MARKETING YOUR VALUE
Reminded this morning by a random YouTube link of this internal explanation of Apple’s brand strategy by Steve Jobs shortly after returning to the company. Perfectly captures the importance of having a core set of values, and a compelling story for why you exist as the company. Those values, and the reason for your existence they suggest, form the backbone of ALL of your marketing and sales messaging. This is what we strive to achieve for our clients; to capture the essence of their value to the world and express it in artifacts that spread the word. But I’ll let Steve explain…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TNYbcqyyj68&feature=emb_logo
Apple doesn’t make a point to specifically articulate their brand value, it’s implied in the “THINK DIFFERENT” campaign and every design choice in their products. Why does Apple exist? What’s their core value to the world? Is it to make really cool technology? To help people communicate? What one phrase or idea captures the essence of Apple’s purpose?
To me, the answer is that Apple exists to “simplify technology in order to enrich people’s lives”. Apple products and services are often - or used to be, when they were more reliable! ;-) - described as “it just works”. You don’t have to worry about how, you don’t have to learn complex commands; the hardware, software and services seem to predict your needs and make things work in a way that makes sense, even though you don’t have any idea of the complicated computing taking place underneath. In the ‘THINK DIFFERENT” campaign, Apple is implying that their core values could have, would have, and do, inspire the most creative and influential people in the world to CHANGE things.
That core value works because it isn’t tied to the iPhone, Mac, iTunes, or iCloud. It isn’t a product, or even a category, it’s an IDEA. And that idea gives Apple the freedom to step into new markets any time they think they can simplify technology to enrich people’s lives. Whether that be with a tablet that artists can draw upon, or a TV service that makes it easy to find compelling entertainment, or syncing files in the cloud so you always have access to the information you need. Apple is free to build anything in the tech space that might require a dose of simplicity and design in order to free people to live and work in a better way. Having a core value that open-ended ensures that Apple doesn’t live and die with the latest technology trends.
The product(s) you make today might be irrelevant in a few years, is your purpose greater than making the best widget?
