Another fan created iPod ad

Do you remember the iPod ad the school teacher George Masters produced a few years ago? Well, there is a new fan-created ad, this time by an 19-year old from the midlands in the UK. And while Apple never even made a single statement about the ad Mr. Masters produced in 2004, they now asked their agency TBWA/Chiat/Day to fly the boy to LA and professionally produce the ad.

At the time of writing this, the ad had been viewed more than 440.000 times, 388 comments, and 569 favourites.

This success is probably also due to the case that big shots like the NY Times, Wired, Gizmodo, and MacRumous picked up on the story… And the fact that „User Generated Content“ has become a rather familiar concept since 2004 – apparently even for „divas“ like Apple.

(But if you ask me: it’s a horrible ad, especially the music!)

Learning Marketing from Apple.

Apple’s handling of the iPhone price issue raises many questions about what Apple can get away with unscathed.

A recent PcWorld article is asking whether Apple is the new Microsoft. Will Apple be the new bully on the IT playground?

Don’t look now, but the role of the industry’s biggest bully is increasingly played by Apple, not Microsoft. Here’s a look at how Apple has shoved Microsoft aside as the company with the worst reputation as a monopolist, copycat and a bully.

Here is the best statement:

iTunes for Windows‘ popularity isn’t driven by software product quality. ITunes is the slowest, clunkiest, most nonintuitive application on my system. But I need it because I love my iPods.

That is sooo true!

Of course Apple is far away from being a monopoly, unlike Microsoft is or at least was. But the monopolistic behaviour is similar.

Amazing, but considering the fact that the Apple brand is almost religiously embraced by its fans to an extent that could make the catholic church jealous, we can clearly see what makes Apple so successful:

Fantastic marketing.

While Microsoft always focused on either purchasing small(er) software shops to extend their portfolio or to dictate terms on their partners, Apple focused on marketing. Hey, it also worked for Nike in their battle against Adidas.

It all comes down to a simple rule: People don’t purchase products. People buy ideas, dreams or beliefs. And Apple sells exactly this. Apparently, they were rareley the first to launch certain types of products

Off the Record, a German advertising blog, pointed me to a site called MarketingApple by Steve Chazin, uncovering the secrets to Apple-style-marketing.

There you can find a PDF with „the five secrets of Apple Marketing„:

1. Don’t sell products. People buy what other people have.

2. Never be first to Market. Make something good greater.

3. Empower early adopters. Help your customer help you.

4. Make your message memorable. Boil the story down to its syrupy goodness.

5. Go one step futher. Surprise and delight your customers.

So there will be two good reasons for continuing to watch Apple: the fascinating products and how the fascination is nurtured by Apple Marketing.

Gates and Jobs interviewed during the D5

This is one of those most amazing setups: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are being interviewd during the „All Things Digital“ conference this year. They talk about the computer, software and internet industry, some thoughts about the history but also the future, etc. Well worth watching, also very entertaining!

steveandbill.jpg

It already starts with a prologue of other incidents in the last few decades, when the two met for discussions.

Watch Steve talk about things he can’t talk about yet, but „they are beautiful, so amazing, they will blow you away“. Again and again. And Bill trying to tell fascinating stories by stating facts.

If you don’t have the time to watch it all the way, make sure you watch at least the „highlights reel

Zune on Ellen: Microsoft’s new leaking campaign

Just found this on Adjab: Zune on Ellen: Microsoft’s new leaking campaign.

Not bad going for Microsoft. With this kind of advertising they might actually invade the iPod space. I guess they had already practised. At least that’s what it looks like in this video, that was supposed to be „internal“ but then hit YouTube nevertheless. (That must have been a well-orchastrated publicity stunt.)

Now they sent the Zune Player (couldn’t they have chosen a better name?) to so called influentiers and opinion leaders, such as Ellen, who presented the player in her TV show.

What I particularly like about the Zune Player, though (without actually having seen one myself – is the landscape display for movies, which probably makes it more fun to watch movies on this thing than on the iPod Video!

But back to my point: it seems like Microsoft might actually get their marketing right this time AND apply it for a good product. These two things were rarely seen before on their own, if at all – and almost never in combination.