The Apple - Taylor Swift Twitter conversation on artist rights and payment is just the latest example of Apple's mastery of marketing. Please, raise your hand if you think this just wasn't a carefully planned marketing campaign, set up to generate positive brand appreciation and bombastic talkability around the world.
In reality, Apple is brilliant at managing communication which goes beyond their media investment - I would actually say, that goes "a lot beyond"! It has been able to use this ability to firmly establish itself as a cult brand, that makes media work for it, instead of paying for media space.
I think this Taylor Swift Twitter conversation is a good example. But another one is the way Apple leaks information to news agencies, newspapers, TVs, bloggers about new products or new features is amazing, and makes the market eager to understand what is coming, to discuss about it, is it useful for me, is it breakthrough, do I want it - it creates discussion and anxiety in the news and that is then cascaded to the people that read news, independently of the media.
Apple sets their conferences up to be events, not presentations - they are trully shows, with their new products at the center of it. They are televised moments, followed by millions of people throughout the world through internet live streaming - it is an enviable audience! And there is no clutter on the message - it is all about Apple and what their products can do for the consumer!
Also the way capacity is planned for innovation, letting people be waiting for a few days, especially in their early iPhone launches, helped to create a myth of unreachability - these products are not for everyone, you need to pay and wait, do an extra effort, which, if you think about it, just sets Aple products apart from any easily reachable product. You don't just go to a store and buy it.
(Oh! The functionality of the stores... But so many people wrote already about it - I will not even go there, but they just hint at how technologically advanced and consumer focused is Apple.)
And, last but not least. The cheer functionality and consumer / user focus on their product, all of them designed from a system perspective to be easy, friendly and connected to other Apple products - it seems to easy, it is so logical, and it creates such a positive communication and talkability among users. Again, an ocean could be written on how Apple products are designed to be just a part of the consumer.
Apple is a master in marketing - I would say it is the best in the world and its brilliancy and managing all the product mix and communication, focusing on the consumer, that sets it apart. From minute 1.
