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People have been selling brands for long before Apple has been around. And the "brand," isn't the logo. It is everything that a particular entity means to you,
by MAGZine 10y ago
People have been selling brands for long before Apple has been around. And the "brand," isn't the logo. It is everything that a particular entity means to you, which includes all customer service, sales, advertising contacts. Which includes selling things as a lifestyle. This is marketing 101.
I'm not going to pretend that Apple did not significantly influence the direction of product design. It absolutely did.
However, you're making it sound like Apple invented product marketing. They didn't. Microsoft and Google are new to the marketing game because they're entering the consumer hardware business, which is a new venture. When you're the defacto software solution (Windows, Google Search), you don't need marketing. You don't need to build a brand. Your brand is so ingrained in culture that everyone, everywhere uses it.
It's a lot better of a spot to be than trying to reach that goal. Google and Microsoft are now going to try to leverage their software platforms to launch hardware in the same way, but it needs marketing.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- TheOtherHobbes 10y agoApple absolutely invented competent technology marketing. If you look at the old issues of Byte, you can immediately see the difference. Most of the ads are generic spec/price lists with maybe some crappy hand-drawn graphics. A few are photos and professionally drawn images with some attempts at metaphor, but they invariably look crude, heavy-handed, jokey, or cartoony. The primary focus in the early Apple ads is the Apple user at home, with his partner. It's the first thing you see before you get drawn into the copy. It's an attempt to sell soft values, not just hardware specs. This ownership of soft values is a huge difference that most of the industry still fails to get, and which Apple itself seems to be forgetting. Apple is the only company ever to create technology products that appeal equally to men and women without relying on any traditional gender branding. (At least that used to be true until "rose gold" appeared.) MS is sort of catching up now, two decades later. But it's not a natural cultural fit for them, so I'm not expecting a stream of great things. Google is - well, the brand mascot is an android. That's all anyone needs to know.
- serge2k 10y agoI thought rose gold was more about appealing to asian markets?
- TazeTSchnitzel 10y agoWell, Gold appeals to China, but is Rose Gold maybe its own thing?
- rangibaby 10y agoYeah, Asian women. I know my ex rushed out and bought a pink iPhone as soon as they were released.
- doug1001 10y agoindeed, i believe Apple invented "competent technology marketing" as well. But to market to a cynical and highly skeptical group, they wisely chose the "inside-out" marketing route. So eg, when addressing a skeptical crowd (eg, developers) and you tell them how great you are, if they listen at all, they'll infer the opposite. On the other hand, if they over-hear one of their own talking about how great is the Mac, they are far more receptive. Jean-Louis Gassée (head of Mac development and later global head of marketing, '85 - '90) seems to be have been the intellectual force behind this in Apple.
- Spooky23 10y agoThey didn't invent product marketing, but they perfected the current, most popular industrial design aesthetic and marketing methodology.