iPhone: advertising and brand monitoring
The iPhone goes on sale today, which you probably knew. Do you remember seeing any ads for it? TV? Print? Banners?
I've seen some paid keywords on Google. Given the amount of buzz, hype, anticipation around the launch - why even bother? (unless you're marketing Blackberries.) Today I got an email with the image at left. Search ads and email - that's it. Compare that to the consumer-generated content around the product: on YouTube, Flickr, and in blogs.
Here's what brand monitoring experts have to say about the launch:
- Matt Hurst at Microsoft predicts the topic will garner 1% of blog discussion today. Looks like he's right.
- Nielsen Buzzmetrics indicates positive sentiment around features. Relevant Noise disagrees.
- BrandIntel points out that although discussion levels are high, purchase intent remains neutral.
So it seems as if we have a Subservient Chicken question here: lots of buzz, but what about sales? At minimum, the iPhone is already a huge success for the Apple brand and time will tell us about the bottom line...
They're all over TV. The spots are all product:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/ad1/
Posted by: Nathan Gilliatt | June 29, 2007 at 11:23 AM
LOL well, apparently I am not the target audience for iPhone TV ads! Let's see - I'm in the Boston MSA and mainly watch prime time shows on Fox, ABC, and NBC, as well as sports on NESN and ESPN.
Have you seen any of the ads on TV (i.e. outside of web)? Let me know what channels/shows/etc! It would be interesting to see how the media buy happened.
Posted by: Pete | June 29, 2007 at 11:43 AM
The ads are all over network and cable TV (all dayparts) here in Orange County, CA. It had to have been a multi-million media flight for the past three weeks.
Posted by: Bryant | June 29, 2007 at 12:17 PM
Hmm...maybe the fact that I watch a lot of shows on DVR has something to do with it as well. That being said, how much of a coup would it have been if some scenes from Fox's Standoff or ABC's Traveler were reshot to incorporate iPhone product placements? Both shows weave mobiles heavily into their scripts and it would be much more natural than say, Jack Bauer getting the full blueprints for a nuclear bomb on his Treo.
Posted by: Pete | June 29, 2007 at 12:27 PM
Look at these idiots waiting outside New York City's Apple Store. http://video.ivillage.com/player/?id=124901
Too much! It's just a gadget!
Posted by: Pat | June 29, 2007 at 02:59 PM
Even more amazing - the fact that people are camped out at Apple stores when they could find the same product at AT&T: http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/blog/2007/06/iloyalty.html
Posted by: Pete | June 29, 2007 at 03:32 PM
i think the most intersting aspect of their entire marketing campaign is the fact that every employee will receive one for free:
http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/453262?c_id=wom-bc-mam
--matthew from the technology desk at thenewsroom.com
Posted by: matthew | June 30, 2007 at 09:57 PM
Despite the buzz, I have a hard time seeing how this product strengthens Apple, which enjoys a reputation of . . . well, how to put this? Of not selling broken products. Apple prod is supposed to work out of the box, and work intuitively. Apple's rep is that they work the bugs out of a product before they sell something. And while you learn to use Windows, Apple is intuitive.
With iPhone, that all changes, doesn't it? AT&T had activation problems, there's already reports about bugs . . . and there even seems to be some security gaps, a new problem for Apple. At the same time, people seem to need to learn how to use the touchscreen keyboard.
It's a neat phone, don't get me wrong, but one that may provide little incentive for consumers to rush out and buy the next Apple intro.
I've written more about Apple's iPhone and brand at http://www.furniturestyle.com/Departments/EtcPage/tabid/80/Default.aspx?tid=1&ContentID=1119
Posted by: Thomas Prais | July 06, 2007 at 01:11 PM