Has anyone seen Apple Computers advertising?

Image advertising. But why do their sales keep going up? How did the IPod explode on the scene.

I'd like to know what what you guys (and gals) think makes their marketing work.

Eugene Schwartz said if you could tie a product into a personality people want to project, you have hit a huge buying motivation.

I think they have done that by implying their products are used by people who are hip and young.

I also think they could have wiped out everyone else by adding some Joe Sugarman style advertising. (Wouldn't that be neat...Joe Sugarman writing an Ad for the IPod)

What are your thoughts on this?

Apple Music Event 2001-The First Ever iPod Introduction

You use "marketing" in the subject line and "advertising" in the message. The two terms are not synonymous.

Apple is a marketing-driven company. The first thing they did was design a good product consumers desire. Second, they built iPod and iTunes as a single brand. The slogan for iPod was "1,000 songs in your pocket" and for the introduction of iTunes "Rip, Mix, Burn."

Apple chose publicity for the iPod. But Apple is well know for very long, multi-page ads which are a little like Sugarman's. And I've seen a fair informercial for the iMac, so Apple is far from uncomfortable with the format.

Here's the orignal page for iTunes.

Here's the orignal iPod page.

While the billboards and such are very much image, the landing pages are more informative and "reason why."

Imagine your name is Steve.

As in Steve Jobs. Head honcho at Apple.

Imagine you're in a shareholders meeting and you've just made a statement—apparently so dramatic, that for the first 33 seconds all you hear is dead silence.

Then suddenly the shareholders go berserk. They start shouting. Some resort to swearing. Others flip you the bird. A box containing Windows XP flies at you as you hastily duck behind the podium.

Heck... this is nasty stuff.
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And all this nastiness and frustration seemed to erupt when you made the mistake of saying that the iPod was going to go after just one target audience.

One target audience? What kind of fool talk is that? Oh yeah, we know all those darn marketers say that you should have just one audience. What do they know? Imagine trying to sell the iPod to just teenagers. Or just travelers.

Of course we now know that the iPod is literally a necessity with travelers, teenagers, fitness fanatics, students, business executives and, yes, even grandmas and grandpas. So did the iPod break the rules of staying with one target audience? And how can you argue with one billion dollars in sales? Have all those marketing gurus got their brains filled with sawdust?

Noooooo.... Find out how the iPod looked at "target audience" in a different way. And how you can do not just the same, but actually do one better.

What's lesson 101 in marketing?

You gotta have a target audience.

So the teacher asks you, "Do you have a target audience?" And you say, "Yes, Ma'am, I do. My target audience is chemical companies, with 10-30 people who need help in their computer networking. And the teacher beams from earring to earring.

You missed one thing, Ma'am

For too long, we've learned that our target audience needs to be something tangible. Feel it. Touch it. Shake hands with the audience.

As some bespectacled boffins might say: audience demographics.

But the iPod doesn't care much about the demographics. Nope. Them demographics are fine, son... but what you really need are some sharp-shootin' psychographics as well.

Big words, eh pardner?

So let's take them psychographics and mix them with some grits and you get a nice, fine bowl of emotion.

Irritation. A small word for psychographics. Can you see the irritation running right through the iPod message? They're hitting on a very clear target audience that's not restricted to age or the type of person you are.

They're targeting a problem: the problem of carrying 10,000 CDs in your pocket!

You see, I have an mp3 player. But I don't have an iPod. So every time I travel, I've got to dump the old mp3s and put the new mp3s and then do that all over again, and again, and again.

Two years ago, I was content with my CD Player. One year ago, I was ecstatic about my mp3 player. Now all I want for Christmas is the dang iPod!

And Christmas is long gone, but my pain still remains. And you, me—we can all feel the ouch in our brains.

Not all of us. Not you smug iPod owners. Just us hillbilly folks who haven't got our hands on the iPod yet.

Steve Jobs and his merry band of marketing experts ain't goin' after a 36-year-old Aucklander with a weird sense of humor.

Nope. They're headed right into the ouch of my problem. They know how I have to add, remove, add, remove, add, remove the mp3s on my "outdated" mp3 player.

See, the target audience is based on a specific problem!

Where's the heart of your problem, mate? What's the biggest, scariest, most frustrating issue that gets your audience all pent up and furious?

You see, if you own a graphic design firm, your demographic target audience could be chemical companies, glass companies, chicken fryers, egg beaters or Santa Claus's elves for all I care.

It's when you target the psychographic thought patterns of your audience that things really start to get moving.

Psychographics + Demographics = The KO Punch

If you're the designer mentioned in the paragraph above, you'll quickly hone in on the problems that your customers face.

Over time, however, you may want to polish both the psychographics as well as the demographics. To say it simply: you'll want to drive home the problem to a select audience.

For example:

* The psychographics = Graphic design that's not world-class

* The demographics = Fashion houses that expect to look different.

Notice that we're slipping back into demographics? Into a niche market? Hey, demographics work. And psychographics work, too.

It doesn't take Al Einstein to figure out the kind of buckaroos and fame you could possibly have in the future if you actually stop and do the addition.

Notice I said addition. Not one or the other.

Both. And, yes, additions require some planning. So what's the plan?

1. Find the problem that most interests your audience. (The psychographics.)

2. Hammer the message home.

3. Over time, sharpen your demographics, too. (Start focusing on specific audiences instead of "just everyone.")

4. Sharpen your psychographic message (the problem) now that you're very niche.

5. If you consciously make the effort to move in a direction where you've got the twin benefits of demographics and psychographics in place, you'll reach the exact audience you're looking for.

And I'm outta here.

All of the above, plus the very core imagery:
The imagery of iPod was ONLY ever targetted at teens. And it had loud colours. So yes, the advertising and the marketing both worked simultaneously.

Plus Apple rides on its cool 'outsider' concept.

The iPod didn't sell iPods. It sold cool.

Holy heck...what an answer!

Thanks!

I guarantee every mp3 player before the iPod targeted cool. Many of them had some capacity, at least more than a couple of CDs. Many of the mp3 crowd saw their target as "geek chic."

Apple made a music player for people who don't want to understand a computer to run one. And wha most mp3 palyers are is a computer, where the data is music. The interface was clunky, compatibility was a problem.

The idea of carrying 10,000 songs sounds good -- for about two minutes.

The unspoken part -- the part every iPod killer failed at -- was people want to effortlessly manage their 10,000 songs. And apple is the only one with a position in the mind for making a music player which could store that much music and not become an unmanageable mess to use. One of the primary reasons for the iPod's success is its seamless integration with iTunes. Once you connect the device to your computer, iTunes starts up and can automatically sync the iPod with your music collection.

Without Apple's reputation for making products that understand human beings, it doesn't work. Competitors build rube goldberg contraptions which gadget lovers loved -- because they love complexity nobody else gets. Apple targeted kids who understand technology, but they built for people who couldn't care less how the "system" works.

You're reading too much into Apple's ease of technology and iTunes.
It's not that complex.

Red Bull did it before.
And Apple pulled it off again.

What I should have said was: Apple made it un-cool to have any other mp3 player. It wasn't the coolness. It was the un-coolness that counted. And you and I are really not the target.

Ask any parent what their kid has wanted/wants for Christmas.
And I'll be very surprised if an iPod is not on the list.

Apple actually made black earphones fuddy duddy.

In those early ads, Apple didn't get it.
It's only later that Apple really swept the market.

On the marketing front, they made sure that other mp3 players were un-cool.
On the advertising front, they made sure the iPod was cool.

The marketing wasn't superior to the advertising.
They just worked in tandem.