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

Apple's Successor

So I've been asked about 50 times since Steve took the stage at the Developer's Conference - is Steve Jobs sick?  This has become a big deal - if he's not well, who will carry the flame at Apple?  I think Steve is fine, BTW, and I asked this question before on my April fools blog post, and now Fortune Magazine has done a pretty good review of the possible insiders in line for such a post.  From a marketing standpoint, Apple knows it has impossible shoes to fill and silence on that front is the best response. 

I want to give credit to Steve for personally saving Apple in 1997 (by firing most of the Apple Board, focusing on better marketing, demanding people's best efforts, and creating better products) Recognize though that those efforts (and others) have now built Apple into an incredibly healthy company that can weather a transition to a new CEO.   The now 11 year-old culture that Steve built is ready to thrive with or without him.  That said, I think the next CEO should share the same first name as Jobs and Wozniak and so I throw my hat in the ring.

UPDATE: June 26th.  Investor's Business Daily had another take on the above story today.  I agree with them that a team is needed to replace Steve.  It's rare to find someone who is visionary, a true leader and can execute.

Apple and loving customers

This is a great post today from Inside CRM discussing how Apple has built an ongoing relationship with its customers. One thing easy to overlook, and a key but relatively hidden fact of Apple's ongoing and dramatic resurgence, is how well they relate to their customers and vice versa.

Case in point. For years Apple has been trying to sell Macs alongside PCs at Best Buys and CompUSAs (RIP) These efforts have largely failed because they were indirectly reaching their customers. The salesperson had to learn about selling both Macs and PCs and were often motivated by spiffs to move non-Apple products. Consequently, the sales rep could not demonstrate the same level of enthusiasm for Apple's products as Apple could.

It wasn't until Apple really focused on its online properties that direct sales to consumers took off. After learning how to present a clear, consistent message they opened their own stores and essentially copied this museum-like experience into a hands-on retail presence. Hiring their own sales ambassadors and controlling the entire shopping experience has really paid off, and Apple Stores are now a model that other consumer goods manufacturers are just beginning to copy. Add their mastery of word of mouth and traditional marketing, a keen focus on surprising and delighting customers, and you have Apple-style success.

The bottom line: Apple doesn't just reach its customers. Apple embraces them. And their loving customers hug right back.

Are iPod ads now part of pop culture?

As I mentioned before, I'm presently in LA and will be driving back up to San Francisco this weekend before going home on Monday. (sorry family) It made me think of the 5 hour drive and how many billboards I've seen so far in California of iPod ads.

Apple's marketing for iPods has been remarkably consistent. A single figure, in silhouette against a vibrant background with those iconic white headphones easily recognizable (more so, than say the model of iPod the figure is using.) In the talks I've given around the world, I've shared Flickr and other photographs taken by fans of Apple's outdoor advertising. I'm amazed how many photographs people take of the ads used in Shanghai to London to Berlin to Boston and how they are identical.

For more than 3 years now, Apple has stuck with this campaign and has - in effect - created an emotional response in the viewer on par with say the Coke or Starbucks logo. You see those iPod ads, and if you are a customer, you take some small sense of ownership knowing you are one of those hip, energetic individuals in that billboard. That shadow is you.

Product placement, iTunes and American Idol

Did you see American Idol last night? I was watching with my sons and I couldn't believe the 5 minute "commercial" for iTunes, iPods and iPhones that Apple pulled off about 10 minutes into the show.

If you saw it, please post your comments here. Is this borderline pandering? Or is this just super-good marketing that is making me (and other marketers) jealous of how far Apple can go to spread its gospel.

Another Apple uPod

I spoke before about Apple's tendency to under promise and over deliver, or "uPod" regarding its business outlook.  Well I had just had an experience with an overlooked, but amazingly powerful feature that, to the best of my knowledge, Apple has never hyped or even marketed at all.

That feature is the "Migration Assistant."  Here was my dilemma.  I was having lots of issues with my personal MacBook Pro and it was slowing down my productivity big time.   So my company ordered me a new one last week and it was delivered this Monday.  But I've been so busy I could not find the time to switch over, so I stuck with my unreliable MacBook simply because it had all my stuff in it.

