This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. New research finds that stories about consumers'positive experiences with a brand significantly increase users'engagement with brand websites, and stories originating from consumers are especially powerful in shaping brand attitudes in social media. Indeed, companies that aren't offering experiences that leverage consumer input in brand-related narratives are missing out on important opportunities to connect in a meaningful way with potential buyers.

Smartphones make up an increasing share of mobile devices, and mobile apps are among smartphones' most popular features. The all-time cumulative total of mobile app downloads stood at 37 billion at the end of 2011, and showed dramatic growth in 2012. Mobile app downloads more than doubled that year, resulting in a new cumulative total of 83 billion mobile app downloads. For companies, apps provide ample revenue opportunities. Mobile advertising has seen triple-digit percentage growth each year since PricewaterhouseCoopers began capturing this data in 2010. Yet some people have doubts about the effectiveness and viability of mobile advertising and believe that apps are a better medium. Authors Glen L. Urban and Fareena Sultan think one of the most effective uses of mobile media will be apps that are designed to build trust. These are "benevolent"apps because the apps' value is directly tied not to selling products but rather to advancing consumers' interests and helping them solve problems or make decisions. One example is the Sea Tow app, offered by Sea Tow Service International, headquartered in Southold, New York, which provides emergency towing and rescue services for boaters in the United States, the Caribbean and Europe. The free app supports boaters' navigation needs by providing information about local tide tables, detailed marine weather forecasts, GPS coordinates and bearing, and speed. Urban and Sultan observe that a growing number of organizations, including well-known companies, have come forth with their own benevolent apps in which selling products takes a backseat to providing information and gaining trust. The authors present findings from two studies (one at Liberty Mutual Insurance and the other at Suruga Bank in Japan) showing that benevolent mobile apps that try to help consumers in decision making can positively impact consumers' perception of a brand, as well as their willingness to consider the brand and their preference for it.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. For decades, companies relied on push marketing to sell their products and services. Then, in the 1990s, the emphasis shifted to relationship marketing, as slogans such as "delight your customers" became the mantra of many marketers. But those tactics have been losing their effectiveness, particularly as the power of customers continues to grow. Thanks to digital technologies like the Internet, today's increasingly educated consumers expect companies to do more than just delight them. In response, innovative companies are now trying a different approach: They are providing customers with open, honest, and complete information, and then finding the best products for them--even if those offerings are from competitors. In short, they are truly representing their customers' best interests, essentially becoming advocates for them. The strategy is this: If a company advocates for its customers, they will reciprocate with their trust, loyalty, and purchases--either now or in the future. The firm might then command higher prices for its products and services, as many customers will be willing to pay for the extra value. And when people trust a company, they will often tell others about it, helping to reduce the organization's costs for acquiring new customers.

The marketing committee of Paradise Foods decided against national rollout of Sweet Dream, the company's new premium frozen dessert. They feared Sweet Dream would take away market share from LaTreat, the company's first, and still successful, entry in frozen specialty desserts. Bill Horton, Sweet Dream's product manager, who had spent 18 months evaluating the new product and strongly favored the launch, doubted LaTreat's long-term market strength, believing that the company was protecting a product that was already tiring. Four executives - Jerry Della Femina, chairman and CEO of Della Femina, McNamee WCRS, Inc.; William H. Moult, executive vice president of SAMI/Burke; John M. Keenan, executive vice president of General Foods Worldwide; and Richard F. Chay, director of marketing research for NutraSweet Co. - evaluate Bill Horton's performance and examine whether Paradise Foods should reconsider its no-launch decision.