Apple’s marketing gurus did something truly “magical” this year: they turned the iPhone into a piece of jewellery
This was almost inevitable. As technology plateaus and reaches the point of stagnation, it gets harder for companies like Apple to generate the same levels of excitement as when the smartphone markets were still in their infancy and easily disruptable by new “revolutionary” products.
So, Apple changed its strategy and turned the iPhone into jewellery. Well, not literally, but hear me out.
The new iPhone Pro lineup is made of Titanium and shoots for space. It’s light enough to be sent to space and strong enough to make it back to Earth. At least Apple hints so.
Titanium is a well-known metal, almost as highly regarded as gold or silver. It is also a symbol of invincibility and modernity in popular culture, frequently featured in films, music, and literature as a representation of cutting-edge technology, unbreakable strength, and futuristic elegance. For Apple, this association of the iPhone Pro lineup with Titanium is a clever move.
And Apple went all in with their Titanium messaging. All iPhone Pro colours are branded as Titanium colours, and the iPhone Pro webpage is unapologetically metallic.
The world of jewellery
The value of earrings, necklaces and other jewellery isn’t determined by the craftsmanship of their creators alone. The creative shapes and colours are necessary, but they are not even close to being as critical as the material these works of art are made of. Brass or copper pieces of jewellery, no matter how beautifully crafted, will always be just cheap siblings of their golden alternatives.
Apple’s solution
The focus is on promoting more “elemental” differentiators, such as colours and “raw” materials (Titanium), rather than functional differentiators, such as face-recognition technology or retina display, as used to be the case with older iPhones. Focusing on materials rather than features is a clever way to camouflage the lack of innovation while still generating enough hype and buzz to promote sales.
It’s all about money
It’s hard to sell something to your customers as a new gadget when it is essentially a carbon copy of its older version. Yet, companies like Apple still need to make money. Apple’s approach to marketing iPhones as if they were a piece of jewellery is a clever solution.
The innovation problem
To be fair, slow innovation is not Apple’s fault. Innovation is messy and often boring. Quantum leaps and significant breakthroughs are rare. Most of the hard work moving forward and pushing the boundaries of technology happens slowly and in small, incremental steps.
If innovation was a runner, it would be Kenenisa Bekele or Emil Zatopek, rather than Usain Bolt or Carl Lewis.
For mass-market companies that rely on economies of scale, it is critical to create hype and excitement about the little incremental updates to promote sales. No sales, no money. No money, no research and development. No research and development, no incremental improvements and the wheel of progress would stop.
The genius of Apple
Apple’s marketing team has no choice but to go beyond features and specifications and focus on other differentiators, such as colours and materials, as their key selling points to convey a sense of the quality and craftsmanship that goes into their products. And they do it so unapologetically well that I had no choice but to write this short piece, adding to all that unnecessary hype and buzz. Truly genius
P.S.
To be accurate, using Titanium as a selling point isn’t the first time Apple picked a “raw” material to promote its products. The Aluminum Unibody MacBook, marketed extensively for its sleek aluminium unibody design, comes to mind. The Ceramic Apple Watch Edition, meant for consumers seeking a high-end timepiece, is another example of when the material alone became the critical differentiator between the products of the same design. And let’s not forget the “surgical-grade” stainless steel used on iPhones X and 11.
