The Masters of Product Marketing
How Apple sells iteration as groundbreaking innovation.
You may have heard that Apple made some product announcements last week.
Let’s look at what they announced, but use a naked eye: We’ll take away all of the branding. All of the spin. All of the marketing genius. Here’s the most prominent products and features Apple announced at their most recent event:
- An updated version of their smartphone with an improved camera and a more sensitive touch
- A larger, updated version of their tablet with a multitasking feature and portable keyboard
- An updated version of their television device with better voice recognition, and a touch-capable and motion-sensitive remote
- An advanced, high-tech stylus
Already, I’m sure, some fanboys are outraged at what they will see as my oversimplification of Apple’s genius. But I don’t think anyone can argue that everything there is incremental improvement on existing ideas.
When Apple launches a product or feature, those things work really well. (Unless it’s related to iTunes, then all bets are off.) I have no doubt Apple often waits to release features and updates their competition already has because they want to make sure they can make it work really well.
But the reason Apple is the best brand is the world isn’t because they make the best products; it’s because they know what sells and how to sell it. Apple is the best in the world at generating desire.
There is not a single thing in the list above that is groundbreaking technology. Everything you see above is iteration, not groundbreaking innovation.
Therein lies Apple’s genius. Apple sells iteration as groundbreaking innovation. Let’s walk through an Apple event and show you how they do it.
Step 1: Generate Excitement (via mystery, obfuscation and the classic tease)
Nothing makes people more curious than hiding information behind a curtain of secrecy. The rumors start months, if not a year, before the Apple Event is even announced. Apple goes out of its way to ignore the rumors, while at the same time (possibly) letting pictures leak of potential designs — or vehemently denying legitimacy when someone with too much time on their hands speculates what the design might look like based on the rumors. They’ve both ignored and denied rumors to the point it’s very hard to tell which ones to take seriously.
When they are ready — and only then — they send out the invites. The invites offer very little information. This is obviously done purposefully: If they told you what they were going to launch, you’d be a lot less excited.
Step 2: Pageantry
Apple Events are a master stroke of pageantry and theatricality. The set is a hauntingly dark stage that continues the mystery established in Step 1. The crowd is (Cook admits during the event) seeded with Apple employees, no doubt so there will be applause in all the right spots. (Science has proven that when one person claps, people around them will join in.)
Cook walks on stage to raucous applause, waving like he’s the President at a political rally. That’s the closest analogy we have: This isn’t a product announcement, it’s a rally for Apple. If everyone had “Cook for President” signs, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Every speaker gets applause, every pause is rewarded, every product is cheered before we even see what it can do. None of this is coincidental.
It’s even evident in the manner in which the product demo videos are shot: Closeups on device design, making the devices seem larger than life. It’s the same treatment TV cameramen give to baseball players after they hit a home run. (Also very Star Wars/2010: A Space Odyssey.)
Apple even shows videos and apps of the solar system on the iPadPro because we associate space with massive scope and futuristic technology.
Not an opportunity missed.
Step 3: Branding
Look, I’m typing this on a MacBook Air. I have two Apple TVs and an iPhone (albeit only a 5… must upgrade!). I use and love Apple products.
But as someone who creates brands for a living, I couldn’t help but giggle to myself when Apple called their advanced stylus “Apple Pencil.” It’s so utterly, wonderfully ridiculous. (The crowd, if you didn’t watch the announcement, audibly laughed when they revealed the name.)
I remember laughing at the name “iPad” along with the rest of the Internet.
A technology company, named after a piece of fruit, is now trying to own the most popular writing tool in history.
And yet, it works. The Apple Pencil sounds familiar and safe, while at the same time, we automatically feel like it is an advanced piece of technology because of Apple’s reputation. They can take the risk and the laughter because they know the product works well and they can sell it.
No offense to Microsoft, but if they tried to call it the Pencil, how do you think that would go?
Step 4: Spin & Language
Just a few quotes from the speakers at the Apple event:
“We are about to make some monster announcements…”
“Despite launching [Apple Watch] just a few months ago, we are on an incredible pace of innovation…”
“It is amazing what kind of power you now have on your wrist…”
“iPad is our vision of the future of personal computing…”
“This is unlike any keyboard you’ve used before…”
“The future of TV is apps…”
If you transcribed the whole announcement, you’d see a lot of the same language: monster, innovation, vision, future, power, unlike, for the first time, etc. You get the idea. These aren’t words you normally use to describe iteration. These words that make us think about how our lives are going to change. These words inspire.
You’ll also notice, at every Apple event, they never compare themselves to their competition. In fact, they do just the opposite.
Several competitors have voice recognition, keyboards to go with tablets, and a stylus. Apple may make better versions (we’ll see), but the ideas are not new. There’s no mention of “updates” or catching up to the competition.
Apple will never say, “You can now do X.” They say, “For the first time ever, you can do X.” Of course, they mean, for the first time ever on an Apple device. That, my friends, is a master stroke of spin.
To sum: Apple isn’t the best brand in the world because they make the best products; they’re the best brand in the world because they know what sells and how to sell it.
Of course, they’ve earned their reputation as one of the world’s most innovative companies by being one of the world’s most innovative companies. No one denies that history. But one of the reasons they have maintained that reputation is that they sell iteration as groundbreaking innovation.
What other lessons can we learn from Apple’s product marketing and events? How could you sell your company’s iteration as groundbreaking innovation?
Bill Beard is the founder of Beard Branding. You should follow him on Twitter: @writebeard.
