Only a marketing genius could take an also-ran technology company selling little-known products to few customers and turn it into the coolest underdog with a cultish following spending billions of dollars on products they did just had to have in order to exist. In short, that was Steve Jobs, the “greatest marketer of the ages,” according to AdWeek.
In a lengthy report on what made Apple great, the publication points to Jobs’ early conviction that “he needed advertising to create an aura around [the products].” This belief in building his i-gadgets into more than a music player, a computer or phone transferred into business, where we often here talk of the “halo effect” which spurs consumers to enter a store looking for a MacBook, but end up walking out with an iPod or an iPad, also.
Shorting after teaming up with the Los Angeles ad firm Chait/Day, Apple debuted the Macintosh with the memorable “1984” Super Bowl half-time spot. From there, Apple nourished the us-against-them motif of future advertising with “Think Different”, “Switchers” and “Get a Mac.” The ads “would become the envy of the industry,” AdWeek writes.
Despite until recently not breaking 10 percent of the U.S. PC market, Apple’s image was continually marketed by Jobs as fighting the good fight. PC companies were always seen as bad or simply stupid. Consumers, well, they only saw self-reflected positives: they are an elite bunch, they are part of the in-crowd, always getting one over on those slow-thinking PC fans. Consumers loved the image and those good feelings continued when they bought traditionally boring devices.
Little wonder Jobs was one of the few CEOs who’s passing the public noted with flowers and cards.
