Apple's Brand Image: Past, Present and Future
When a company has its own Wikipedia page dedicated to its advertising history, it must be doing something right. For years under Steve Jobs, Apple's clever and inspiring advertisements really made you wonder how much more convenient your life might be with one of its products.
Fast forward to about a week ago, when Apple used the Olympics to reveal its newest line of commercials. Are the ads funny? Sure. Will they inspire people to buy a MacBook like they have in the past? Unlikely.
The new ads aren't about aspirations. They're a defensive move written for the one demographic the company's past commercials always seemed to ignore -- those seemingly hapless middle aged dudes. So they trot out some features -- old dudes like utility, right? -- and try to assure the forty-something male viewer that, yes, Apple cares about their lives too. But by doing it in such a predictable, shopworn way, they're essentially demeaning the audience. They're certainly not inspiring it.
Apple's marketing has been the bedrock of its success and popularity for the past 30 years. Yet is the company's marketing and brand power starting to fade post-Steve Jobs? Here's a taste of old vs. new:
Old Commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R706isyDrqI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntZ14BAFMyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...!
New Commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedd...
Definitely a noticeable difference. If you still need convincing, listen to what marketing whiz Ken Segall, who worked with Jobs and came up with the tags "Think Different" and "iMac," has to say:
It feels like something Best Buy would do. Maybe even Dell. Between the writing, casting, directing and production, this campaign has a very “local” feel to it. It doesn’t have the feel of quality that has defined previous Apple advertising.
In the effort to show that the Genius is the most helpful guy in the world, Apple has created customers who, shall we say, are on the dim side. In past ads, Apple has shown “ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” simply because Apple products are so easy to use. Now we have thick people who want to be better, but need a Genius to help. Not exactly flattering.
Bad ads happen, and a few cheesy commercials aren't going to make me sell my Apple shares. Also, these ads are directed at a very specific demographic (middle-aged dudes), so Apple isn't necessarily committing to this theme for eternity. But what does this say about the company's direction from a marketing standpoint? Is it better or worse for the stock?
Comments
The ads themself are a bit of
The ads themself are a bit of a flop (at least in the blogosphere....) but to suggest that this means the company is losing its way is jumping the gun in my opinion.
See my other WSO blog posts>
My high school media class
My high school media class used to make better commercials...
Think Different is probably
Think Different is probably one of my favorite campaigns. It's so sappy and cheesy but it just makes you feel really good inside at the end of it instead of feeling rather jaded.
When I first saw the new adds
When I first saw the new adds on TV I did not believe they were apple commercials, even after seeing the "genius" I thought they were advertising a different product, because there is no way an apple commercial would be this cheesy. I guess I was wrong, this is foreshadowing for where the company is heading in the future. Steve Jobs would be turning in his grave if he saw these.
It doesn't matter what is in
It doesn't matter what is in their ads, the hipsters and elitists will buy them simply because they are more expensive and bring status.
I wouldn't put such a
I wouldn't put such a negative spin on this. Apple has some leeway to experiment not just on its books but also in it's target audience. iPhone 5 is coming out soon anyway and I doubt sales will falter. They just have to avoid being lumped in with Microsoft/Dell/HP/etc.. as just another computer maker or it's over.
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." - IlliniProgrammer
Amphipathic: It doesn't
It doesn't matter what is in their ads, the hipsters and elitists will buy them simply because they are more expensive and bring status.
While on vacay- noticed 4 texas mothers sitting on the beach clumsily sifting through pictures on their IPhones.
Came back from vacay- noticed 2 midwestern couples swiping on their IPhones with their thick meaty fingers.
Walking home from work last week, saw 2 geriatrics playing on their IPhones while at Sarabeths (not even eating or talking)
This is the antithesis of what the nerds and hipsters, both of whom are responsible for the phones success, believed in. It is no longer cutting edge, and worse of all, your parents probably own one. Unless Appl does something really crazy (which it doesnt appear that they will) with the 5, I see these phones losing their luster really quickly. In fact, all of my techie friends are basically done with the phone if 5 fails to push the boundries.
"Sounds to me like you guys a couple of bookies."
Bush league. How do so many
Bush league. How do so many companies fail at commercials? All they need to do is have a video of a truck running over a guy and I'll buy their product.
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
BillyRay05: Amphipathic: It
It doesn't matter what is in their ads, the hipsters and elitists will buy them simply because they are more expensive and bring status.
While on vacay- noticed 4 texas mothers sitting on the beach clumsily sifting through pictures on their IPhones.
Came back from vacay- noticed 2 midwestern couples swiping on their IPhones with their thick meaty fingers.
Walking home from work last week, saw 2 geriatrics playing on their IPhones while at Sarabeths (not even eating or talking)
This is the antithesis of what the nerds and hipsters, both of whom are responsible for the phones success, believed in. It is no longer cutting edge, and worse of all, your parents probably own one. Unless Appl does something really crazy (which it doesnt appear that they will) with the 5, I see these phones losing their luster really quickly. In fact, all of my techie friends are basically done with the phone if 5 fails to push the boundries.
