Branding Thingys

Ten Apple Traits Every Small Company Should Emulate

Nader Ashway14 Comments


Illustration:  Bruce Crilly

With the recent resignation of Steve Jobs, I began contemplating the company he built more than 30 years ago with a Woz and a dream. Apple Computer, which recently (briefly) overtook Exxon/Mobil as the world’s most valuable company, has had its share of ups and downs. Just a little over a decade ago, they were teetering on the edge of irrelevance, losing ground to new manufacturing and software entrants. Today, however, the company has a total value close to $350 Billion, legions of loyal evangelists and, despite Jobs’ recent announcement, a very bright future under new CEO Tim Cook as the sitting-architect-in-residence of modern computing and electronics.

They didn’t get there by accident. At Apple, Inc., there is a culture of progress, and businesses at the micro level can learn a lot by examining Apple’s behavior. Sure, most of us may never get to their size or influence, but that doesn’t mean small and midsize businesses – in virtually any category – can’t wield the same traits and characteristics and, hopefully, realize similar successes.

Here, the top 10 fundamental traits of Apple that any small and midsize company can emulate:

1. Embrace Innovation. Apple has embraced innovation in virtually every aspect of their business. Not just in the products they develop, but in how they manufacture them, ship them, sell them, update them, service them and finally obviate them with new and improved models. Embrace technology, look for avenues to optimize performance from your team, and adopt a culture of “what can we do next, what can we do better?” at your company to emulate this enviable trait.

2. Anticipate (and even create) Consumer Needs. One thing Apple does very well is think ahead, and think deep into the hearts and minds of their consumers. No one ever thought that they needed a telephone, AND an Internet browser, AND an email client AND an iPod AND an app player, all in one simple device. But when Apple created iPhone, everyone suddenly NEEDED one. Why just give your customer base what it wants, when you can give them more than that, or better yet, something they don’t know they want yet? It’s a great way to bond to consumers and, in strategic terms, to immediately dominate the category in which you operate.

3. Form Smart/Strong partnerships. Apple has done this in many different ways. From manufacturing partners to content partners to the legendary App Store developer partners. Sure, they may dictate the terms of how things will go, but they leverage the talents and abilities of innovative companies that operate well outside of Cupertino. Look around in and outside your category – who can your business partner with to emulate this trait that helps you to grow or helps you improve in some way?

4. Never Forget Your Entrepreneurial Spirit. It’s a classic story: Jobs and Woz in a Silicon Valley garage, building machines from scratch, selling on credit, scrounging for parts and never wavering on their dream to build something new, something special. And that spirit is still evident in every new product launch with Jobs smiling, bragging and still trying to out-geek every geek out there. Sometimes, in our businesses, we tend to forget why we started, how much we love what we do, how good we have it and more. Maybe it’s time to re-kindle that passionate spark?

5. Push Into New Categories. At one point, Apple only offered two core products: a slick operating system and the machines it ran on. Then, about a decade ago, they had an idea to use their skills and optimize their DNA to create a different kind of device that played music. The iPod pushed Apple into a new category (music/entertainment,) that then exploded into the iTunes revolution, that gave way to even more categories (movies, telephones, tablets, etc.) The key here is that even with iPhone and iPad, they have never strayed too terribly far from their core capabilities: intuitive operating systems, running on elegantly designed devices. Think about it. What’s driving your business? And how can you use your skills/your team/your assembly line/your supply chain to push into a new category…or two…or four?

6. Embrace New Channels for Your Business. It’s hard to believe, but for a while, you could only get Apple products (and they were basically only computers) from “authorized resellers” who were few and far between. But Apple realized that retail was a viable channel, especially since their product offering was now appealing to a more mass audience. By embracing retail, they also created new opportunities to expose more people to Apple’s core line of devices and software. Think about your business: can you sell through an intermediary? Can you create a direct dialogue with your core audience? Can you segment or discover a new audience altogether? It might be a viable opportunity to create new revenues without much more overhead.

7. Have a “Cool Factor.” One of the most defining characteristics of Apple is that their products are simply cool. The devices are cool-looking, they play or display cool content (like music and movies and apps and games,) and through a combination of factors (like smart partners – see #3 above – and elegant design; see #8 below,) the company has managed to basically de-position all or most competitors as stodgy, or clunky, or un-hip, or simply, (despite a strategic partnership) as “Windows.”

