Branding for Mental Real Estate - Essay Example

Branding for Mental Real E Discuss the ment “Branding is all about competing for mental real estate”. Introduction The present implementation of branding and the competition for placing a brand in a certain position for the consumers is certainly about making room in the mental real estate of the market. The statement given in the questions can be shown to be true if we take a historical look at the art and advertisements which have gone into creating Apple Inc. as a primary example. The selection of Apple is important because it can be compared to other contemporaneous brands while Apple itself remains largely tied in the high tech industry as well as the personal computer business. 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). 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 at all. Given the times we live in, even things like the GUI (Graphical User Interface) design of a computer or the layout and graphics used on a website could indeed by accepted as a valid form of art (Brierley, 2002). Fundamentally, both art and advertisements today are all about the money and the amount of sales they can generate for a company. Few industries have seen the drama, romance and emotion at the level of the computer industry. From the earliest government sponsored projects to produce computers based on vacuum tubes to today’s multi-core systems, the saga of computer technology has seen major players ousted and minor players become leaders. While many companies have come and gone over the past 40 years, Apple Computer comes across as one of the companies which has stood the test of time and has managed to turn out convincing products that have given it an image of innovation and being a radical organization (Elliott, 1998). About the Company Apple is an American company and one of the front runners amongst computer hardware, software and allied equipment manufacturers. The company prides itself on creating innovative products for the consumer electronics and technology sectors (PC Magazine, 2006). In 2005, it posted global sales of nearly 14 Billion dollars and had more than fourteen thousand people working for it around the world. The company is based out of Cupertino in California where the main offices of the company are situated. The central products of the company are personal computers, portable media devices, software and associated hardware (Apple.com, 2007). However, no mention of Apple can be complete without discussing the cult of personality which revolves around its founder and current CEO, Steve Jobs (Forbes, 2006). Jobs has had a tumultuous relationship with the company he founded since he was removed from service and called back by the board after many years of absence (Beckman & Hirsch, 2001). Writing for The Guardian, Smith says that: “To technology freaks and geeks, he is a demigod, whose product launches are adulatory affairs regularly likened to religious revivalist meetings. The Jobs life story - humble birth, rise and fall, then miraculous comeback - has even been likened by Apple fanatics to the heroic myths of Odysseus, Jason, Krishna and Christ (Smith, 2006, Pg. 1).” For marketing and information about the release of new productions, keeping things under a tight lid is one of the hallmarks of Apple computers since no one can ever be sure of what new innovation Apple and Steve Jobs are about to release on to the market (Smith, 2006). Rumors and speculation begins weeks before any company event and in the past a lot of information was often leaked to the press. As reported by Deutschman (2000, Pg. 3) “Before Steves takeover, Apple people loved to leak. Steve insisted on his “loose lips sink ships” policy. At first the employees were incensed. Before long, though, they began to trust Steve to do Apples marketing for them”. Creating Room in Minds For years, Apple has been fighting a losing battle for the marketing of personal computers since even though the brand has a high awareness level for people, it does not have the same market share. In terms of competing for mental real estate, Apple frequently blurs the line between advertising and art by creating breakthrough advertisements in print, 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 television commercial which is still considered to be one of the best in terms of art direction and creative application of technology concepts. 1984 Scott (1991) explains the persuasive power of the 1984 commercial as well as the marketing 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 the objective was to get people interested by putting an object and a brand into their minds, 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). Two Thumbs Up 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. Not only as art, the television spot was successful in establishing the Apple brand in the minds of all those who saw the ad. The business value of the advertisement 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 lines which formed to buy the computer are also a testament to the ability of the artwork to motivate and move people as ideas that get stuck in a person’s head has often done for the past hundreds of years. Think Different The second campaign by Apple Computer which deserves to be discussed in the context of creating mental real estate is their ‘Think Different’ campaign which was launched in 1997 soon after the return of Steve Jobs to the position of CEO at the company. Creating mental real estate requires the application of creative skill and this campaign certain fits the description since it shows how people can be motivated to buy something which is mass produced, compatible with almost every other computer and is not very different from other computers which were made by Apple in the past. The video campaign for ‘Think Different’ won an Emmy but it is the print campaign which made a significant impact for sales and also won several awards for the advertising firm of TBWA\Chiat\Day. Each of the ads shown below is a part of a set of pictures of famous personalities. The people used for the campaign are some of the most