Learning Marketing from Apple.

Apple’s handling of the iPhone price issue raises many questions about what Apple can get away with unscathed.

A recent PcWorld article is asking whether Apple is the new Microsoft. Will Apple be the new bully on the IT playground?

Don’t look now, but the role of the industry’s biggest bully is increasingly played by Apple, not Microsoft. Here’s a look at how Apple has shoved Microsoft aside as the company with the worst reputation as a monopolist, copycat and a bully.

Here is the best statement:

iTunes for Windows‘ popularity isn’t driven by software product quality. ITunes is the slowest, clunkiest, most nonintuitive application on my system. But I need it because I love my iPods.

That is sooo true!

Of course Apple is far away from being a monopoly, unlike Microsoft is or at least was. But the monopolistic behaviour is similar.

Amazing, but considering the fact that the Apple brand is almost religiously embraced by its fans to an extent that could make the catholic church jealous, we can clearly see what makes Apple so successful:

Fantastic marketing.

While Microsoft always focused on either purchasing small(er) software shops to extend their portfolio or to dictate terms on their partners, Apple focused on marketing. Hey, it also worked for Nike in their battle against Adidas.

It all comes down to a simple rule: People don’t purchase products. People buy ideas, dreams or beliefs. And Apple sells exactly this. Apparently, they were rareley the first to launch certain types of products

Off the Record, a German advertising blog, pointed me to a site called MarketingApple by Steve Chazin, uncovering the secrets to Apple-style-marketing.

There you can find a PDF with „the five secrets of Apple Marketing„:

1. Don’t sell products. People buy what other people have.

2. Never be first to Market. Make something good greater.

3. Empower early adopters. Help your customer help you.

4. Make your message memorable. Boil the story down to its syrupy goodness.

5. Go one step futher. Surprise and delight your customers.

So there will be two good reasons for continuing to watch Apple: the fascinating products and how the fascination is nurtured by Apple Marketing.

Bacn spreading like a mad virus

Sometimes things only need a name in order to spread around the globe like a mad virus on speed. This time, it’s bacn. Yes, like bacon, but only without the ‚O‘. And again yes: it’s derived from the same thought family as spam. If in doubt, visit the site that was put up specifically for this term.

The whole notion of bacn was coined during the podcamp in Pittsburgh, and is spreading since then.

For anyone not wanting to watch the above video: bacn is anything in your inbox that is not personal email, but it also isn’t unsolicited jung mail, aka spam.

It’s anything inbetween that you get as a notification but don’t need to read because once it notified you by simply sitting in your inbox, it’s done its job. No need to read the contents of the email. Examples are notifications from facebook, your own blog, flickr, or any other communities.

I like the way things need a name and all of a sudden the idea behind it can spread so much easier than before. It was the same with web 2.0. Everyone knew there was something out there that needed discussion, but noone could name it. Still noone can define exactly what web 2.0 is and what it isn’t. But at least everyone can talk about ‚it‘ now. And I guess that’s the same with bacn now. It won’t take long and we’ll find the first mainstream media headlines mentioning that word.

You: boom chicka wah wah

So here it is. Another „make your own advertising“ by Axe. This time Axe offers a platform for user generated advertising, the briefing for these clips should be fairly clear. At the end of the day, this is a campaign, with a globally comprehensible idea.

However, I am not sure if this campaign really is an international campaign. (This site is in German). But you get the picture, and the videos are, well, boom chicka wah wah. What more need I say?

Very Recommendable: TEDTalks

There is one thing I would like to recommend to anyone interested in ideas & inspiration. TEDTalks is a podium for remarkable people who have done or are doing remarkable things. In the words of TED itself:

Each year, TED hosts some of the world’s most fascinating people: Trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. The talks they deliver have had had such a great impact, we thought they deserved a wider audience.

I found a range of fascinating talks there (and I still ain’t finished watching all of them). Sir Ken Robinson, for example is as inspirational as he is funny. Malcolm Gladwell speaks about things he also published in his book „blink“ (his presentation at TED is from 2004). There are also musicians, philosophers and many other people sharing their thoughts.

From a web perspective, there is Mena Trott, who started the blog-software and service company six apart with the software moveable type. And there is also Jimmy Wales, who founded Wikipedia – a site that I increasingly enjoy nowadays. For researching, but also more and more for browsing.

If you want some inspirational ideas and thougts – don’t miss this.