Wow! I love Apple! Its always a marketing inspiration, no matter where I am and what I’m doing. Most people like the brand, heck, even love it. Some poeple are extreme fanatics and go out and constantly promote it. That kind of brand loyalty, WOM (Word Of Mouth) and supermarketing effect makes Apple a sure marketing example to quote. This edit of Apple’s Keynote address in September 2009 is a way of dissecting the event. Notice how the keywords are related to each product and subject.

If you want to see the whole presentation, click here. Additional sweet spots to note, Steve Jobs is an excellent storyteller, the first thing he does upon entering the stage… he tells a story. A deep, emotional, quasi personal story that everyone can relate to. But not only that, he also associates other key concepts to Apple in the process. One being “generous”, as in, Apple’s customers should be generous (he uses “we”) when buying an Apple product (boy they are pricey!).

Steve Jobs and his marketing team are the real geniuses. Granted, Apple does have some great features, but the “cool, amazing” factor is what really brings the brand to where it is. Steve Jobs did it in his first tenure at Apple, and Apple was successful. He was fired, Apple went through a hard spot as there was no good marketing behind it, then Steve Jobs was begged to return, and the marketing party started again! Hats off to the smart marketing used in Apple.

Two lessons:

• Always associate extremely powerful and postive concepts to your brand.
• Learn how to tell deep, emotional stories to win your audience.

Leave your comments and questions below. I’ll answer as soon as possible or if necessary, create an article around your question.

Ma Cualli Ohtli

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

Before you think  this is some sort of tabloid blog, let me assure you that the headline is related to marketing in many ways and marketing is my subject here.

I was waiting for a meeting with a client in a lawyer´s office today. While drinking a very nice cup of coffee, a newspaper article on a table caught my attention. The headline read “Michelle Obama: First Lady of flex” and it turns out that her secret is exercising regularly and something called “supersets” which are a set of triceps pushdowns and hammer curls. Now, there is not much marketing in this so far, is it?

THE WHITE HOUSE/JOYCE N. BOGHOSIAN/AP FILE PHOTO

Well, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are now something like pop culture icons worldwide. It seems that everywhere they go, the impressions are always more than positive. And this kind of little articles are a big reason for it. The Obamas have one of the greatest marketing teams out there and they themselves are excellent marketing material and excellent marketers. That little article of “First lady of flex” is not very usual for a president´s wife, but it is extremely common of movie stars and actresses that are on the rise. This particular news article tells the audience a couple of “meta-messages”:

1. Michelle Obama is fit, strong and very much alive. Those are powerful messages in and of themselves as they position Mrs. Obama with powerful generic adjectives that can be used for many different campaigns, including, helping making her husband´s image much stronger (a guy who marries a strong woman, has to be very strong himself). This reflects directly on Mr. Obama.

2. The Obamas are using their “awesome people” status to push a political agenda. Barack Obama and his cabinet have been trying to push a health care reform which is one of Obama´s campaign promises but they are having a difficult time convincing the public and as a consequence, the politicians. By doing this kind of interviews, where the Obamas talk about their health and fitness, they are creating a setup for the health care reform, they are telling the public that because they are strong and healthy, they know what a good health care reform should be.

As illogical as all this seems from an intellectual point of view, by becoming celebrities and real humans to Americans, they are using marketing to push the Obama administration agenda and attaining the goals set from the beginning. If this good marketing or what do you think?

Ma Cualli Ohtli!

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.