Marketing Apple: Secrets of the World's Best Marketing Machine

Steve Jobs in 60 seconds

I know I'm late on this, but I wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to see this clip.  This is the meat of Steve's Macworld keynote in 60 seconds.  The rest of what Steve said was his packaging of this content. This is a fantastic way to see how the outline of his presentation gets expanded to deliver his implicit message: we're Apple and we're doing some amazing stuff.

Perhaps this is one reason why many folks felt a bit let down by his keynote - when you boil it down there really wasn't a whole lot of new things announced.

Apple and a blogger, Part 2

Very interesting post by a now former Apple employee on why he left the Cupertino mother ship.  Interesting to note Jens' perspective on Apple's employee blogging policy.  Or lack thereof.  Perhaps it's no wonder that one of my best friends and long-time Apple employee told me I had big balls for starting this blog.

One of the fundamentals of Apple's remarkable marketing is "one voice".  Very few executives get to speak out on Apple - lest they go off message - and consequently Apple maintains a very well crafted public face and simple positioning that helps generate lift.   I remember back at Avid; my entire executive team marveled at how well every event Apple put their name on was simply perfect.  Cookie-cutter, but consistent.  I personally invested in expensive web conferencing software to help all the various worldwide sales teams follow Avid's corporate messaging playbook. 

(Full Disclosure: I'm now working for a company that creates free, open source web conferencing software that puts the $85,000 I spent to shame.)

Apple takes its controlled messaging to a whole different level these days.  They don't create pretty data sheets (even PDFs), they produce little polished collateral (outside their Pro Apps division), and have eliminated much printed documentation from the product.  It's just a few press releases, a few keynotes, immaculate package design, their friendly stores, and a website. 

And all us bloggers do their viral marketing for them.  Apple, it's time to open up and let your employees blog free!  We can use the help.

Apple uPod and the Stock Market

I saw this word today on one of the many financial sites documenting Apple's steep decline. UPOD="Under Promise and Over Deliver" This is the financial market way of saying "Surprise and Delight." Basically, Apple has often set guidance low, then they over deliver with great results. The market gets delighted and up goes the share price. Apple has been practicing UPOD in both the financial market and in their products. The flip side is if you stop over delivering, you pay the price.

We saw that in action right after Steve's keynote with so many people expecting something revolutionary on the heels of the iPhone last year. And yesterday, in spite of Apple's best quarter ever their lowered projections spooked the market, already spooked by other fears. Today was bloody - at one point Apple lost nearly 25% of its value. In one day! That's just crazy. Apple is still defying logic, growing market share, slamming out great new products and raking in huge profits. But their iPod business isn't generating uPod any longer.

But don't worry, Apple's business has always been cyclical; intentionally so. As the iPod business slows (this happens in any maturing market) you'll see Apple focus on the Mac and the business market. And with the iPhone still in it's infancy, (not to mention Apple TV) Apple has lots of engines available to deliver uPod.

Word of Mouth Marketing IS Marketing

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: word of mouth marketing is the most important form of marketing.  Study after study proves what we've witnessed - people buy what other people talk about.  By a wide margin, "Recommended/Referred by a Friend" is the #1 driver of purchasing decision (company websites & blogs are #2)  In a very real way, word of mouth is all that matters.  As much as the web changes, the recommendation of someone you know or trust still means more than any pretty webpage, Flash animation, funny commercial or polished collateral.  People don't listen to marketers, they follow people they trust.   Steve's vaunted "reality distortion field" works: onstage at Macworld he presents an image of someone you can trust.   My wife noticed that while watching Steve's Macworld keynote for the first time.

Speaking of friends, David Meerman Scott, the author of the bestseller "New Rules of Marketing and PR" has released a new, free eBook entitled "The New Rules of Viral Marketing: how word-of-mouse spreads your ideas for free"  where he explores this issue in greater detail.  And lo and behold, David has a chapter in the book about me and MarketingApple.com!  Check it out today and let me know what you think. 

Thanks David, and keep up the great work!  You are someone I trust.

Cloverfield, Snakes on a Plane and Apple

Hmm, another title no one will ever Google. So what do these have in common? You guessed it, all of them are great examples of WOM, or Word of Mouth marketing. With little official information provided sometimes fans project their own ideas and the resulting buzz often becomes deafening. And sometimes that buzz can get out of hand.

Witness Cloverfield. People expected a J.J. Abrams take on Godzilla. Why? They analyzed what little clues were provided in the teaser trailers (mention of Japan, monster's roar) and drew their own conclusions. Don't worry - no spoilers ahead - but a question - did you go to see Cloverfield expecting something more? Read the movie boards today: people are polarized. Some loved it, most hated it. Nothing in between.

