I don’t know many people who have an Apple Mac computer, but I know plenty that would love to own one! Why is that? It’s not for familiarity – most people are more comfortable on PCs. It’s not for computer speed – PCs can have just as much memory as a Mac. So why do so many people cherish their Macs and others envy those people who can cherish their Macs?
It’s marketing, baby.
Apple has marketed its Mac and MacBook computers as being in style. And it doesn’t hurt that Apple actually backs up that claim with computers and accessories that look modern and stylish. According to Steve Chazin, former Marketing Executive for Apple, “Style is Apple’s brand.” Good job, Mr. Jobs! Whoever thought a computer could be stylish?
PCs, or at least PC laptops are starting to look much more sleek and stylish, but they still don’t have that same “air of quality” and coolness that a MacBook has. It’s all in the marketing.
Apply does something better than any other computer company does: it makes complex things easy and elegant at the same time. By doing this well, Apple commands a fiercely loyal following of customers. Marketing is much more powerful when your customers are doing it for you. Apple simply gives its customers the right words and concepts to let others know about their great products (at least “great” in their current customers’ eyes). People are proud to let others know they own a Mac and people even have bumper stickers and car window stickers showing the famous bitten apple.
Apple even markets its products a little slyly – the MacBook has the Apple logo on it upside down when facing the user; it’s right-side up for all those who might be looking at the user and the MacBook. That simple little detail of flipping the apple is what makes Apple marketing great. It’s subtle, and it works.
Apple’s advertising even has its own Wikipedia page, there’s so much to say about it! Check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc._advertising.
On the other hand, Apple has been in trouble for false advertising in the past. Just recently in Britain, the Advertising Standards Authority has brought a formal complaint against Apple for its iPhone advertising claim that people can access “all of the Web” from the iPhone. The issue is that the iPhone can’t run Flash and Java, which are common Web technologies used on many Web sites. Apple contends that its claim is that it reaches all available Web pages on the iPhone, and that claim doesn’t mean the iPhone can display all of the available Web pages properly. Is it just me or does this seem trivial and ridiculous?
Even with Apple’s advertising lawsuits, Apple is still highly regarded in the advertising world as a company that “gets it”.
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