Marketing Communication Analysis on Apple (Emphasis on Ipod and Iphone)

Marketing Communication Analysis On Apple Name: Bokeny Kornel In this report I will analyse the marketing communication activities of the multinational corporation Apple, with great emphasis on the current top-selling products thereof: the iPhone, and the iPods. I will deal with the iPod and the iPhone, since the marketing communication used to promote these products is the most notable. The report will include several images, so that the reader can experience the products’ design and the corresponding advertisements for each product. Company overview Since the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984 with the 1984 Super Bowl commercial to the more modern ‘Get a Mac' advertisements, Apple has been recognized in the past for its efforts towards effective advertising and marketing for its products, though its advertising has been criticized for the claims of some more recent campaigns, namely 2005 Power Mac advertisements, and iPhone ads in Britain. Apple is an IT company founded in 1975 by Steve Jobs (the current leader), Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company's currently best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the new iPad. In its early years, Apple only manufactured computers, but for the sake of greater success, it further expanded to the consumer electronics market. It was even called â€Å"Apple Computer, Inc. † for thirty years, but the word â€Å"Computer† on January 9, 2007, to show that the company’s main products are not computers anymore. Now in 2010, Apple is considered to be one of the largest technological corporations in the world by revenue. Apple periodically holds a so-called â€Å"Apple event† where information about new and future products is revealed by Apple’s superiors. The event’s host is usually Steve Jobs. Apple’s computers have their own operating system called the MAC OS, which is fabled for its performance and ease of operation. The iPod is praised for being small but powerful, because of its impressive storage capacity. The iPhone is the present top-selling product, which is a smart phone combined with a portable media device. It is considered to be an epoch-making technical product by many tech-fans. The latest product which is the iPad, is a new type of device, unique on the market. It is a tablet PC, which meant to be somewhere in-between PDA-s and notebooks. The Logo The first Apple logo which designed by Steve Jobs depicts Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} This early logo was almost immediately replaced by the well known rainbow apple (2nd picture) because of marketing communication issues. Jobs insisted the logo to be in colour to humanize the company. The reason for the vivid colours was to transmit positivity to the customers and to represent the fact that the monitor is capable of reproducing images in colour. The Apple logo was designed with a bite so that it would be recognized as an apple rather than a cherry. In 1998, with the series of the new iMac, Apple discontinued the rainbow theme and began to use monochromatic themes, almost identical in shape to its previous rainbow logo. The iPod Apple’s former flagship product the iPod had a unique marketing campaign. The iPod was a mere mp3 player but through the outstanding marketing communication it became a must-have for portable music device fans. The advertisements showed black silhouettes of dancing people with an iPod in their hands, which stood out because of its white colour. The vivid background emphasised the figures even more: {draw:frame} {draw:frame} When the concept of the iPod and its advertisement was first introduced to the heads of Apple, it was laughed at. Later, when the product was released and the advertisement campaign was launched, it proved to be the biggest success in the history of Apple. Of course some people did not see the advertisements or did not react to it in buying the product, but there were other sources of advertisement in Apple’s mind. The iPod began to turn up in music videos, in the hands of famous stars. The increase of demand was immediately palpable after the premier of 50 cents’ music video of the song P. I. M. P. The singer here can be seen listening to a white iPod with white headphones. Although the Apple logo is not visible in the clip, the screen of the device is showed for a couple of seconds, displaying on the top the word â€Å"iPod†. In a few years, Apple has reached considerably big brand recognition, so whenever someone sees the small â€Å"i† at the beginning of the products name, he or she will immediately know that it is an Apple product. Apple is known for using a lot of slogans; the most of these were concerning the iPod. The first models’ slogan was â€Å"1,000 songs in your pocket† (2001). At that time, the iPod had the largest storage capacity on its market. This evolved further, but Apple returned to this slogan because these large numbers always catch potential customers’ eyes. After some years: â€Å"10,000 songs in your pocket† (2004) and in the present: â€Å"Your Top 40,000†³ (2010). Apple also used some creative, humorous slogans such as: â€Å"*Do not eat iPod shuffle† (2005) This Easter egg slogan was attached as a footnote to claim that the iPod shuffle was about the size of a pack of gum. After a lot of complaints about the lack of colour variety, Apple introduced the iPod shuffle in more colours, and a new slogan: â€Å"Put some color on† (2006). {draw:frame} The