While it would not be right to blog about something other than the Super Bowl, it would be too predictable to discuss today’s commercials.  So instead – I’ll reflect on the marketing strategies of the company that originally did  Super Bowl advertising best – Apple.

“1984” began Apple’s market positioning as a company that represents change and innovation. Importantly, Apple solidified its position in the eyes of the consumer by following up “1984” with commercials such as the following

Apple was able to deliver a strong emotional message, building on the affective component of consumer attitudes, while maintaining a fairly wide target market. How many consumers don’t want to be recognized as geniuses, or remembered as Muhammad Ali and Mahatma Gandhi are? Not many. “Think Different” is an exemplary model of how powerful marketing can be when everything in our textbook is acknowledged in cohesion.  It recognizes the social trend away from authority acceptance towards self-expression and free speech (CDSTEP). It addresses need recognition, or rather displaces it in favour of creating needs FOR the consumers. It reduces risks for the consumer in their decision process, to the point where there seems to be greater social risk in foregoing purchase than in making the purchase.

Over the years, Apple has been successful by continuing this branding, and by producing products that match this image. From the iPhone to the iPad, its products are revolutionary, making “Think Different” believable.  What Apple does best, is it presents consumers with a binary decision- the outcome of which is a win-win for Apple. Initially, it asked people if they wanted to be different, and offered them the products to fulfill that desire.  Where Apple is different from others however, is that it got so many people to say yes that those who don’t want to be different now purchase Apple products as well, so as to fulfill their desire for belonging. How Apple manages to simultaneously fulfill the desires to be different and be the same as others is beyond me. What I do understand is that, for the time being, Apple’s reaches out to a universally-appealing self-concept, and as one YouTube viewer put it, creates “GOOSEBUMPS”.