Linsanity, Style or Fad?

After reading Elizabeth’s blog I decided to comment on Apple’s strong marketing strategy that tactfully differentiates itself from the string of competitors. Apple is one of the companies that comes into everyone’s mind when one thinks about electronics. They have a successful brand management program and they never cease to discover new ways to provide satisfying experience for their customers. Recently, I have noticed my friends posting up pictures of an Apple nano they received in their mail. After doing some research I learned that users of the First gen ipod nano had a replacement program due to the factor of it’s discovered safety risk from overheating. Customers could mail in their ipod nano for a brand new ipod nano. This is an example of a beneficial post-purchase enhancement to the ipod nano user experience. This demonstrates the degree of importance Apple places on their customer’s post purchase satisfaction for the first gen ipod nano was released in year 2005, seven years ago, and they still allow replacement when most other companies only have a one year warranty for their products.
Following February 5th, Jeremy Lin, the Taiwanese American New York Knick’s point guard has sky rocketed to fame by leading his team to a seven game streak. The name Jeremy Lin and terms like Linsanity has appeared all over the social media networks. Taiwan has immediately hopped on this bandwagon and created many promotional products and services with a market focus on Jeremy Lin fans. One of the many promotional efforts is Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau who purchased commercial time slots on ESPN in hopes of attracting tourists to Taiwan, labeled as “Lin Hometown”. To add on, Taiwanese publishers try to promote publications of authorized Jeremy Lin biographies with his stamp of approval although he does not agree with them. Currently, his rookie card costs over 15,000 and Knick’s game prices continue to sky rocket. These products are currently in the Introduction Stage and will continue to grow if Jeremy Lin continues his performance. Jeremy represents a brand image that expresses fearlessness of failure and readiness to face challenges, which is an influential point for a large market segment.