iPod’s strengths The iPod made a huge impact on the market, not only influencing other portable music devices, but the favourable brand perception had also increased sales of Macintosh computers. The iPod gives the company access to a whole new series of segments that buy into other parts of the Apple brand. The iPod has created a large group of aficionados who will stick to Apple products in the future; this will mean a stable minimum number of buyers to Apple’s future products even if these products are not that successful. Analysts say that the sound quality produced by the iPod is perfect as well. The music files can also be downloaded from iTunes, Apple’s online music store. The downloadable music has created a steady flow of capital for Apple. The iPod’s weaknesses It was reported that the Apple iPod Nano may have a faulty screen. The company has commented that some of its product has screens that break under impact, and the company is replacing all defective items. This is in addition to problems with early iPods that had faulty batteries, whereby the company offered customers free battery cases. The main complaint was that battery life is insufficient. There is pressure on Apple to increase the price of its music download file, from the music industry itself. Many of these companies make more money from iTunes (i. e. downloadable music files) than from their original CD sales. Apple has sold about 22 million iPod digital music players and more than 500 million songs though its iTunes music store. It accounts for 82% (and rising) of all legally downloaded music in the United States. The company is determined, but if it gives in to the music producers, it may be perceived as a commercial weakness. {draw:frame} The iPod’s opportunities The iPod had great opportunities to expand on the market, but consumers now demand more complex products, such as a cell phone combined with the iPod. Since Apple’s IT experts are of the bests, the iPod has a great chance of evolving into a smart phone (which happened 2007, when the iPhone was released, but this will be discussed later). Since music phones are becoming more and more popular, the iPod must adapt to the changing market. According to Steve Jobs the iPod will become smaller and smaller with time. The iPod’s threats As mentioned above, the market of mobile phones and portable music players is merging into one huge market of multi-purpose media devices. If the iPod does not adapt to the situation, it will surely be forgotten, since the demand for music players without any other special capabilities is falling. The huge number of competitors may also hinder the iPod’s success, as other IT companies have innovative ideas as well. The iPhone Observing the success of the iPod, Apple decided to move on. Marketing communication ceased for a period of time, but there were rumours about a new, groundbreaking product. This of course caused a big hype among Apple fans and potential Apple fans as well. In my opinion the information was leaked out on purpose by Apple, to get the attention of the customers. IT turned out, that this new product is a cell phone. Later, the iPhone was officially introduced on one of the â€Å"Apple events†, and the device’s features were reviewed. â€Å"Introducing the iPhone. Apple reinvents the phone†, and â€Å"The internet in your pocket† were the first slogans for the iPhone, which drew even more customers to Apple. On the date when the iPhone was finally released to the public, one kilometre long queues could be seen at Apple stores. The launch was a success, but later some information was revealed about the conditions of using the iPhone. The iPhone was exclusively available on one provider only: AT, and there was a monthly fee to use it. When Steve Jobs was asked about this, he only replied that â€Å"this is the price† which was a really bad step in terms of marketing communication. Many people decided not to buy the product after hearing about the conditions of its usage. In response to this, Apple launched a massive marketing campaign, advertising all over the big cities. {draw:frame} {draw:frame} Due to the the iPhone’s limited availability, hackers and software developers began to work with illegally unlocked devices. After half a year, Apple launched the Appstore in response, to decrease iPhone piracy. The Appstore gave the opportunity to programmers to write their own applications legally for the iPhone, and to publish it in the Appstore, where it will be available for download for a price of course. A new marketing campaign was launched with the slogan: â€Å"There’s an app for that†. With this, Apple tried to persuade customers that the iPhone can indeed do anything. In the television ads, questions were listed like: â€Å"do you want to shop online? †, â€Å"do you want to watch television? † and â€Å"do you want to use messenger? † etc. and the answer to all questions was â€Å"there’s an app for that†. This was a very convincing advertisement in my opinion; this device was like a small computer according to the ads. With the successful marketing communication and the Appstore, sales of the iPhone, began to rise again. Alongside with the Appstore, a new iPhone model was launched, the 3G, which now even had 3G mobile internet alongside Wi-Fi. With time, the Appstore proved to be a huge success; in nine months, the number of downloads has exceeded 1 billion. {draw:frame} As new applications needed more and more power, the two iPhone models seemed to be incapable of