Subscribe to the iCult: iPad 2
March 9th, 2011 • Marketing Insights
I was speaking on skype with my dad the other day. The words following the customary hello were “so… can you buy me that new iPad 2 before you come back to Indonesia this summer?”. My poor father- the most intellectually motivated man I know- the newest victim of the iCult propaganda.
When I asked him why he needed it, he told me that he wanted to write up his Word documents and use it to project Powerpoint presentations at work. I knew from that point on that he was mystified by the minimalist elegance of the product rather than its actual function. How did I know this? The iPad 2 doesn’t support Microsoft Word nor Powerpoint. It can do a whole lot of other things that are great, but it specifically doesn’t support the 2 reasons that he had stated. I eventually corrected the misinformed man and yet he was persistent in buying the new gadget. He claimed, “whenever I get my coffee from Starbucks, I can never look away at the hip youngsters that are fiddling with their apple toys”.
My father at age 54, way passed his midlife crisis, is still being sucked into the marketing tactics of apple that promises a youthful and trendy image. I find it amazing how effective their brand is and will continue to be in the far future. I only wish he asked me to buy one for myself as well.