During one of my frequent reboots I remembered the Migration Assistant.  (I've never used it before because I'm one of those old-school techies who likes to build his hard drive one install at a time)  Basically, all I had to do was reboot my old Mac into Firewire disk mode (try that MacBook Air!) and connect a Firewire cable to my new Mac.  A few clicks (and a few hours) later, and my new MacBook was a carbon copy of my old one.

I was amazed!  Every file, document, email, iPhoto, iTune, even the arrangement of icons on my dock and my desktop was preserved.  It is the most amazing feeling to pick up a brand new computer and hit the ground running with everything where it should be in just a few hours.  Such a feat usually takes about a week.

Clearly this isn't the coolest feature around, but perhaps the most practical when trying to get people to buy a new Mac.  I think Apple should invest in a PC vs Mac commercial where Justin speaks to this feature since there are lots of people like me who stick with their old computers for fear of the hard work of migrating.  Have you ever used the Migration Assistant?

2/8/08 Update: AppleInsider describes the challenge for MacBook Air and Migration Assistant, as does MacNN.

Multi-touch Marketing

So this was the year of the iPhone. The first consumer device with a new type of user interface, dubbed "Multi-touch" by Apple. Soon the keyboard on the desk with the computer screen at a 90 degree angle and poor ergonomics will go away and we'll all be interacting with computer screens IN our desk. Quick, someone buy stock in Windex...finger smudges are now a fact of life. But that scenario will take a while to fully play out...

However I think an even more important invention slipped by almost unnoticed. I call it "Multi-Touch Marketing." Instead of using multiple fingers to drive a computer device, multi-touch marketing uses multiple points of influence to drive you to make a purchase decision.

Consider my own case. I had no intention of purchasing an iPhone at launch. Yes, I heard, read, even felt the hype...but I'm a sophisticated user, unmoved by such things. All of Apple's carefully crafted messages, its traditional billboard and TV marketing, even the hype of free publicity the iPhone got did little to sway me. But it made an impression. It made me feel like I may be missing out on something. In short, all these various sources of input touched me over and over. But it took three very different "touches" to get me to purchase my iPhone.

It started with this innocuous press release, brilliantly executed by Apple a few weeks before the iPhone launch. Touch 1: the iPhone was "upgraded" with "optical-quality glass for superior scratch resistance and clarity" Touch 2: PCWorld grabbed a new iPhone and "tested" it by intentionally trying to scratch the screen. It survived. Touch 3: A real user tried real hard to scratch their screen and documented the results on YouTube. They failed.

All three of these inputs touched me in a way none of the publicity before it did. You see, I'm a nut when it comes to keeping my technology products looking new. I still haven't taken the plastic wrap off my Gen4 video iPod. So it was only when I read, heard, and watched the iPhone resist screen-scratching that I knew it was for me. I purchased my iPhone the next day. And, like a good early adopter, I spent the last 3 months showcasing and demoing my iPhone for others all over the world. I was seduced by and then became part of Apple's marketing machine without thinking about it.

Multi-touch marketing: multiple sources of input that - taken together - can influence anyone.

P.S. You can scratch the iPhone if you try hard enough...or destroy it all together as fans of "Will it Blend" already know.

Word of Mouth and Friendship Capital

Many of the folks who read this blog are also users of Apple's products. Perhaps you had a Mac (back in the day when they were called Macintoshes) or maybe you recently got an iPod or iPhone. Regardless, you are part of the marketing machine of Apple. You probably share you enthusiasm for Apple's products with family, friends, even perfect strangers.

Well, after working for Apple for almost a decade, and being a customer for more than 20 years, you have to realize that almost all my family members use Macs. My dad is no exception - for his 75th birthday his children bought him a new iMac. Being the tech support member of my family clan, I urged him to upgrade to Leopard so we could use the new screen sharing feature. (boy is it hard to explain what to click on over the phone - you know what I mean?) This was going to make our lives easier.

