Jobs again demonstrates marketing mastery
The best CMO in high-tech actually doesn't have that title; instead he is CEO of two companies, Apple and Pixar. Of course, I'm speaking of Steve Jobs, who today unveiled a collection of new products at the company's MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. This is an annual tradition at Apple, but this year's roundup was particularly interesting, including a new low cost Mac mini debuting at $499, a new $99 iPod music player, a new productivity suite termed iWorks, and an upgrade to Apple's unmatched iLife suite of software.
From a messaging point of view, though, what was striking was how clearly and consistently Jobs communicated Apple's plans. With it now about 2 and a half hours after the keynote ended, there are about 288 stories on Google News about Apple's product introductions, and they all have a remarkable similarity in the appeal of the products and their impact on Apple's business. Jobs' simplicity, style, and clarity stand in stark contrast to the cacaphony of messaging that came across at last week's CES. Many pundits wondered why Apple hadn't displayed its iPod players at CES, where many of its competitors were showing their products. But Jobs rightly questioned why he should compete with 2,400 other exhibitors to get his message out, when by delaying Apple's announcements by a week until MacWorld, he could have the stage to himself?
In high-tech marketing and strategy today, nobody does it better than Steve Jobs.
From a messaging point of view, though, what was striking was how clearly and consistently Jobs communicated Apple's plans. With it now about 2 and a half hours after the keynote ended, there are about 288 stories on Google News about Apple's product introductions, and they all have a remarkable similarity in the appeal of the products and their impact on Apple's business. Jobs' simplicity, style, and clarity stand in stark contrast to the cacaphony of messaging that came across at last week's CES. Many pundits wondered why Apple hadn't displayed its iPod players at CES, where many of its competitors were showing their products. But Jobs rightly questioned why he should compete with 2,400 other exhibitors to get his message out, when by delaying Apple's announcements by a week until MacWorld, he could have the stage to himself?
In high-tech marketing and strategy today, nobody does it better than Steve Jobs.
posted by Carl Howe at
4:29 PM
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