handling certain games and software. Customers, especially software developers complained about the lack of a graphical accelerator, and low processor speed. Apple decided to launch a new, third device; the iPhone 3GS. Many people wondered what the â€Å"S† could mean in the device’s name, and it was later stated that it stands for â€Å"super†. The device finally included a graphical chip, and a faster processor. The new iPhone deserved a new slogan, and Apple came up with this: â€Å"Meet the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet† and â€Å"The first phone to beat the iPhone. † The purpose of this slogan in advertisements was to ensure software developers and technically-conscious users that this model is indeed faster and stronger than its predecessors. I personally was not satisfied with the advertisement; I rather wanted a comparison between the new and the older models. When AT made a new contract with Apple, they have decided to cut down prices. Apple began to promote this by a new slogan: â€Å"Twice as fast, for half the price†. It seems that Apple’s marketing team is particularly talented in creating slogans. Switching slogan is always a hard decision in a company, since it might put brand recognition back a bit, but with Apple’s huge brand recognition it is feasible. I personally find these slogans pretty informative, and I especially appreciate those ones that are humorous to some extent. {draw:frame} The iPhone’s strengths The iPhone has several features that add to the strength of the product. These include its unique look and feel accompanied by a mobile operating system. It has phone sensors that work with the multi-touch screen, which is a new patented technology. The iPhone has a really flexible operating system (I even saw a video where someone could run windows 98 on the phone). These new features are presented to a large and loyal user base that Apple has gained over the years. Additionally, marketing was given support from all over the internet, saving the company a huge amount in advertising fees. Finally, the fact that the iPhone is first device in this area of computer phones is one of its greatest strengths. The iPhone’s weaknesses Like every new product, there are is a set of weaknesses. The first iPhone is not a 3G device and will not work in technologically advanced countries such as Japan and Korea. All of their phones are 3G compliant. Several of the iPhone features are also not particularly impressive. These include the fact that it has a subpar camera, standing at about 2 megapixels as well as its memory not being removable. The phone is priced currently around 500 to 600 dollars and most consumers are happy with their current mobile device; essentially, this phone is aiming at the high end consumers. Apple’s choice of distribution channel has also been because only Cingular and Apple stores are allowed to sell iPhones. Finally, its purpose is to be questioned; does the phone fulfil corporate duties or is it just an entertainment system? {draw:frame} The iPhone’s Opportunities There is quite a demand for a better mobile computing experience. The iPhone tries to combine both powerful computing as well as entertainment into one system. People have also noted that the Mac OS applications for desktop can be easily adapted for the iPhone. The emergence of Wi-Fi networks is pushing for there to be visitor fees instead of having a provider lock in users. It is very likely for the device fees and pay-per-view system to take flight, eliminating the month to month subscription fee. {draw:frame} The iPhone’s threats The majority of threats come from other companies including Nokia, Sony, and Google with their respective products. Smart phones are one popular example that stands to compete against the iPhone. The largest competitor according to most users is Google’s Android. It has similar features as the iPhone, but availability is much higher and the phone itself is cheaper. The other big threats are the hackers. Apple suffers great losses because of â€Å"jailbroken† devices (When an iPhone is â€Å"jailbroken†, the user can get any application from the Appstore for free and can run any third party applications). Conclusion In conclusion, Apple offers some very high quality technical products, though at a relatively high price. The company’s marketing communication is working quit well, Apple advertises on all important media intermediaries, including television, the Internet, and on streets as well. At this rate they would have immense promotion costs, but they can lower it by putting emphasis on Internet-advertisements via websites. {draw:frame} {draw:frame} They try to maintain a positive, humanlike image, which ensures customers about the firm’s good intentions. Over the years, they had many slogans, but their brand recognition has only changed in a positive way: it increased. Apple was formerly better known for its notebooks, but after the successes of both the iPod and the iPhone, people identify Apple as the company which produces the best mp3 players and one of the smartest phones on the market. Its music store; iTunes, is nowadays the prime way of distributing music legally in the world. Through the successful marketing communication and the creative advertisements, Apple will most likely gain more market share in the segment of smart phones and maintain its leading position as the best portable music device producer. Bibliography www. wikipedia. org www. apple. com www. szifon. com www. appleinsider. com