Patricia Poon's Blog

Disclaimer: I am not an Apple fangeek; in fact I own a Blackberry. I am, however, impressed and fascinated at Apple’s marketing techniques. Today I want to talk about 2 aspects I find contributes to the company’s success.

1. Sell the flash, not the product. 

This is pure product propositioning. Apple never made the thinnest notebook, or even the thinnest phone. But it was the first to claim that slogan, and implant the idea in the minds of consumers.

2. Manipulate the customer’s mind. 

Consider the difference between the 2 rival phone company’s catchphrases:

iPhone 5: The best thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone. 

Galaxy SIII: The next best thing is already here. 

Note how the iPhone’s catchphrase builds upon its own success and legacy, whereas Samsung’s motto, though witty and quirky, builds off the knowledge that consumers recognize that the iPhone is the ‘next best thing’. Inadvertently, Samsung is alluding to Apple’s success instead of its own, which I think is unfortunate because the phone has so much more to offer in terms of features, none of which are being marketed.

Consider also the Nokia Lumia’s release commercial: It’s such a shame that phone companies nowadays focus on what Apple’s phones can’t do rather than what their phones can do.

Language is a powerful tool, and I believe Apple has harnessed it. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had teams of microanalytical linguistics coaches.

The phrase ‘environmentally friendly’, along with ‘organic’, only brings one connotation for me – expensive. As a student, I do not own a car, however, I must admit, I rarely, if not never, purchase the organic option at groceries.So, when this topic came up in my Business Fundamentals class, it was easy to reflect on why it is so difficult for the general consumer to be more ‘green’ – too costly.

But for the business world, is it worth it to invest in sustainability rather than market shares? Writers Harris and Elm, in this article posted on the Huffington Post, seem to think so. Here are some quick stats they ran off:

• If $2 trillion is invested in Energy Efficiency, by 2020, we will see an internal return rate of 17%.
• A return rate of 17% is comparable to cutting the need for 64 million barrels of oil a day.
• If every car in North America had the same efficiency as the Prius, we would no longer need to import oil at all from other countries. 
• If every roof in the world was white, $2 trillion worth of carbon emissions would be eliminated (Black roofs retain heat).