8. Commitment to Design. One of the key players at Apple is Jonathan Ive, Senior VP of Industrial Design. His influence on clean, elegant, sometimes teeny-weeny product design at Apple has given the entire company a new complexion. While other computing companies are still trying to figure out the “liquid” look for their laptops, Apple presses forward on countless innovations, including the all-in-one desktop computer, the “flywheel” on iPods, the “anti-flip” telephone device, the “it feels so easy in my hand” iPad, the famous “earbuds,” and on and on. A recent article in The New York Times outlined several of the 313 patents Apple has filed for, and one of them is for the iPhone packaging. (Seriously, the packaging is patented.) Even if your company isn’t in the devices business, have a designer look at your business from top to bottom and see if you can’t match your company DNA to an aesthetic and interactive sensibility that elevates the experience of doing business with you.

9. Simple, Effective, and Consistent Advertising. Throughout Apple’s history, advertising has played a central role to how the company promotes its products and disseminates product feature information. And with its (almost unheard of) longstanding relationship with TBWA/Chiat Day, there has been a driving force of simple, features-based, single-concept advertising. From the moment Apple introduced itself to the world with the Ridley Scott-directed
“1984,” through the “Think Different” campaign of the mid 1990’s to the “Hello, I’m a Mac” spots of recent years, Apple and their agency have always kept it simple and pithy. Any company can learn a lot about how to promote just on the basis of Apple’s advertising track record. Not just what they do, but that they do so much in so many channels (print, radio, tv, outdoor, direct, institutional, one-to-one, etc.) with such consistency.

10. Make Brand Matter. Of all the items listed above, or perhaps as the sum of all items listed above, the most important of all is that Apple has had a very strong commitment to their brand. The products stand for something that is tied to the ethos of the company and its founders. The collective perception of most people around the world is that Apple IS cool, and that’s not by accident. “Designed by Apple in California” is more than just a copyright line, it’s nearly a profession of faith. NONE of this is happenstance or coincidence. It’s been a carefully scripted, scrupulously architected vision of what the company wants to MEAN to its consumers, its competitors and its out-of-category passersby. Of all things, use this as a compass for your company, and work to create a relationship with your consumers that transcends what you do and what you sell. It will carry your business across virtually any obstacle, any economic condition, any CEO resignation. Think Different.

Article first published on Technorati.

Pop-up Marketing: The Good, the Bad and the Opportunity.

Nader Ashway1 Comment

You’ve heard the term, you’ve read the intelligence papers, you may have even found yourself in a pop-up retail shop over the holidays.  But is the pop-up model worth the investment?  Is it worth it to your brand?  And if you’re a small to midsize brand, is the model feasible for you?

The Good

Pop-up marketing, whether it’s a retail store or some kind of neat, immersive consumer experience, can create immediate revenue from a new source with a moderately approachable expense ratio.  If it’s a retail shop, you’re typically not locked into a long-term lease, can poach staff from other locations and stock the shop with inventory and display equipment that you already own.

The pop-up model allows your brand to extend in a different direction, which can be very healthy, and even serve as a self-solvent research program.  Perhaps you install an outpost of a well-liked operation in a new location to test adoption; or try a adding a different type of inventory to your typical operation in a new part of town; or maybe you bring a certain type of merchandise into a retail cluster that doesn’t feature your wares; all of these options are feasible and can expand the appeal of your brand.

As a result, pop-up marketing can also generate a healthy amount of buzz.  The brand now has a new reason to interface with existing customers, can reach out to new prospects with a new offer, and can also establish new b-to-b relationships with suppliers, buyers, shippers, designers, etc.

The Bad

Despite all the benefits of pop-up marketing, there may be instances where the temporary nature of the model can actually damage the brand.  For instance, a customer walks down Spring Street in SoHo and sees that a pop-up shop for a hot designer has, well, popped up.  Not able to stop in at the moment, he makes a mental note to return in a week or so.  Upon return, an empty space, with a sign on the window:  “For lease or sale.”

So why is this so bad?  Proponents of pop-up marketing will argue that the customer will go and seek out that hot designer elsewhere, since the pop-up stimulated awareness and maybe even a modicum of desire for the brand.  However, there’s a snub factor there that can impact perceptions of that designer.  It may even be that prospect X now harbors some latent hostility for that brand since it’s no longer easily available.  Or worse, a whole group of customers who may not “get” pop-up marketing might think that hot designer wasn’t so hot after all, and had to close down…not knowing that it was a pop-up shop in the first place.  Perceptions matter in marketing.

