Apple Macbook Air Summer Back to School Campaign
Purpose:
Our purpose in this campaign is to promote the sale of new Macbook air laptops to Gen Z (Specifically 18–24-year-old) consumers who are headed to college and require the latest in technology and function, wrapped up in a lightweight and eco-friendly package.
Plan:
· Our basic plan is based off of back to school sales data from the previous four years. This gives us approximately two years of data in what we have labeled as “pre-covid” times and two years in the world as we know it today. As is clearly evidenced by the sales data in the chart below, the onset of the pandemic and its forced transition to virtual living has led to some of our biggest years in terms of product moved.
· As the world begins to get back to a new normal, we have decided that we as a company need to promote on a greater scale than we have in the past so as to try and maintain the boosted sales figures of the past two years.
· After careful consideration, the brand promotion team has decided on the “back-to-school” season as the optimal time to market towards returning Gen Z students.
· As our draw-factor for this campaign, we have decided to offer 3 months of Apple Music for free with the purchase of any new Macbook Air, on top of 10% off the normal price for our “student protection” version of AppleCare that covers everyday accidents for the first year of ownership. Additionally, we will offer reduced pricing on MacBook Air for qualifying students that provide a valid student ID at the time of purchase.
Produce:
Simplistic advertising with clean lines and vivid color align with traditional Apple advertising standards while inviting potential student consumers to learn more about the product specifications through a minimalistic hyperlink.
Promote:
· As our promotion strategy for this campaign, we are going to heavily utilize social media platforms to raise awareness among our target audience, 18–24-year-old Gen Z students. This promotion will target not so much the Apple brand-freaks who have had every new device since it’s release; but more so the conscientious consumer who is headed to college and know that they need the best product to succeed in their new venture. Especially those that are spending their own hard-earned cash on their new laptop, without the financial assistance of Mom and Dad.
· Our digital promotions team will employ ads on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, using the algorithms of each platform to specifically target our age demographic. Promotions on each of these will include an embedded hyperlink taking them to our website for more detail on the Macbook Air, as well as pricing information and discount opportunity.
· Additionally, we plan to utilize influencers on Tik Tok that fall into the Gen Z returning student category by having them draw attention to the promotion as well as unboxing the product in front of fans to highlight new features like the M2 Chip, reduced weight, and superb build quality combined with recycled materials for the environmentally conscious.
Results:
The success metrics of this campaign will be measured in two ways. The first and most obvious of these being End of Summer through Fall of 2022 sales figures for the Macbook Air laptop. Using data analytics programs, our brand management team will record as much data as possible regarding purchases through both our brick and mortar stores as well as e-commerce venues. Secondly, we will employ similar analytic tactics to track interactional volume through each of our four main promotional platforms to determine which was most effective in reaching our target audience. With that knowledge we can better promote future products with the assurance that advertising funds are being spent in the most efficient manner possible. We will know that we have achieved success with this campaign at the end of the third quarter when the sales data for Macbook Air laptops is in and we have sustained or even surpassed the number of units sold per quarter during the height of the pandemic in 2020–2021.
- Note: This article is a class assignment for BUS 465 — Integrated Brand Promotion and Advertising at NCSU Poole College of Management. No part of the above campaign is real to my knowledge.
References:
Mac Sales Chart
https://www.statista.com/statistics/263444/sales-of-apple-mac-computers-since-first-quarter-2006/
Mac Air image
https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/macbook-air/
Mac promotion 2
Mac promotion 3
Apple Supercharged Ad
https://www.apple.com/us-edu/shop/back-to-school
Twitter Ad
