appssavvy's mission is simple: Unify the industry leaders, monetize the application universe and provide solutions for advertisers. appssavvy is a direct sales team for leading developers, specifically around social media applications and widgets. At the same time, appssavvy is a knowledgeable partner to the advertising agencies who can roll-up the leading applications into a scalable advertising program. Furthermore, appssavvy's proprietary technology platform will manage analytics and produce adverting focused metrics specific to each application. appssavvy's system will provide clarity and scale around the growing ecosystem for advertisers.
With the emergence of widgets and social applications and the millions of people engaging with them, the founders of appssavvy recognized the enormous potential to develop great advertising campaigns within these platforms. The challenge was that there was no connection between the owners of these applications and the brands trying to reach their audiences. As of June 2008, appssavvy has built a network through partnerships with over 70 leading application companies representing over 300 applications and half of the Top 25 applications companies (Adonomics). With strong relationships in the ad community, appssavvy was able to quickly launch several exciting programs with Fortune 500 brands. The campaigns have included custom built applications, sponsorships, distribution and branded interactive elements.
As the CEO of appssavvy, Chris Cunningham is responsible for establishing its position within the social media landscape. Believing that widgets and applications are the pinnacle of any viral and contextual marketing campaign, Chris has taken a strong advocacy position. His longstanding position as a leader in the digital advertising space allows appssavvy to make connections with top advertisers and gives credibility to the partner network.
He is a frequent speaker on widget and application marketing and has spoken at iMedia, OMMA, Graphing Social, Widget Expo, Digital Hollywood, ad:tech and Piper Jaffray and was a driving force behind the highly successful first annual Widget Con in 2007. His efforts in this area have garnered uniformly positive press coverage in the Washington Post, BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Chris is also writes a monthly column for MediaPost.
As a sales and new media entrepreneur, additional career highlights include: Global VP of Sales at Freewebs, VP of Sales at Bolt Media and Director of Sales for leading organizations including Digital Music Network and Music Vision where he pioneered the sales strategy for marketing online digital music platforms and built solid relationships with leading advertisers including Paramount, Verizon Wireless, Sony Pictures, Adidas, Proctor & Gamble and hundreds of other brands.
Chris graduated from the University of North Carolina Greensboro with a degree in Economics & Marketing and is now based in New York City. He lives and works in SoHo, loves to travel and spends summer weekends in the Hamptons.
Michael Burke
President
As the President of appssavvy, Michael is responsible for developing the organization, hiring and managing the team and ensuring that appssavvy will continue to deliver the highest level of solutions to the advertising clients and publishing partners.
Michael started his career as as a technology recruiter, learning the fundamental of sales, hiring and customer management. He joined HotJobs.com in 1999, opened the Chicago office and grew with the company until it was purchased by Yahoo! in 2001. After 6 years of leading sales teams at Yahoo!, in 2007, Michael joined Chris at Freewebs and quickly recognized the opportunities surrounding widgets and applications. Working with traditional brands such as Ford, P&G and Kimberly Clark, Michael proved that the social media revolution was not limited to just teenagers and can be effective for all advertisers.
Michael graduated from Boston College with a degree in Marketing.
Congrats on the feature on the ever growing and prestigious "What Am I Missy", I absolutely loved your video, it was something I would never have imagined been done before, and you really went all out to provide value and hilarity to those who really understood it's core message.