Apple's Success
Life gives you choices. Some will be difficult to make, others not so much. As for college students, one of the earliest decisions faced is what laptop to buy and why? Price plays a huge role in this choice but so does practicality and reliability of the system. One of the major debates on this topic is Mac verses PC. Everyone has a preference, saying one is more effective than the other, or that one is way over priced. When you get down to the basics of each system they have about the same capabilities, yes there is always one better than the other, but just humor me for the sake of the argument. The main difference is that Apple tends to be a few hundred dollars more expensive than PC, and yet Macs are so popular and many people buy them. Apples true secret is not in their technology superiority of their operating system, but rather in their unequivocal advertising campaign.
Advertisements are everywhere. From the billboards on the side of the road to the plethora of commercials you see while watching television. A typical TV add lasts about thirty seconds and is used to broadcast and promote the popularity of the given product usually a brand name product (Ong, 116). Apple has spent tons of money to get there name across, whether flagrantly or very nonchalantly as seen in a family in a scripted television show trying to get the all new iPad (Ong, 116). Advertisement is almost everywhere and just seeing a certain product on a television episode plants an idea in your head that you want and need the desired product.
Apple Inc. is working on perfecting their advertisement campaign and they have been at it for quite a while. Apple has nor failed to see the profitability of advertisement and business deals. In 1999 Apple made a business deal with Lucasfilm for exclusive rights for the new Star Wars trailer (Guglielmo, 35). Within a mere four weeks "Apple saw more than 10 million copies of its media player downloaded" (Guglielmo, 35). People wanted to see the trailer for a new movie and Apple was the only one that offered it. Its like economics, people want something someone will eventually offer it. Apple saw the chance to make a profit and seized it. And they continue to do so.
Now-a-days everyone is always listening to music. People wake up to alarms that play their favorite song. They get in the car and listen to the radio. And while working out they have their MP3 player of sorts. Apple recognized the popularity of music so they started advertising for their iPods and now even iPhones. In 2005 Apple controlled 30 percent of all advertisements pertaining to MP3 players, that is double what the next leading add producer, Creative Labs, was (Dealers, 1). Apple knew that to get big they had to dream big. And they can show the fruits of their labor. Nearly everyone in America has some Apple product and that is due largely to Apple's intense advertising campaign.
Yet another example of Apples creative advertisement campaign was how they labeled their competition. One source states "And if you thought branding a candidate was hard, try breathing life into 4GB of RAM, 1680x1050 pixels and a 2.6GHz processor. At the same time, they managed to brand their opponent "PC" as a stale has-been" (Aho, 35). Apple brought their product to life even further with the adding of Siri who will talk to you on command. With this new aspect all other competition seems dull and boring, and Apple is defiantly not boring.
Apple versus PC, though similar in capability, Apple surpasses all other competition in their advertisement campaign. Yes, they have probably spent billions on all their adds, but the amount of publicity they received from it made it all worth it. They are receiving there fruits of their labor by the amount of people who own some Apple product, from the iPhone to the iMac. Apple has convinced its consumers that you should just hop on the ban wagon and more Apple products since it really is the popular thing to do. Apple's success is due largely to their advertising campaign rather than anything else.
Works Cited
Aho, Robert W. "How to Go negative in the 21St. Century." Politics (Campaign and Elections) 29.3 (2008): 35. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
"Dealers Double MP3 Ads, Doubling Apple's Share: Beyen." Twice:This Week In Consumer Electronics. 20.26 (2005):14. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Guglielmo, Connie. "Apple: In the Stream of Things." Inter@Ctve Week. 6.21 (1999): 35. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Ong, Edward L. " An Embedded Solution: Improving the Advertising Disclosure Rules in Television." UCLA Entertainment Law Review. 18.1 (2011): 114-147. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
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