Nick's Tech/Multimedia Marketing Mash

Hello blog reader. It’s a delight to be the subject of your undivided attention once again.

That being said, have you ever been to Sayan‘s blog? It’s an incredible source of information for those of us who are environmentally conscious and reminds us all to keep an eye on the companies that are using the very tactics that we are learning in class. Sayan’s detailed examples of the power of branding (Dasani vs. tap water at the movie theatre,  the value of reusable bags in serving as mobile advertising, and deceptive nutritional information on bottles). In fact, his blog has inspired me to include the environment in my most recent contribution to the blogosphere.

Amid the frenzy that accompanied the launch of the iPad 2 I found myself wondering “Do we really need a successor to the iPad this early?”.  Everyone knows by now that one of Apple’s strategies is to create new iterations of its products on a yearly basis (iPod, iPhone and iPad have thus far followed these cycles quite reliably) and get consumers to jump ship for the new, best version leaving their old device to be picked up by friends, resold or, in some cases, redirected to the nearest landfill.

A Timeline of the iPod's Development Cycle taken from ipodhistory.com. Click on the image to see it more clearly, :).

Seeing the product line for the iPod really puts things into perspective and it makes one realize just how caught up a lot of people are in Apple’s marketing machine. I’ve seen and heard friends firsthand talk about how they “must” get the newest version of the iPhone even though their previous version works just fine (it is kind of funny actually, although I am very much into technology my overwhelming thriftiness has me keeping the same old fun until I absolutely must replace it). When I question them about whether or not they really need it they often have no reason other than “I really need it!” or “My phone is just too old now…” to justify the purchase that they are planning for.

Honestly, I find Apple’s ability to persuade consumers to purchase their products (and abandon their perfectly serviceable previous iterations) quite incredible and certainly impressive (in a Marketing sense) but it makes me worry about the future of our consumer-oriented society. If we continue to consume and waste at this rate its hard to see how we can expect to maintain our current lifestyle as resources will begin to run out. So, although Apple has found a great deal of success with their current marketing strategy they may want to consider evolving their business model so that they can sustain it in a future where resources are less scarce and consumer pocketbooks are not as widely stretched. To be fair, they’re showing some initiative on that front as they are expanding the software arm of their company but it would be a remarkable bit of foresight on their part if they were to use their status as a industry leader and be one of the first companies to commit themselves in a big way to operating in a sustainable matter. With their creative talent and innovation they are one of the companies that are best poised to take advantage of this new opportunity.

Some food for thought