• Ad Age, Tuesday, September 22, 2009 11:30 AM

Pizza Hut's iPhone app became the first from a fast-food purveyor to be included in an Apple commercial that broke nationally last night. While it's difficult to quantify the boost a brand gets from an Apple TV endorsement, writes Emily Bryson York, there's no doubt it's good to be singled out. iBird Explorer, a field guide, quickly became the No. 1 reference app after just seven seconds of face time.

The Pizza Hut app was designed with an Apple ad in mind, says Ian Wolfman, chief marketer for Pizza Hut's digital agency, IMC2, but the computer maker called the pizza chain first. Pizza Hut will also begin promoting its app with five-second tags at the end of its TV ads, offering 20% off orders placed by iPhone.

Another iPhone app that has taken off this week, Starter Cards, is a guide to starting a business from a small Atlanta ad agency, Tribe, Inc. CEO and Creative Director Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin details the "long road to overnight success" here.

She also offers five suggestions for "what makes one particular idea pop, while others fizzle out."

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