offered by Oceanhouse Media and ScrollMotion. Both companies, start-ups with a focus on mobile app/books, have secured licensing rights from major copyrighted brands.  In the case of Oceanhouse Media, its Dr. Seuss titles have been big sellers on the iPad, the rights to which they licensed directly from Audrey Geisel, Theodor Seuss Geisels window. ScrollMotion has secured rights to Curious George and Sesame Street's Elmo books.   Major production houses are also playing the brand game to great effect.  In the case of Disney its the corporate brand. In the case of DreamWorks story brands Shrek and "How to Train Your Dragon".  Name recognition with exclusive licensing rights is what I call Brand.

Branded iPad app/books released by these companies have big name recognition and are copyrighted which means they have exclusive rights to create app/books for these titles.  That's a major advantage when it comes to competition; because there isn't any.  In the case of Oceanhouse Media, they have exclusive rights to the Dr. Seuss titles for the iPad - you won't see any other app/book company producing Dr. Seuss app/books for the iPad. The same is true of Disney and DreamWorks and (possibly although I haven't confirmed this) with ScrollMotion.

Securing licensing rights to major brands is not without its challenges, and so a number of independent iPad developers have chosen titles in the public domain with equally powerful name recognition.  Atomic Antelope's runaway hit, "Alice for iPad" is based on the out-of-copyright Alice In Wonderland which has extreme name recognition.  But Atomic Antelope doesn't have exclusive rights to the Alice in Wonderland title and stories, and so there are a number of other app/books based on the same name - all of which pale in quality and delight. Multiple offerings of the same title provide consumers with a choice but it also dilutes the power of name-recognition.   A personal example of this is the Sherlock Holmes title I have been working on. Sherlock Holmes is one of the best know literary characters in history and the name recognition is excellent, but its not exclusive to anyone because the stories are not protected by copyright.  As a result there are a number of Sherlock Homes app/books available today which makes its more difficult to capture consumers attention.

While the iPad offers opportunities for self-publishers who are selling titles with little name recognition, its the the publishers who focus on strong brands that will have the most success.  This is perhaps obvious to anyone in the publishing business (or any other business) but what is interesting is that there is now the beginning of a land-grab for exclusive rights to strongly branded and copyrighted titles. Specifically, big production houses like Disney and DreamWorks are maintaining control of their precious titles while start-ups like Oceanhouse Media and ScrollMotion are securing rights to other titles.    And this, in my opinion, is where the money is and where new companies need to focus their energies.

That said, you can't just waltz in and make a deal with the licensees of major brands unless you have a track record or a very compelling business model.  To establish a track record entrepreneurs are going to have to start with non-copyrighted material and hope that their titles are so good that they can win on an even playing field.  Of course if your objective is to establish creds you may not need a runaway success; a high quality offering in the App Store may be enough to convince a licensee to trust you with their brand.

In the end its the Branded (copyrighted and trademarked) titles with strong name recognition that will make the most money for their publishers. There will always be exceptions, especially early on when app/books are just starting to gain steam, but in the long run its brand that maters and by that I mean good name recognition and exclusive rights.