Snakes was viral marketing done huge. Trouble was, after the buzz died and the movie came out no one (even the fanboys) really wanted to see snakes loose on a plane. Great title, great viral marketing: terrible idea for a movie.

Finally Apple. Like Cloverfield and Snakes they get great buzz from the very little information they provide. A poster gets hung, or a patent application is found and people go atwitter. But once the real story comes out, polarization happens and sometimes people don't buy what Apple is selling. It happened with the Cube, now some are saying the same about MacBook Air. Time will tell.

In the meantime, it's all good escapists fun to be part of the buzz machine and feel connected to something big. Even a giant monster loose in Manhattan.

Are we now being unfair to Apple?

Or is there now a backlash when Steve doesn't introduce something akin to the iPhone at Macworld?

It seems to me to be another proof of one of the tenets of my eBook: "surprise and delight" your customers. The flip side to that seems to be that when Apple doesn't surprise people at each years Macworld keynote the stock takes a hit and the naysayers come out in force.

I believe the leaks of information regarding the Macbook Air name, the iPhone 1.1.3 update, even the iTunes movie rentals pushed some stockholders to dump their shares because they were not surprised. Even more, and pretty rare for Apple these days, is that many people were clearly not delighted with missing features in the Macbook Air. It's almost as if people are spending more time surprised by what's missing than delighted they have another amazing notebook choice from Apple. No fundamentals have changed at Apple, there is now a sexy new computer on the shelves along with additional movie rental revenues coming in yet the stock has given up more than 10% its value.

One question on branding. Why didn't they call it the Macbook Nano? Any ideas?

iPhone Updated at MacWorld 2008

Looks like the iPhone got updated today with new software. (Keynote still going on as I write this)

Let's not forget that Apple has a huge advantage - their phones are like their computers. They can get better with simple software updates. When was the last time your Razr or Treo got more powerful the longer you owned it?

Stay tuned, this is getting interesting!

There's something in the air

In case you missed it, Apple has already put up a banner in the Moscone Center in San Francisco that says "2008: There is something in the air." Typically Apple puts up those signs in private, keeping large black cloths over the signs until Steve is done with his keynote speech.

Now for some reason we have these photos from Ars Technica a full 3 days before the event. Is this a rare mistake, or an intentional leak to drum up publicity - like I'm doing now - from the blogosphere? In any event, what do you think it means? Here is my suggestion to get the chat going:

Wireless monitors & computers: We're due for a refresh of the Cinema displays. Couple that with a computer device that has a small LCD panel when traveling but that can hook up with larger wireless Cinema displays (or any HDMI equipped TV) and you've got a revolution in the making. (Steve's note: I've long wondered why computer makers insist on cramming an entire computer, monitor and keyboard into a laptop...it's like cramming a hot water heater into every sink. All you need is a fast, multitasking computer at home and a bunch of wireless monitors/tablets to access it.)

Other thoughts?

The iPhone Anniversary

Hard to believe it's been a year since Apple launched the iPhone on us.  In retrospect, the iPhone turned out to be both the most hyped and also the most successful consumer electronics product ever.

Here is a fantastic story from Wired on the behind the scenes adventure of the making of the iPhone.  Read  between the lines and you'll see how important marketing was - and still is - to the success of any Apple product.  You'll see it all, the power of brand, the need for innovation, the requirement to defend a hit product's turf, the need to take risks and forge alliances.  Thank you Wired for a great story.

And thank you Apple for a great phone.

Joe Gibbs and Steve Jobs

I don't think many people would ever Google the title of this blog post.  Or lump a football coach and a CEO in the same category. But as a famously (frustrated) Redskins fan and Apple aficionado it dawned on me watching Joe Gibbs retire today that there will come a day when Steve will also leave the organization he personally made great. 

Whenever that happens a bit of the company, the company's personality, even part of the company's soul leaves with the person - and they are forever inextricably tied together.  Apple is Steve Jobs.  Steve Jobs is Apple.  Joe Gibbs is the Washington Redskins.

If the Redskins were a public corporation their stock would sink in tomorrow's trading.  Redskins fans everywhere wring their hands tonight thinking first about Sean Taylor and now this.  How will the organization recover?  What does the future hold?  Will we ever see another Superbowl?

And while most companies teach you to realize that no one is irreplaceable, in a very real sense that's not the whole truth.  With true leaders, like Steve and Joe, people follow.  People work harder, give more of themselves, aim higher.  And when those leaders are gone their followers feel lost, unsure of themselves, unmotivated.  But over time those disciples take lessons learned, apply them for themselves - sometimes by themselves - and finally teach them to others.  That's the legacy of a coach - to make those around them better and move the entire team to greatness.  That's what Steve did for Apple and Joe did for the Redskins.

In the meantime, here's hoping Steve sticks around well into his 60s like Joe.  And Go 'Skins!