admired achievers in the world and come from all sorts of fields like government, business, sports, performing arts and human rights activism. A few examples are shown on the next page reproduced by Elliot (1998) and include (in order) Jim Henson, Maria Callas, Thomas Edison and Jackie Robinson. Again, there is little product identification and only the logo of the company is presented to the viewer. The focus of the image remains on the person being revered. As in the 1984 advertisement, the corporate identity remains lost and largely hidden from the viewer and the product itself is simply absent from the advertisement. In this sense, Apple is not pushing any item for sale, it is simply encouraging people to associate the brand with individuals who were creative and thought outside the box. This is the essence of the advertisement and the basic premise of Apple trying to establish itself in a permanent position for the audiences that experience these advertisements. The campaign has featured more than 40 such individuals and the list includes names like Bob Dylan, Einstein, Ted Turner, Picasso, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Muhammad Ali, Alfred Hitchcock, Miles Davis, Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart, Jim Henson, Rosa Parks, Frank Lloyd Wright and Gandhi. If winning an Emmy for this campaign gave the advertisements acceptance as art by the critics, the increased sales which Apple computer enjoyed after these ads were presented to the public show their acceptance of the idea as a part of the mental real estate. Creating this mental real estate for the brand through advertising and marketing 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. Taking a look at the history of advertising, the popularity of neon signs in the 50s and 60s shows how being different, more attractive and more visible than the competition is simply a competitive advantage which leads to more business coming to the company. If using art is the method to get more buyers, businesses will be falling over each other to get hold of artists who can get them more money. At the same time, if advertisements which are closer to art than those which extol the virtues of a product seem to be more acceptable and lead to more business, then artistic advertisements will be the order of the day. It seems that the world today needs to be as entertained by advertisements more than it needs to be informed (Lee, 2000) and while the traditional use of advertisement has been in relation to both, advertisements today have to battle with the remote controller or digital tools which can simply skip those ads which are not entertaining or impressive for the viewers. In this regard, entertaining mental images and viewable spots are not only a competitive advantage for a company, they are simply necessary for whatever message needs to be retained by the viewers or readers. Stretching the Brand for Different Mindsets Apple seems to have known that the personal computer industry is about the consumer rather than the enterprise and have always remained focused on the consumer. Therefore their strategy seems to work with elements of fitting their brand to the mindset of the market since they appear to be designing and selling products for a specific group of consumers just as BMW or Mercedes are doing (Edwards, 2005). However, based on the analysis of the external environment and as other marketers have shown us, Apple is also crafting solutions for a particular need. This puts Apple squarely in the Differentiation zone for marketing and creating an image in the minds of the consumers since Apple touts quality and image much like BMW or Mercedes would as opposed to value and price efficiency that a lesser car manufacturer would. Apple is not a price leader since similarly equipped computers can be bought at cheaper rates elsewhere (Lee, 2007). Apple is not focusing on differentiation alone since it sells a lot more than just computers and its audio visual equipment (and telephonic equipment) is also a recognized segment of the business. Pricing for a Mindset At the same time, the premiums charged by Apple are not significantly high as to turn away buyers since the competition within the market is fierce and Apple can not charge an excessive amount for its products. In such as situation, when Apple brings its prices close to the competition, their products become more enticing for users (PC Magazine, 2006). In effect, Apple has a unique, special and highly protected individual position within the computer as well as the music industry which is strongly supported by a relatively closed value chain. This positioning strategy is excellent for mature markets and Apple is therefore ideally placed to take advantage of it. Apple seems to have clearly accepted that the PC wars are over and that PC clones using the windows operating system and Intel chipsets won the war a long time ago when Apple simply could not match up in terms of distribution or cost. However, the media wars are just starting and Apple has a significant head start on other. Apple may not be able to become the price leader in terms of computer equipment sales, or even the volume leader, or even create the most powerful computer but it certainly can create beautifully styled machines which become more like objects of desire rather than lifeless tools. Apple has a significantly strong position in the market for some of its products e.g. the iPod and the iTunes Music Store but for others it is positioned on rather weak footing e.g. personal computers. Though the marketing for many of Apple’s products has been nothing less than stellar, it often helps to create the brand identity more than the product value (Scott, 1991). In the MP3 player market, Apple has a very strong brand identity and a massive advantage in terms of switching costs over its rivals. Apple also has strong links with music distributors and has a proprietary product in the shape of the iPod which creates strong barriers to entry (Beckman and Hirsch, 2001). Placing New Products The threat of substitutes to iPod is very high since quite a few MP3 