Brand Positioning of Apple Computers - Essay Example

Brand Positioning Introduction The balances between price and quality are the basic factors whichdetermine the exact position of a brand and strategic marketing can always alter the perception of the brand for customers. The modern world and modern marketing techniques allow companies to take some unique ways in which their brand can be identified as unique amongst the competition. Although there are many ways to do this, branding on the internet and artistic advertising come across as the most outstanding methods for getting a better position for any given brand. Artistic Advertising The connection between advertising and art has become one of the most important links between the business world and the creative souls who had often shunned and even avoided working for the evil empire. Art today can be said to no longer be created for the sake of art, or for the sake of life, or even any hallowed objective like peace. Advertising has ensured that art is now performed for the sake of money and little else. Of course the critics of such a change in affairs may call this blatant commercialism but it must be realized that art has seldom been noncommercial and noncommercial art has seldom been successful in the past (Brierley, 2002). In fact, we only have to look at the commissioned work of the masters in the renaissance era to see the influence of the rich and famous patrons of the arts in their works. Going further back, we can examine how the kings and queens influenced the works of the artists in the classical and medieval eras. Therefore, it is perfectly logical to see how some of the best artists in present times (including the top graduates of art schools) have been recruited by advertising agencies and media syndicates to work for them. Just as the kings of the past had money to create and enhance their own ‘brand image’, that kind of money is only available to corporations and companies which can invest millions of dollars in their brand image. In the modern world, art and advertisements seem to have the same purpose, i.e. to motivate and move people towards some form of action (Lee, 2000). With the artistic application of advertising, such art leads to the creation of a brand image that is offering which people would be motivated to buy. In this respect advertising may be a more difficult art form than painting or sculpture since it might be far easier for people to give off an emotion which costs them nothing rather than loosen their purse strings and spend money on something which they might even not need. When it comes to advertising, if we accepted the opinions of the art experts who give out the Emmy’s, then advertising is not only an art form but something which must be awarded and respected as much as the work done by any other Emmy winner. Apple Computer’s ‘Think Different’ campaign for their iMac line of computers won an Emmy for its artful presentation of ideas regarding the users of the Apple computer (Rosenberg, 1999). Even before that, the 1984 commercial for Apple computer’s Macintosh machine was considered to be more art than advertisement. These two campaigns form the centre of the argument for why advertising is not very different from other forms of fine art which are displayed in museums and galleries around the world. The company which frequently blurs the line between advertising and art is none other than Apple Computer which has been creating many breakthroughs in print advertisements, such as the ‘Think Different’ campaign, as well as video formats such as the ‘1984 commercial’. In fact, the first commercial which caused many art critics to sit up and take note was the 1984 big brother commercial which is still considered to be one of the best in terms of art direction and creative application of technology concepts. It positioned the Apple brand in direct opposition to the king of computer companies at the time i.e. IBM and showed that Apple was a company willing to take on the giants of the industry. Scott (1991) explains the persuasive power of the 1984 commercial as well as the artistic merits of the ad by taking a literary criticism approach to the video. The commercial itself can be described as a young female being chased by masked storm trooper like soldiers as she rushes past trudging workers wearing grey overalls with shaved heads. She approaches a massive screen where a big brother like figure is making a speech and she hurls a sledge hammer into the screen which causes a huge blast. A calm and smooth voice then announces that 1984 will not be like 1984 because of the Macintosh (Scott, 1991). This advertisement simply smashed every advertising convention known at the time since it only carried a minimal corporate identity, no message about the technical prowess of the computer, no mention of direct benefits to the individual, not even the price point of the item being offered. Simply put, as it was known in 1984, this ad could not even be considered advertising. However, if art is meant to motivate people then this approach certainly worked because when the Macintosh computer became available in the market three days after the airing of the ad, more than two hundred thousand people were waiting in lines across America to put their money down to buy one (Scott, 1991). A critical analysis of the advertisement sounds eerily similar to a critical review which might be given to a film noir or to any other art film which has been highly acclaimed at the Sundance festival. Scott (1991) says that: “The theme of the commercial is one of individual action to prevent homogenizing tyranny and its form is a mirror of its theme. The spot communicates through an artful arrangement of images that has its own internal logic. The spot keeps the audience unbalanced and curious throughout the viewing, and thus open to affective experience through which it persuades (Scott, 1991, pg. 67).” The review goes on to use words like “rich symbolic imagery (Scott, 1991, pg. 67)” and further says that the commercial created an experience which was participatory in nature for the viewers and the experience altered dynamically from the starting scenes to the explosive finish. Certainly, these positive remarks would make any artist proud of their creation and the acceptance of this advertisement as art is nothing more than a forgone conclusion. Additionally the mental association of rebellion and being different from others is a big boost for a relatively minor player in the market like Apple. While the artistic value of the advertisement can not be denied, the business value must also be appreciated since it aired only once during the prime time viewing slot while making news headlines the very same night and was repeat broadcast by several channels free of cost to Apple. The long lines, running around blocks, which formed to buy the computer, are also a testament to the ability of the brand placement strategy and move people as art has often done for the past hundreds of years (Scott, 1991). Art being used as advertising or advertising which is nothing less than art is certainly a competitive advantage for any company. Advertising creates an image for the company and for Apple Computers to associate itself with the most creative and successful individuals in history can be seen as an extremely good move by any standard. This association feeds the individual desire to be different from others and to feel special with an Apple Computer since presumably that feeling can not be had by simply buying an IBM PC clone. In fact, branding and positioning for Apple have also made it a part of the fashion industry mainly due to their innovative iPod MP3 Player. More than a music playing device, it is increasingly seen as a fashion accessory for the hip and happening people in the 21st century. With several generations of the iPod it has shown its sticking power and as it has gained acceptability, people have found alternative uses for it. With millions of iPods and billions of MP3s there is little to object when a company and fashion leader like Levi’s decides to build on the popularity of the iPod and create a product line which integrates with the digital music player (ACM, 2006). Levi Strauss has created a line of jeans that incorporates iPod usage technology; it features a joystick control which is built into the jeans’ fifth pocket to enable the person sporting the clothing to operate an iPod without having to remove it from a specially designed docking cradle located in the side pocket. The name of this mix of technology fashion and communication device is the Levi’s RedWire DLX Jeans and they are currently available around the world. It also has a built-in retractable headphone unit to prevent wire tangles. Costing more than $200, it is certainly targeted towards the upper end of the market but the jeans can be worn, used and washed like any other clothing item (ACM, 2006). The Internet and Brand Image The internet is also extensively used as a marketing tool by various businesses especially technology related companies (Anderson, 2005). HP uses the internet extensively to market their IT solutions in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. HP conducted a market study which showed their analysts that people’s research for IT Products is almost always done on the internet even if the purchase itself is made offline. Secondly, the IT professionals in Europe may conduct several activities online at the same time as conducting their research. Finally, they confirmed that the market segment is heavily targeted by other companies as well therefore their brand image and message will need to stand out to hold any meaning for the average IT guru in a mid size company (Gates, 2005). Naturally HP went for online brand imaging in a big way. Online banners were on top of their agenda and they created banners in 13 languages for covering all of Europe. HP is also involved in pay per click search engines and they know that more than three fourths of their market exclusively uses search engines to locate IT related products. This places them in a good position to target certain key words with great significance for IT professionals (Gates, 2005). Getting the user to view the page is only half the battle, HP also discovered that most users go to price comparison pages once they have seen their products. HP partnered with major price comparison engines to provide them with real time data feeds on the lowest prices based on location and quantities available in stock. Additionally, they created their own price comparison engine limited to