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

Magical Device, the iPad

I'll have much more to say on this shortly but I need to get two things off my chest first:

1. Apple isn't trying to decide if a niche exists between smartphones and laptops.  They are trying to replace netbooks (and eventually laptops) and get people to carry the cloud with them.  If you think through the logical progression of the Web, all the data we care about will exist online.  The iPad is the device to access it.  Very different mode than a laptop.  This is the device from the future we've seen on Star Trek.  You can buy it today (well in 59 days.)

2. "Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price."  Something about this sentence seemed un-Applelike.  As someone who struggles to come up with the "syrupy goodness" of my value props (spoken about in my free eBook) this phrase seemed too forced and wordy.  It doesn't even say what it does.  "Touch the Web"  or "Your life to go." would have been more Apple-like to me.  I just don't follow this one...

More soon.

P.S. thank you Dane for the correct spelling of niche ;)

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Secrets of the Apple Tablet

Okay, now this is getting way too fun.  Far be it for me to resist from the rampant rumor mongering, but here is what I think is coming later this month:

I think Apple is going to surprise everyone.  While most people think this will be a big iPhone and run apps from the App Store (it will) I think its true intent is to remake the print, tv, and publishing business the same way that iTunes remade the music industry.

• I forsee a beautiful, HD video screen that will let you view all your music, television, movies, magazines, books and DVDs wherever you go. 

• You'll be able to subscribe to beautiful full color magazines via iTunes at 1/4 the price of buying them off the newstands and get exclusive content and video (ads too!) to enhance the reading experience.  (You'll see entire websites rewritten for the device as well.) 

• I think Apple will strike a deal with Amazon to enable digital books to be streamed to the device via a built-in color Kindle app. 

• I think we'll see Apple work with Netflix (or go directly to the studios themselves) to stream movies to the device and of course they already have iTunes to handle your music and television subscriptions. 

Your documents and iPhone/iPod Touch apps will travel with you too - making the device a multipurpose workhorse that will seem to many like something from the future.  And you'll want to own one.  Because it will cost $699.  And you'll subscribe to a lot more stuff every month - buying apps and content wirelessly.  And all of it will be available to view on your AppleTV when you get home since it will now live in Apple's new $1B cloud service.

Finally, the name.

I won't cover the obvious choices spoken elsewhere like iGuide, iScreen, iPad or iSlate (although iSlate would match the iPod branding in that it can be generic).  I think Apple could have cut some deal with the Etch-a-Sketch folks (Ohio Arts) to call it "MagicScreen" (Magic Mouse is already in the house) and they also have the Touch and Air franchises to combine "AirTouch"  Also a possibility relating their own name and their app store to create something like "iTapp"  And let's not forget, Tapplet or Applescreen isn't that far fetched...

Time will tell.  Oh yeah, Time will publish their magazines for it too.

Apple is Marketer of the Decade (Adweek)

Any surprise?  Read this story for more details on the company and the man.

Just a quick recap for those playing at home:

Apple limped into 2000 after barely surviving extinction at the hands of poor management all through the 90s.  But Steve's return and the iMac (1998) saved the company and paved the way for all future product launches that helped fix the company.  In a nutshell, great marketing coupled with great design saved Apple.

Now just count what Steve has done in a decade:

• Turned Pixar (and countless characters) into a loved, respected family brand. 
• Sold Pixar to Disney (one of his heros) and became largest single Disney shareholder
• Introduced iPod, revolutionized carrying all your music with you
• Introduced iTunes, figured out how to make money with music, now largest online store
• Introduced iPhone, changed the definition of smart phones
• Introduced mobile Apps, changed how software gets distributed

So Steve changed music, movies, phones, software and computers.  Apple now touches all our lives.  Apple was once a backwater player in computers and now has the world at it's fingertips. 

Can't wait for 2010 and a renewal of books, radio, television, magazines, advertising and mobile devices.  Happy new year everyone!

Apple and Family Guy

I told you I loved Family Guy.  Now I know why.  Where else would a major show write this into the script?  (Perhaps this was intentionally added to kick Microsoft for pulling out of their sponsorship at the last minute.)

Microsoft Fights Back

I'm glad to see this.  Seems like some people in Redmond think that with Steve out of action, now is the time to strike.  I'm eager to see the commercials - not just for their creativeness - but to see if their timing is right.  Apple is in danger of all fads - too much for too long tires people out. Can Microsoft become cool again?

I don't know but my gut tells me that Apple knows this and they are waiting for the perfect time to shock and awe the world again. All those iTunes dollars are funding something big...

As soon as they sense Mr. Bill & Co. have closed some psychological coolness gap, Apple will do something amazing.  Or perhaps Apple's time in the sun is over for a while.  We'll see.

Update:  So just when I was willing to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt, I see them up to their old stupidity again.  I discovered that these ads are online, at Microsoft's own website.  So I wanted to watch them.  But then I got this message:

There is no way I'm installing another plug-in on my browser just to watch videos.  Microsoft should know this is the kneejerk reaction of all Mac users - and most other web surfers.  The videos should have been in Flash or MPEG2 or even WMV.  Want to really impress those Mac guys?  Offer an HD Quicktime version.  But this is a marketing site who's purpose is simply to spread the word.  And you have to make it easy for your customers to do this.  I'm spreading the word:  Microsoft still doesn't get it. Call me Steve (Ballmer) if that's not clear enough for you.  Oh yeah, and read my eBook!  It's a PDF and it's free.

Mac Fans Fight Back: Love the Mac Fanboy response to this ad: guy offers to give his 17" MacBook for free!

One more: Did Microsoft FAKE Lauren's entrance to the "Mac" Store?

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.

The Halo of Marketing

Microsoft announced that yesterday was the "biggest day in entertainment history" with over $170 million worth of Halo 3 sold for XBox in the first 24 hours, beyond even movie blockbusters like Spiderman or books like Harry Potter.  Granted, a copy of Halo costs nearly $60 but the announcement points to a successful marketing strategy.  That strategy is known as "platform exclusives" and it can make or break a new product.  Many Mac diehards cringe when Halo is mentioned...it is the one clear example of Microsoft out-marketing Apple.  Here is the short story:

One of the best games ever for the Mac was a little product known as Marathon from a little company known as Bungie.  Keep in mind that Steve Jobs did NOT want the Mac to be a gaming system for he feared it would not be taken seriously by business users who were the target audience way back in 1984.  As a result the Mac suffered (and continues to suffer) from not having great games, and very few exclusive games.  But, at the MacWorld 1999 tradeshow during his keynote, Steve Jobs introduced the follow up to that Bungie hit, another Mac-only game simply called Halo.

It was a ground breaking demo - the effect being that the Mac had the power to redefine the PC gaming experience.  However, Microsoft was watching the keynote and they were searching for a breakthrough platform exclusive for their yet-to-be-released system, Xbox.  So on June 19, 2000 Microsoft acquired Bungie and in one fell swoop killed the Mac version, got the killer app they were looking for,  transferred  the buzz into interest in their system, blocked the Mac from encroaching on the PC's territory as a gaming system, and stuck it to the Mac faithful who were waiting for Halo for more than a year.

Now Halo eventually got ported to the Mac, but that's not the point.  This is an example of drafting the momentum of a rival, and it is fair game in the sales and marketing world.  I'd like to hear from readers about other examples they know about - either done to them or by them.  If I get some good responses - say 5 or 6 - I'll use my next few posts to tell you another true story about Apple getting outfoxed that has never been told before...