On a larger scale, we live in the Internet era, an age where data are stored for eternity and accessible anytime at our fingertips.  The very nature of the information superhighway is embedded with the notion of permanence.  It’s the Library of Congress + every local town library + every special interest database times a zillion.  And it’s always on.  For better or worse, this is the training the average consumer has been given for the last decade and a half.  The pop-up model is antithetical to that rearing.

For instance, what would happen if Facebook just disappeared?  In yesterday’s New York Times, I read an article about how Friendster is about to dump thousands of terrabytes of data – personal memories, photos, posts and testimonials from about seven or eight years ago.  People are up in arms.  Some are distressed.  Many are vocal about their disapproval.  Friendster’s data dump is the pop-up model gone awry.

The Opportunity

So if you’re a small or midsize company, and you’d like to give your brand a boost, you might consider pop-up marketing as a viable short-term solution.  Remember that retail is only one form of pop-up marketing.  Obviously, if you’re a service provider, it’s hard to sell customized solutions in that model.  So be creative:  consider events as a pop-up marketing opportunity: short-term, low overhead, and an opportunity to drive leads and create new business-side relationships.

For the best brand impact, though, consider something truly creative.  Where would your brand do well, but in a physical or perceptual space that your customers might not expect?  The most powerful combination in marketing is relevance + unexpectedness.  If you can create that for your brand using a pop-up model, you might see another good combination emerge:  short-term expense + long-term brand value.

The Next Flag for the Next Egypt?

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The next flag of Egypt?

With the events of 2-11 still echoing in hearts and minds (and streets and protests in other Arab countries,) the nation is turning to the business of rebuilding.  And the world is taking notice of Egypt:  citizens bound by ideology stage a massive and (mostly) peaceful demonstration of hundreds of thousands, then achieve their regime-change objectives, and then come back the next day to help clean the square and the streets where they demonstrated.  That’s an example of singular aims and national pride, eh?

But the next Egypt will also need rebranding.  We’re all well aware of the nation-building tasks ahead:  new government, new constitution, new systems and infrastructures, all leading to new elections this September.  That’s plenty to chew on.  But one thing I’m thinking of is the identity system:  the Egyptian flag.  What will IT become?  And should it change?

After all, the current flag of Egypt is said to be symbolic of past revolutions.  (There are slightly differing opinions on this:  some say the red/white/black is simply an adoption of the pan-Arab colors; others argue that the symbolism has slightly different provenances.)  The going intelligence is this:

The red stripe symbolizes the time before the 1952 revolution, when the Free Officers stormed the palace and peacefully ousted King Farouk.  Although British occupation of Egypt had officially ended in 1936, the King was still a reminder of the old British oppression, as the monarchy was installed and monitored by Britain for nearly three decades. (Notice a theme?)

The white stripe symbolizes the peaceful nature of the revolution, when the monarchy was effectively abolished without bloodshed.

The black stripe is a combined reminder:  the end of oppression by Britain and by a Monarchy acting under same.

There have been numerous incarnations of the middle symbol – it was once an eagle with a crescent and three stars, then a hawk, then back to an eagle, and so on.  There has also been a version with two stars in the white field to represent the short-lived union of Egypt and Syria as the “United Arab Republic.”

But what about now?

If the Red, White and Black are symbols and reminders of revolution against oppression, surely the 2-11-11 liberation of Egypt by peaceful demonstration deserves lasting representation. It will be quite interesting to watch not only what develops on the flag of Egypt, but how it becomes adopted.  My guess is it will be a refreshingly democratic process at work.

In the rendering above, I’ve shown a corner of the red stripe being pulled away and revealing a vibrant green.  It could be that Egypt simply adopts a pan-Arab color, or perhaps it means something more:  a verdant period ahead for a nation that is dutifully evolving by choice, and quietly leading by example.

Cola Wars are back. But this time, it’s Airlines.

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At last!  Airline advertising is interesting again.  And competitive again.  And at least for Southwest, good again.

As you know by my recent rant, I’ve just about had it with airlines.  Not just because the experience of interacting with their brands isn’t enjoyable, but because their advertising and other marketing isn’t enjoyable either.  American’s “we know why you fly” spots are cheeky, sort of, but targeted at business travelers.  Continental has been running a nice mix of print ads, but “work hard fly right” doesn’t resonate with the headlines in most of the ads.  And have you seen Delta’s in-flight video?  Check out the “smoking is not allowed” bit at 1:50.  Yikes.  Cheeky. In a literal way.