Agree 100%. Apple is going to be the victim of its own success. It's like those clothing lines that expanded too much, started letting their items get sold at discount retailers, and then got hammered.
Never been one for Apple
Never been one for Apple advertising, but those new ones seem kinda crappy. Not funny at all. I found the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials pretty pretentious and grating- and I've purchased exclusively Apple computers since 2006. I guess they decided to be less confrontation. For the entirety of the Jobs era, Apple wanted to behave like it was a start-up. There are upside and downsides to that, but we'll see how it develops. Like Harvey Dent said, "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
BillyRay05, 'cutting edge' and 'widely available' aren't mutually exclusive. Apple is trying and largely succeeding in putting state-of-the-art, or near state-of-the-art, technology in the hands of everyday people. That, for all intents and purposes, is the purpose and result of capitalism. Ultimately, you do not want your consumer base to be limited to the nerds and hipster indefinitely because 1) they are not large enough to build a trillion dollar company; and 2) they are capricious and cannot be relied upon for any enduring period of time. Hipsters are people who define themselves based on what other people are doing. It's built into their demonym. Why is the iPhone 'less cool' or 'less functional' just because Apple sold 100M of them?
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
Apple is perfectly
Apple is perfectly positioned, I think. They make aspirational products. It's expensive, but not entirely out of reach for the middle class. And the increasing scale of its business has not impaired product quality. In fact, product quality has gone up, in my view.
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
rls: Never been one for Apple
Never been one for Apple advertising, but those new ones seem kinda crappy. Not funny at all. I found the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials pretty pretentious and grating- and I've purchased exclusively Apple computers since 2006. I guess they decided to be less confrontation. For the entirety of the Jobs era, Apple wanted to behave like it was a start-up. There are upside and downsides to that, but we'll see how it develops. Like Harvey Dent said, "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
BillyRay05, 'cutting edge' and 'widely available' aren't mutually exclusive. Apple is trying and largely succeeding in putting state-of-the-art, or near state-of-the-art, technology in the hands of everyday people. That, for all intents and purposes, is the purpose and result of capitalism. Ultimately, you do not want your consumer base to be limited to the nerds and hipster indefinitely because 1) they are not large enough to build a trillion dollar company; and 2) they are capricious and cannot be relied upon for any enduring period of time. Hipsters are people who define themselves based on what other people are doing. It's built into their demonym. Why is the iPhone 'less cool' or 'less functional' just because Apple sold 100M of them?
'widely available' and cool are very much mutually exclusive. See Zoo York, for example.
You cannot deny that one of the bigger draws for many to get an apple product is that its much 'cooler' than those 'boring' pc/phone makers. When the IPhone first came out, it was lightyears ahead of the bigger players in terms of being cutting edge. Because of this and the already apple 'cool' factors, nerds and the early adopter hipsters were in love from the get go- and these people normally set trends for items such as these.
But tell me, what does the phone today have that is so cutting edge compared to others? Will people still considered it cool, despite the fact that my mom is checking out 'neat' IPhone covers online? high volume/low cost firms could care less about image, but I couldnt think of a tech company more opposite than this. Most of you youngin's grew up in an IPhone/apple world, so trust me when I tell you that these things come in waves...
"Sounds to me like you guys a couple of bookies."
Amphipathic: BillyRay05:
It doesn't matter what is in their ads, the hipsters and elitists will buy them simply because they are more expensive and bring status.
While on vacay- noticed 4 texas mothers sitting on the beach clumsily sifting through pictures on their IPhones.
Came back from vacay- noticed 2 midwestern couples swiping on their IPhones with their thick meaty fingers.
Walking home from work last week, saw 2 geriatrics playing on their IPhones while at Sarabeths (not even eating or talking)
This is the antithesis of what the nerds and hipsters, both of whom are responsible for the phones success, believed in. It is no longer cutting edge, and worse of all, your parents probably own one. Unless Appl does something really crazy (which it doesnt appear that they will) with the 5, I see these phones losing their luster really quickly. In fact, all of my techie friends are basically done with the phone if 5 fails to push the boundries.
Agree 100%. Apple is going to be the victim of its own success. It's like those clothing lines that expanded too much, started letting their items get sold at discount retailers, and then got hammered.
Agreed, every teenage girl and her dog has an iPhone, no longer a status symbol. Although I love my iPhone, it is an inferior machine to the Samsung Galaxy II & III and other high end Android phones. Sure the OS is not as pretty as the iPhone's but they are a lot more capable.
