And I still don't have one (poor me). So I bought the next best thing a Vaio (geeee :P . I'm not that poor.)
But for now let's stick to Mac (or in fact Apple Inc.)
Apple (http://www.apple.com/in/) achieves incredible Brand Loyalty by delivering on its mission as defined by its co-founder, and CEO Steve Jobs: "To create great things that change people's lives."
Thanks to its great advertising and consumer focus it has an army of evangelists.
I will tell you an interesting story. 2 Years back when I came to Pune, on July 31st 2007 (yea on my Birthday :P ) I threw a party at Indyaki - a lounge here at Koregaon Park in Pune.
The place was nice but the music was kinda sad. One of my friends Doga (who incidentally shares my birth date and we threw this party together) went to the DJ. And the DJ console was iPod powered, I think it's called the iPod Mixer DJ Console. Doga always carries his iPod. He plugged his iPod to the console, and played some great music. And the party was rocking after that.
So when I read about the Open iPod DJ Parties happening in Manhattan, it didn't surprise me a bit. We guys started with it two years back :P .
In 2003 Apple spent more than $293 million to create 73 retail stores.
Since I have visited quite a few Apple stores now (http://store.apple.com/), I am thoroughly impressed with their retailing concept. Apple believes that more and more people should be able to see, touch and use Apple products at their stores. If you visit any Apple store, you are free to use their products with or without assistance (your choice). I remember when I actually used the MacBook Air, I was truly impressed. Not only by the technology but also with the fact that it came to India just weeks after being launched in the US, and that too in Pune.
Apple has a distinctive advertising campaign. There is a lot to read on the internet, however, the ones that really caught my attention are: "Think Different" campaign, and "Get a Mac" campaign.
"Think Different" was an advertising slogan that Apple Computer used during the late 1990s. It was used in a famous television commercial and several print advertisements.
This linked Apple to famous social figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Richard Branson and many more.
"Get a Mac"
Apple (2006) released a series of "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" advertisements.
Actor Justin Long introduced himself as a Mac, and John Hodgman introduced himself as a PC.
In each ad the Mac is depicted as being able to do whatever the PC does, but does it quicker, more safely, more creatively, with more versatility.
These are are so much fun to watch. I'm posting one such ad from youtube, but do take a look at others.
If there is something called creativity in this world, then it is truly epitomized by Apple.
There are very creative "Apple iPod" ads, and even more so are the "iPhone" ads.
But if I start writing about Apple advertising, it will turn out to be a never ending edifice.
Apple has a huge customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand. It has an endless list of products and software available in the market.
Poor me only has a single Apple product, an iPod. And I am totally addicted to it. And ever since I started using the iTunes, I have not switched to any other music player.
I read an article on Apple, on the Time magazine's website. I will just quote a snippet from that article:
"Apple makes its own hardware (iBooks and iMacs), it makes the operating system that runs on that hardware (Mac OS X), and it makes programs that run on that operating system (iTunes, iMovie, Safari Web browser, etc.). It also makes the consumer-electronics devices that connect to all those things (the rapidly multiplying iPod family), and it runs the online service that furnishes content to those devices (iTunes Music Store). If you smooshed together Microsoft, Dell and Sony into one company, you would have something like the diversity of the Apple technological biosphere."
Isn't that fascinating?
My friends are more Appleofied than me actually :O . Sam owns a MacBook who is in fact a Mac Evangelist himself, Prashant also owns one along with an iPod Touch. I don't even want to talk about iPods right now. Almost all my friends have it. All my colleagues in the US now have an iPhone, and my friends here Vishal and Anil have had an iPhone for so long now.
Talking about iPhones, well, an iPhone is an iPhone. You cannot call it a cellphone. There are so many smart phones and touch phones in the market. They could be even better than an iPhone, who knows. But ask people who own an iPhone, they will give you the answer of what iPhone means to them.
Similarly for an iPod.
I read in my marketing class: they say a brand is successful when its name becomes synonymous with its product category.
e.g. this happened with Cadbury's in India. People started asking for " a Cadbury" when all they needed was a chocolate.
Similar happened for the iPod. People started asking for iPods, when all they needed was just an MP3 player, and not "Apple's Mp3 player - an iPod".
iPod became so popular that people who had not even seen an iPod wanted to buy one.
This is how a brand can influence lives. And there are in fact more concrete examples.
What I have written about Apple, well, it is not even the tip of the iceberg. Or should I rather put it: "A small bite of the big Apple".Some food for thought for guys: What is the meaning of the Apple logo, or should I rather put it:
"an Apple with a bite out of it"