So here comes Southwest.  First, they entertained us with the “bags fly free” spots, poking fun at airlines on a key consumer hot-button, the checked baggage fees that most larger airlines are charging.  Good, solid, features-based advertising that tells a story, entertains and communicates clear benefits. (And, by the way, support Southwest’s casual attitude brand position.)

More recently, they’ve launched a new series of spots that is simply sublime.  The “fee court” campaign takes aim at another big airline peever, the dreaded “change fees.”  In the spots, from GSD&M’s Idea City, we see plaintiffs, called “real travelers” seeking restitution from “big airline executive,” who simply can’t be bothered.  The casting is perfect, the performances are wonderfully glib, and the big airlines are comically vilified in spots that make their points brilliantly.  In one spot, real traveler and big airline executive have approached the bench, and big airline executive rolls his eyes and asks, “will we be here very long?”  The court gasps, the jury whispers, and the verdict is returned:  GUILTY.

In another spot, a business traveler asks a simple question:  “how can three clicks of a mouse cost me $150?”  Big airline executive stumbles and mumbles his response about personnel, computer time and how we “can’t afford to do this for free.”  Jury giggles under their breath.  And in the real payoff, a family of travelers pleads their case.  When a young girl, who was scheduled to fly to see “grammy and grampy” fractures her leg and has to change the flight, big airline executive charges the $150 change fee for all three family tickets.  The spot wins with everyone repeating the basic math “that’s $450.”  The judge looks at the defendant, who arrogantly retorts “it’s an honest dollar, your honor.”

Using the courtroom convention engages viewers in a familiar dramatic setting, (which garners attention) and also allows a lot of content to transpire in a very short time.  These spots are :30s.  The timing is perfect, and the lo-fi production ethos is not an accident or a shortsight, it’s a perfect riff on the afternoon court television format.

And the best part of all these spots is that the focus is singular:  the entire campaign is centered on a specific and definable objective:  communicating the simple benefit that Southwest is the only airline with no change fees.  The creative, the execution, the fun…all of it is able to blossom as a result of such clear focus.

In my last post, I wrote that it’s only a matter of time before the big airlines get “corrected” by the market.  Southwest has done a marvelous job at truncating that timeline by invading unaware enemy territory in the new “cola wars.”  Check out more of the spots at youtube.

I’ll take the airlines. But please hold the advertising.

Nader Ashway3 Comments

Face it, big airlines.  You suck.  You suck because you can’t keep your promises. You suck because you’re delivering the same or less service than you were a year ago, and charging way more for it. You suck because you can’t even throw in the lousy meals anymore. You suck because your advertising is a big fat lie.

Please American, Continental/United, Delta, and yes, even you JetBlue.  Please do us all a favor.  Stop spending tens of, no make that hundreds of millions of dollars on all that advertising only to fail us at the ticket counter, and at the gate, and in the sky and when we get our credit card statements.

Truth is, you don’t have exceptional service.  You don’t have the lowest fares.  You don’t have the best routes.  You don’t have the most flights.  You’re not really that convenient after all.

Come to think of it, it’s really funny how just about ALL your advertising focuses on those key benefits, when almost none of you can deliver on these basic promises.

Instead, let’s focus on the basic truths:  across the board, your service is on the scale somewhere between below-grade and adequate.  I don’t discount that there may be an exceptional and caring employee flying the skies on any given A320, but by and large, your staff is just going through the motions.

Your fares are out of whack, and on no discernible pattern. I recently researched a flight from New York/Newark to San Diego on Continental.  (I looked up to THREE months out.)  $1,064.  REALLY?  A thousand bucks?  I could practically get chauffered out there on that dime.  And, hey, JetBlue, those “discount” fares of yours are all but a distant memory now, huh?  When I compared, you were only about $200 cheaper.  Honestly?

And can I ever get on a flight that isn’t “oversold?”

What’s astonishing to me is that the basic laws of marketing, branding and social media all state that airlines should essentially wither on the vine and die, and lose share to the competitor that meets customer needs, and to a market that demands choice.  And yet, these behemoths survive.  Promises are being broken, word of mouth is almost entirely negative, (when was the last time you heard about an “exceptional” flying experience from a co-worker?) prices are going up, and now you’re getting charged for checked baggage and crazy needs like “legroom,” and big airlines seem to almost universally be having banner years.  Where is the competitor who “gets it?” Where is the market demanding choice?

So again, I state my initial request.  Please re-allocate your budgets.  Hold the advertising.  Take the 8- and 9-figure advertising budgets, and instead, just lower rates.  Just STOP with the checked bag fees.  And please stop making me sit in the middle of row 26 when I book a flight a month in advance.