The Apple iPhone was released late last week in America, and I was sitting here thinking what different angle and what different slant I might be able to put on it. Now I have already previously commented on the features and the future possibilities of the phone itself, and then it struck me. I was watching the television of the launch and all the build up in previous days and I thought to myself, that I don’t think that I have ever seen as much hype for any other technological product before.
It is quite simply incredible to see, and I think that Apple have played their trump card very effectively. Precisely what I mean by this is that the initial announcement of the Apple iPhone occurred a very long time ago, and by doing this Apple have fully ensured that awareness of their new product was deep rooted into the minds of the consumers way before the actually release date. This is a very cunning and brilliant marketing ploy by Apple, and fully reflects the general shift in recent years away from advertising as a major contact medium between consumers and brands. There are two reasons I believe that the hype surrounding the Apple iPhone has been so extraordinary and unlike anything else we have ever seen before; and their roots are both deeply set in marketing and advertising ideology.
The first reason concerns branding; it seems an age ago that Apple were seen as the alternative company that were only used by left-wing liberal men and women who simply purchased Apple computers because they did not wish to conform to society. However times have changed massively since those days, and during the last decade or so Apple have become a massively successful company, creating incredibly innovative and forward thinking products that to be honest leave their competitors eating their dust. Apple have done this is such an individual manner, and also by spending a lot of money on research and development in order to ensure that they maintain their position at the top of the tree. Apple products stand out, not only in terms of looks but also performance, reliability and technological advancement.
Apple have without a doubt one of the strongest brands around, and with this comes respect, expectancy, trust and loyalty. Loyal Apple customers will not purchase products from a rival company, they will stick to what they know best and has served them well, and this is true for the iPhone also. Obviously of course the products themselves need to be up to standard, but Apple have been able to make sure of this by ploughing a substantial amount of their huge profits back into research and development. People therefore now trust the Apple brand, and are incredibly keen on purchasing any new items and products that appear!
Secondly there has been a major shift in advertising theory in recent years, away from huge billboard, television and magazine adverts towards word of mouth and awareness campaigns, a version of viral marketing in a human context. This is because the former adverts are now known to have little effect and produce fewer unit sales plus also reaching saturation point a lot faster than they used to. Essentially consumers are bombarded by that many adverts that they now take less notice of the product on offer and the message presented. This is a simple way of explaining it without going into detail, which is easy to do when you are 12months away from completing a BA Honours degree in Marketing Management!
Anyway, back to the point, successful companies do still undertake traditional advertising methods, but do pursue these other avenues too. Apple have done this tremendously well by announcing the iPhone months in advance to its release. This gave consumers, experts, analysts et al time to debate and spread by word of mouth the benefits and features of the new products, which thus filter down through consumer groups catching more and more people along the way, friends, family, work friends etc.
This is very forward thinking of Apple to undertake such a policy and shows just how far they have progressed in recent years, and Apple’s success is clearly down to their own initiative and productivity. When these factors are considered it is quite simply no surprise that there has been such a build up and hype surrounding the recent launch, time will tell whether the iPhone proves to be as big a success as their marketing campaign!