HP products which showed which of their partners was selling the product at what price. The user would also be able to click on a price and be able to buy the product directly from HP or from a provider as required (Gates, 2005). As an IT solutions provider, such techniques certainly help the image of the brand and show how good the company is in understanding the field it is working in. What HP realized was that the small to medium enterprise IT guru is very often an accomplished internet user. They read reviews online, they study prices and feature comparison charts and know how to navigate search engines to conduct their research. This realization made them make certain changes to their advertising and B2B e-commerce setup which resulted in improved sales and better customer retention for their current clients (Gates, 2005). For HP, what it all comes down to is making sure that the image of the brand remains consistent with the advertising being done for the brand and the technology being used for the placement of the brand. Of course the image of the company itself can be modified and recreated with the use of the internet. Apple computer modified their online sales and marketing systems to appeal to individual users rather than IT departments. On the other hand, the IBM brand consistently targets IT decision makers in companies while Apple tries to net single users as well as IT gurus (Simmons, 2005). The online brand appeal made by Apple computers is certainly more emotional and inspires people to stop and listen to Apple, and perhaps even to give it serious consideration as an alternative. Such positioning mechanisms are what keep the brand alive and the tone of the brand more vibrant. Companies can also use the internet to give their clients an image of the company which reflects it to be larger than it is. This can be done to show that the brand is actually much stronger than the expectations of the client. Chozich gives the example of Oriel Wines which is a large international importer of wines selling more than twenty varieties of wines from around the world with offices in Europe and in America. In reality, they employ only a staff of six people. What they use to get the advantage of size is creative use to the internet which gives them better footing overall (Chozich, 2005). They can do this because even a team comprising of one person can use tools like PayPal, yahoo merchant stores and eBay to ensure that they are a part of the internet business world and can have their share of the global business pie if they are dedicated to creating an image of their brand. Companies like Oriel Wines use email services that can automatically make Amazon like recommendations to clients, in effect making them appear more on top of things and larger in size. Distribution lists and related information can be handled by outsourcing to services like Constant Contact who maintain mailing lists and provide email services for monthly fees (Chozich, 2005). Taking things a few steps further, the modern internet based company in India can get an office address in New York by using the services of A. I. Inc. This company will receive documents in their client’s name and scan and email important documents while other can be snail mailed to less upscale location where the business is actually located (Chozich, 2005). Just one of the few tricks of the trade a modern e-business entrepreneur has to know in order to compete against the big guns. However, it must be kept in mind that these tools are meant to assist entrepreneurs in e-business and e-commerce, not to deceive anyone. In conclusion, I feel that brand positioning is not really misinformation or claiming that a company or product is more than it is. As rational individuals we can understand perfectly that both a Ferrari and a sub-compact economy car can only go as fast as the weather conditions and the laws of the road will allow but both cars create different levels of appeal simply with how their brand is positioned and how their product is created. The brand positioning argument and the brand positioning appeal is a more of an emotional in many cases since competition on price and even on features can only take a company so far in a cut throat competitive environment. Works Cited ACM. (2006). Denim goes digital. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 10-11. Anderson, E. (2005). The Land of B2B. Brand Strategy, 9(1), 61-64. Brierley, S. (2002). The Advertising Handbook, Routledge. Chozich, A. Managing Technology; Appearances Are Deceiving: Technology can make a small business seem a lot bigger than it actually is. Wall Street Journal. 19 Sep, 2005: Pg. R7 Gates, D. (2005) Netting B2B Customers. Brand Strategy, 11(9), 54-58. Lee, M. 2000, The Consumer Society Reader, Blackwell. Rosenberg, S. (1999). Commercial development: Ad folks recognized by Acad for its 30-, 60-second stories. Retrieved November 12, 2006 from Variety.com website: http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=emmy1999&page=emmys99_story&articleid=VR1117503007 Scott, L. (1991). For the Rest of Us: A Reader-Oriented Interpretation of Apples “1984” Commercial, Journal of Popular Culture, 25(1), 67-81. Simmons, J. (2005) B2B Marketing: Mind your Language. Brand Strategy, 9(1), 58-61. Word Count: 2,693 Read More