How Is Apple Still In Business?

Dec 4th, 2007 | By Shamim | Category: Internet, Marketing

Apple commercials are creative masterpieces. Every aspect of the ad is perfected from aesthetic & marketing perspective. These ads go against the normal advertising rules with no product details, schematics, third party endorsements, ’shock & awe’ campaigns and no million dollar marketing slogans. According to the latest PC World stats Apple’s market share is a 6.8%, which a drop in the bucket compared to Microsoft. This begs the question If it does not follow any standard ad protocol how does Apple generate tremendous pre-launch buzz about their products and a cult like following that Microsoft can only dream of? Lets explain.

Who Is Apple Selling To?

To understand that you have to consider who is Apple’s target audience? The average office paper pusher is not the ideal Apple customer. The primary audience is the creative thinker who lives outside the box. The marketing campaigns idolize the person who is productive by working smart not working hard. This is abundantly clear in some of the ads where the Mac guy in commercials says to the PC ‘you are good with numbers and spreadsheets’

Simplicity Is Key

The theme behind Apple ads is Simplicity - simplicity which makes you think. This is reflected in all their ads and their products. Think about their TV commercials. It’s just two guys representing a Mac and a PC on a white background. From an economic perspective this must be one of the cheapest campaigns ever. But after seeing these ads every time you see a white background with two people talking you will ‘think Apple’.

Elegant Products Drive Sales

Now take a look at your iPod or iPhone. It’s elegant in its simplistic design. The iPod has only one round button control for everything you need. While other competing mp3 players cram every possible feature into their product, the iPod does an excellent job as a music player and not much else. But Apple’s products know how to pack a punch. Under the hood they have sophisticated technology driving them. One good example is the iPhone. The iPhone is the first mainstream smart phone to feature on-screen keyboard with no stylus. Sure other phones have been using touch screen for a while but Apple knew how to keep things simple and brought in millions of dollars in sales and happy customers.