players can play music and even offer better functions than the iPod. However, the threat is mitigated by the fact that the iPod is the only player to work with iTunes (Deutschman, 2000). Therefore the final analysis shows that the threat of substitutes to Apple’s media package is quite low. In the music business, the position of the suppliers was improved due to the fact that they owned the copyrights to the music being sold on the iTunes store. However, it was also weakened because Apple becomes the best middle man to use if their music is to be sold legally (Beckman and Hirsch, 2001). To stretch their brand, apple has to offer customers the ability to buy music from the internet and create a broader location for their music store. Even though they are limited in terms of where and how they sell computers, Apple certainly has a high street image with a culture of being cool since their retail outlets are nothing less than designer boutiques. As Apple has complete ownership of the Apple store and direct connections with music labels, the competitive advantage in the music industry is certain sustainable (Beckman and Hirsch, 2001). However, Apple does not have a sustainable competitive advantage of high end stores since other manufacturers can also emulate their success in the retail industry. Continual marketing and entrenching of the brand image therefore becomes necessary as Apple launches new products and services. In fact, the recent name change for Apple could also have far reaching consequences since it changed its name from Apple Computers Inc. to Just Apple Inc. clearly showing where the priorities of the company are. In the future, it seems that Apple will place itself more as a producer for high end media equipment and less as a manufacturer of desktop and laptop computers that run productivity applications for a wide variety of the public. Conclusion Creating a positive image for the brand in the minds of the consumers takes a lot more than just have a good product. It takes competitive advantages and the culture, the people, the products, the customer loyalty, as well as the marketing and management skills of the CEO are all advantages which Apple can leverage over the competition. All these factors form the primary basis of the reason why apple is so successful in maintaining its image and its position in the market as the main alternative to Microsoft Windows and other operating systems available in the world of computers and software technology (Edwards, 2005). Even though Microsoft outsells Apple ten to one in the real world, Apple does present an alternative which is now more viable than it was before since they are both using the same processors which are made by Intel. However, there is also the danger of relying too much on one individual for continual growth and innovation at the company. While we know that no individual can be considered irreplaceable, we have seen how Apple performs with and without Steve Jobs and it is clear that performance with Steve at the helm is far better than performance without Steve. This certainly raises some question marks about Apple’s ability to establish itself as a dynamic force in the minds of the market or to maintain its position as an innovative company after Steve Jobs leaves the organization. It seems that if the company is to continue in the same direction as it has been taken by Steve and other members of the senior management team, it should continually seek out ways in which it can occupy a deeper space in the minds of the consumer even if Steve Jobs decides to leave Apple. It is also very clear that Apple has a massive advantage when it comes to the marketing and presentation of their products since the ads for the company are genuine examples of advertising as an art form. Those who do not consider current advertisements made by Apple and others to be art will soon have to change their minds just like the U.S. Post office which held out postage stamps as hallowed space until it too had to give in to the lure of advertising (Bulik & Teinowitz, 2006). However, it also seems believable that certain individuals will be turned off by the attempts made by Apple to get a place in their mind regarding the image of the brand or the products that they are selling. Given the fact that companies such as Apple have millions if not billions to spend on advertising alone, it seems unlikely that their marketing campaigns could end up in massive failures. Even if their products do fail in aspiring people to spend money, their advertisements are likely to remain inspirational and help them achieve their target of creating their own place in the minds of the viewers. Word Count: 3,591 Works Cited Apple. 2007, ‘Apple’, Apple.com, [Online] Available at: http://www.apple.com/investor/ Beckman, D. and Hirsch, D. 2001, ‘Mac Is Back in Town’, ABA Journal, vol. 87, no. 8, pp. 70-72. Brierley, S. 2002, The Advertising Handbook, Routledge. Bulik, B. and Teinowitz, I. 2006, ‘Advertising goes postal’, Advertising Age, vol. 77, no. 21, pp. 4-40. Deutschman, A. 2000, ‘The once and future Steve Jobs’, Salon.com, [Online] Available at: http://archive.salon.com/tech/books/2000/10/11/jobs_excerpt/index.html Elliott, S. 1998, ‘Behind “Think Different”’, New York Times, [Online] Available at: http://www.electric-escape.net/node/565 Forbes. 2006, ‘Steven Jobs’ Forbes.com, [Online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/HEDB.html Lee, L. 2007, ‘Dell’s New Lineup May Not Be Enough’, Business Week, vol. 4014, no. 1, p. 13-14. Lee, M. 2000, The Consumer Society Reader, Blackwell. PC Magazine. 2006, ‘Low-Cost Apple laptop is very enticing’, PC Magazine, vol. 25, no. 13, pp. 31-32. Scott, L. 1991, ‘For the Rest of Us: A Reader-Oriented Interpretation of Apples “1984” Commercial’, Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 25, no. 1, pp 67-81. Smith, D. 2006, ‘The non-stop revolutionary’, The Guardian, [Online] Available at: http://technology.guardian.co.uk/opinion/story/0,,1697348,00.html Wikipedia. 2006, ‘Apple Computer’ Wikipedia.org, [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_computer Read More