BillyRay05: rls: Never been
Never been one for Apple advertising, but those new ones seem kinda crappy. Not funny at all. I found the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials pretty pretentious and grating- and I've purchased exclusively Apple computers since 2006. I guess they decided to be less confrontation. For the entirety of the Jobs era, Apple wanted to behave like it was a start-up. There are upside and downsides to that, but we'll see how it develops. Like Harvey Dent said, "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
BillyRay05, 'cutting edge' and 'widely available' aren't mutually exclusive. Apple is trying and largely succeeding in putting state-of-the-art, or near state-of-the-art, technology in the hands of everyday people. That, for all intents and purposes, is the purpose and result of capitalism. Ultimately, you do not want your consumer base to be limited to the nerds and hipster indefinitely because 1) they are not large enough to build a trillion dollar company; and 2) they are capricious and cannot be relied upon for any enduring period of time. Hipsters are people who define themselves based on what other people are doing. It's built into their demonym. Why is the iPhone 'less cool' or 'less functional' just because Apple sold 100M of them?
'widely available' and cool are very much mutually exclusive. See Zoo York, for example.
You cannot deny that one of the bigger draws for many to get an apple product is that its much 'cooler' than those 'boring' pc/phone makers. When the IPhone first came out, it was lightyears ahead of the bigger players in terms of being cutting edge. Because of this and the already apple 'cool' factors, nerds and the early adopter hipsters were in love from the get go- and these people normally set trends for items such as these.
But tell me, what does the phone today have that is so cutting edge compared to others? Will people still considered it cool, despite the fact that my mom is checking out 'neat' IPhone covers online? high volume/low cost firms could care less about image, but I couldnt think of a tech company more opposite than this. Most of you youngin's grew up in an IPhone/apple world, so trust me when I tell you that these things come in waves...
First, the mass market, which has the deepest pockets to tap, buys products because the products are a mix of functional, cool, and quality-made. The iPhone started as a status device, not because of, I would argue, hipsters and nerds. Some hipsters and nerds may have latched on as early adopters, but the iPhone was not created for them- it is too simple/intuitive for nerds and too mass-market-oriented for hipsters. (Remember, iOS and iTunes are incredibly restrictive regarding customization - which is very anti-nerd and anti-hipster). When it started selling at AT&T, it was being sold for $599, one of the most expensive consumer phones at the time. Only when AT&T realized they had an enormous hit on their hands did they begin extensive subsidization. So, I would argue, that it was not the nerds or hipsters primarily who drove the initial iPhone sales and popularized the device, but the socialites and status seekers.
Second, a company, like most hipsters and nerds, eventually has to grow up. They can retain their youthful spirit, but there is no principled reason why quality and mass market have to be mutually exclusive. This is why Apple is such a smashing success. Even after its stock has increased 90 times or so in the last decade, it is still not expensive- because Apple still creates quality products and yet appeals to an enormous market. It is the culture of uncompromising quality that Jobs instilled during his tenure.
Lastly- the technology question. Yes, the other phone makers have made up some lost ground. But that doesn't mean that the iPhone is a bad phone or technologically irrelevant. The fact that in 2007 the iPhone was so far ahead of its time was unusual, not the a more normal gap that exists between phones today. Counter-factuals are impossible to quantify but here are two I would pose:
1) Would the Samsung Galaxy S3 exist without the iPhone preceding it? I doubt it.
2) Would Android exist in its current state without iOS preceding it? I doubt it.
The fact that Apple was able to jump ahead of its competitors so many times is a reason to buy their products for some consumers. They think about product design and function differently. That, and Apple has created an unrivaled ecosystem for all of your Apple devices to interact that increases the likelihood that your next computing device purchase will be an Apple product.
So, fine, for those perpetually unhappy folks forever searching for the next 'hip' thing, mainstream success is a death blow. In the meantime, they are missing out on quality products from a stellar company.
Bene qui latuit, bene vixit- Ovid
rls, I am getting the feeling
rls, I am getting the feeling that you are a hardcore apple fan boy/girl, but just to entertain the debate..
1.) socialites and status seekers are much more elitest than nerds and hipsters. You think a Socialite wants to play with the same phone as the person who just ordered the Grand Slam special at Denny's (no knock against the grand slam, I love it)
2.) 'Growing up' is the problem. Its not an easy thing to do- ask Hewlett. AAPL is a young and hip company, and they definitely were one of the most innovative firms of the last decade. But, like everything else in business, people catch up to you. And from the looks of their 'new' products, (which are just touch ups of former items) they may be out of innovations for awhile
3.) I realize that the IPhone was more or less revolutionary in mobile technology. No one will ever argue against this. But there is definitely a growing camp of dissenters, including myself, who found the Galaxy etc to be a lot more of a next gen device.
We can sit here and say that the 5 is going to push the boundry, but I haven't heard much that would make me believe so. I just wouldn't be a buyer of an IPhone 'brand' that is losing ground in the innovation space and also quickly losing its 'cool' factor.
"Sounds to me like you guys a couple of bookies."