Take a quick look at this image from today’s MacBook reveal:
In a nutshell, it tells of Apple’s formula for its amazing success. Every CEO needs to see this – 2 of the 5 items are related to marketing. Bad Vista marketing. Great Apple marketing. Too often, the power of good marketing falls on deaf ears in the eSuite. One successful marketer reminded me that CMOs are the "Rodney Dangerfields" of the board room and I’ve experienced that myself. But then again look at what great marketing – along with great design – has done for Apple. You can’t argue with it. Better software and computers isn’t enough…you need to tell the world and get them to spread the message for you. That is what keeps me – and other marketers up at night. It’s one reason why Steve Job rests easy. He’s done it well.
There were 6 items on the list (retail stores was number 6) – it is misleading to say 2 out of the 5 items were marketing related when there were 6 items.
More importantly, Peter Cook didn’t make any mention of marketing when he discussed Vista as one of the keys to Apple’s success. No mention at all.
What did you hear that made you believe Peter Cook was talking about marketing re: Vista?
Mitch, you are correct about missing the 6th item (although I think their stores really are part of their marketing) No, I didn’t hear Peter say anything about marketing re: Vista. He said it’s on the list because it didn’t live up to Microsoft’s expectations and Apple benefited from that. But watch later how they claim Vista’s intro accelerated Apple’s Store sales. Even that slide is classic Apple – marketing that a competitor’s missteps has helped them.
Clearly Microsoft had not done much – until about 4 weeks ago – to properly market Vista By doing nothing they allowed Apple to position them poorly – those PC-Mac ads are only part of it. I take this as a failing of Microsoft’s marketing.
The key to Apple is that marketing is built into every product, presentation and visit to an Apple store. They don’t have to tell you that it’s marketing…it just is.
One of the things I love about Apple is that they can get excited about the mundane things like manufacturing. Do you ever think you would attend a auto maker’s product launch and have them take 15 minutes to talk about how they innovated their manufacturing process? No way. They focus on the sizzle – the bells and whistles.
Let’s face it. These new MB and MBPs are just upgrades to the existing line. The new specs are really nothing to jump up and down about and the prices are basically the same. Knowing this, Apple chose to focus on something that was unique – their new manufacturing process. They managed to sell not the features and benefits of the product but their commitment to quality, innovation and the environment. Only Apple could build a PR event around this.
Someone let me know when HP, DELL, IBM have a press conference on their innovations. I won’t wait up for the call.