Anyway, Dad did buy Leopard (from a link on this page) and he immediately began the upgrade. But somehow along the way, he clicked the option that did a complete, fresh install. And here is where my Dad makes a good point (and sent an email to Steve Jobs to punctuate it) - why didn't the installer ask him at least once "Are you sure you want to do a fresh install?" He swears he never saw it, and so his computer was completely wiped clean. He spent nearly an hour on the phone with Apple support but of course there was nothing they could do. And I ended up feeling responsible for his hardship.

So I'm coining a term: "Friendship Capital" It's what you expend, gain or lose when you recommend to your friends what they should do. Don't spend your friendship capital unless you are sure the experience they will have with the object of your recommendation buys you more. In other words, don't stick your neck out unless you are sure you won't have to deal with the repurcussions. I'm already expecting to help my dad rebuild his Mac. But of course, that's more like Relative Capital - and that renews itself by blood.

Love ya Dad!

iPhone Martial Law

After doing some stock analysis after yesterday's post I found this gem from TheStreet.com.  The analysis ends with what I've been saying here for weeks - Apple isn't doing themselves or anyone else any favors with their strategy.  And I agree that their strategy of a locked phone platform is doomed to failure. 

The same power Apple wields better than anyone - getting its users to spread the gospel - is now working against it in the case of Apple vs the iPhone users (aka "Hackers") who want to merely do what they want on their non-subsidized phones.  Let them.

Apple, here's a freebie: Support the team of folks using Installer.app by adding it to your next 1.1.2 patch and hosting the community sources yourself.  Then you can control what ends up on the iPhone, maybe help make some money and become a good citizen of the iUniverse you created.  It's all within your power too.  Be your best.

Steve

Has good iPhone publicity gone bad?

Okay, now that Apple has released iPhone update 1.1.1 and "broken" all those wonderful little 3rd party apps I just got around to showing my friends I have a question.  Is Apple now shooting themselves in the foot?  You see, I understand that they need to stop the "hackers" who have unlocked the phone (or at least they need to help AT&T realize a small profit, since Apple already made their money on the phone) but why step on these developers who are building apps that only make the phone more desirable?

So now those same developers (and by definition early adopters) are getting pissed, and talking about it openly.  I'm in that camp.  Let me back it up a sec...

You see, the iPhone developer community have helped produce a wonderful little application called (marketing-free) Installer.app.  Google it.  Further, on Sept. 7 they banded together with the other fine folks working on native iPhone applications to ensure an easy path for people looking to extend their phone.  Imagine if Blu-Ray and HD DVD got along so well.  In any event all was well until last Friday when Apple released software update 1.1.1.  Now installer.app doesn't work.  And the natives are restless, many refusing to upgrade.  (in fact an informal online poll on Engadget speaks volumes, where only 20% of 9000 people upgraded.)

And here is a clever reader revolt, using Apple's own marketing words against them:

I contend that Apple is hurting itself now.  Not only did they charge early adopters $200 more than folks who waited a few months for the iPhone (then issued the iPology) but now they are hurting the developers who have extended Apple's platform making it more appealing to the late majority.  This is classic Steve Jobs trying to control his invention.  What's funny is that this isn't the Apple way - they thrive on getting other people to help them sell their stuff.  But as I said in earlier posts, we're witnessing a transformation of Apple from a people-centric computer company to a product-centric consumer electronics company.  I, for one, think Apple needs to wake up and see that its early adopters are working hard to make their products more marketable.

The desire to stand out

Apple has achieved a very clever balance of zealous early adopters willing to pay anything (and go through anything) to be among the first to get their hands on Apple's stuff - witness the iPhone craze - AND they've figured out how to get the late majority to lust after their products as well.  That is amazing and rare.

One of my earlier posts was on the desire to fit in.  People who buy iPods fit in.  They are part of the in crowd, the so called iPod generation.  People who buy iPhones stand out.  And both like it like that.  Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 in my eBook discusses how Apple has made this happen.

P.S. some people don't want to do either...they are closet iPod users.

BTW, my eBook is only 8 pages long so it's worth the read and won't take much of your time - perhaps I should have called it an ePamphlet.