Determing the Problem

After the ad agency left, I had a heart-to-heart with the marketing team. The best justification for running a print ad they could muster was "to build awareness."
 
"Awareness of what?" was my response. In the back of my mind, I was thinking two things. Everyone who is interested in FireWire is fully aware that TI is the leader in the 1394/FireWire silicon market. "Awareness" is not a problem there. However, there was a general lack of awareness of the benefits of FireWire, how it differs from USB, who is designing in FireWire, and what competitive advantages there are to having FireWire in a device. The response to my question was disappointing.
 
"Awareness that we are the leaders in 1394," was their response. This was not a good answer. It did not justify spending a bunch of dollars. It did not fix a problem.
Most of these "marketers" had taken "Introduction to Marketing" as an undergrad and one or two other random marketing classes. Some of them had general purpose M.B.A.s but I was the only person in the room with an M.B.A. in marketing and 4 years of experience. Here was an opportunity to train an eager team of marketing wannabes.
 
"Who does not know that TI is the leader in 1394 silicon?"
 
"Well...we want to reinforce that message."
 
"Are we in danger of someone taking that position away from us?"
 
It was becoming clear to everyone that we needed to talk a lot more before we were ready to invite the ad agency back in.
What I had to do was to take the team through the reasons for running an ad:
1) Build awareness
2) Correct misinformation
3) Build reputation/image
4) Damage control
and there were several more on my list.
 
None of these were an issue for TI. If they wanted to maintain our position, there were other more effective and less expensive ways to do it. But first, I was going to walk through the process with them and run one more ad.
 
Then we could do a postmortem.

James Snider is a Global Marketing professional, responsible for developing the 3.4 billion dollar 1394/FireWire market. James spent 16 years in marketing with 7 years working at "for profit" companies, 8 years as executive director of a non-profit and the past year as an independent global business development consultant.  www.linkedin.com/in/jamessnider

A Solution without a Problem

When I returned to TI as Worldwide Strategic Marketing Manager (after a two year round trip to Philips Semiconductors in Albuquerque) I found that the marketing organization had grown considerably. Attending marketing meetings were a fresh batch of new marketers who were engineers a year or two before. Most of them had no marketing training and certainly no experience. I found that their decisions were not based on sound marketing logic. All they knew about marketing was that they got to travel on company money, go to trade shows, and decide what cool give away to hand out this year. Marketing was fun and they were there to have fun.

While I'd been away, TI started running print ads in EETimes and other major tech magazines. The ads were pretty boring and did little more than state that TI was the undisputed leader in the world of 1394/FireWire silicon. The unstated goal (but clear to me) was to establish TI as the safe choice. This was similar to the old IBM ad which stated, "No one ever got fired for choosing IBM". Of course, most of you don't remember when IBM was in the computer business....so what does that tell you?

I attended a meeting to select the next ad from a stack of a dozen boring ideas. I did not like a thing I was being shown. I'd known advertising majors in the MBA program and knew them to be the most creative people on the planet. What we were being shown had clearly been "made safe for engineering consumption." I.E. they only brought to TI the sort of safe, boring ads that engineers could accept. These people were no fools. They knew what TI was like. However, I'd been entrusted with the task of creating an innovative marketing team. Business as usual was no longer acceptable.

I wanted to move the group in a better direction, but first of all I needed to know what direction they wanted to head in. I needed to know what they were trying to accomplish by spending tons of money on print ads. Being new to the group, I asked the obvious question, "What is your reason for running a print ad? What is it that you want to accomplish?" It was a "deer in the headlights" moment for these young marketers who'd never thought about why they were running an ad. They were "marketers" and "marketers" run ads. That is "marketing."

The answer surprised me but I was pretty sure I knew what needed to be done. The short discussion that followed set into motion a quick series of steps that changed the way this team did marketing forever.

James Snider is an global marketing professional with 15 years experience in the semiconductor and high-tech industry. He is currently working as a consultant while looking for a permanent position. 

www.linkedIn.com/in/jamessnider

The Ying and Yang of Creativity in the Business World

When I was working on my M.B.A., I took an Advertising class. From the first night, the room was divided into two types of people. “Business Major Types” and “Creative Types”. The M.B.A. people were dressed in Dockers or slacks with a starched cotton shirt; with or without a loosened silk tie. The Advertising Majors were dressed in shorts and t-shirts with visible tattoos and things pierced that your Grandparents never imagined could be pierced.

The professor commented that he could tell a person’s major by the focus of their term assignments. The business majors were focused on ROI, spreadsheets, how to measure success, and business justification…with very boring ad campaigns. The advertising majors spent almost no time on numbers and gave all their attention to outlandish, entertaining, and very creative ads.

That was my introduction to the Ying-and-Yang of the business world. “Creative” and “Business” will always be at odds. Each one contributing what is required to keep the company going but always in conflict. In the business world of technology, Ying-and-Yang are not in balance which leads to problems which are masked by growing markets.



James Snider is an International Marketing professional, responsible for developing the 3.4 billion dollar 1394/FireWire market. James spent 15 years in marketing with 7 years working at "for profit" companies and 8 years as executive director of a non-profit.

James is currently looking for employment: www.linkedin.com/in/jamessnider

Apple's use of Social Media

Apple Bonus Round...this was not part of my original 10 blog series on Apple Marketing....

This comes from an article on Marketing Megatrends written by Adam Kleinberg

To read the full article "5 marketing megatrends you can't ignore"

The brand that gets it: Apple
It almost seems cliché to mention Apple in any article about great advertising. But this article isn't about what's great -- it's about massive change reshaping the future. And Apple's iPhone campaign is all about mass collaboration reshaping the future of Apple.

The campaign is in line with most Apple advertising. The product is the hero. The voice is friendly, clever, and straightforward. The ads simply state that whatever you want or need to do with your iPhone, "There's an app for that."

"There's an app for that" refers to the tens of thousands of applications built on the iPhone API that are available for download in the iTunes store. The vast majority of those apps were not built by Apple.

If you're familiar with the history of Apple, you know that relying on outside sources to fuel innovation just hasn't been the way things were done -- until now. You'd also know that Apple doesn't always do things first. (The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player.) But when it sees an opportunity, it goes after it in a bigger and better way than anyone else ever has.

Apple has seen that opportunity in mass collaboration.

Last year Apple announced it would dump Macworld and instead focus on WWDC, its Worldwide Developer Conference. Why? Because developers create apps.

This is where the driving force will come from that will maintain Apple's leadership in innovation in the years to come. This is a major strategic shift for Apple -- and the absolute right one.

James Snider is an global marketing professional with 15 years experience in the semiconductor and high-tech industry. He is currently working as a consultant while looking for a permanent position. www.linkedIn.com/in/jamessnider

Apple ... checkmate

Apple shock and awe is totally different. It is like waking up one morning and suddenly everything has changed. It is like Marty McFly waking up back in the future to find his mother happy, his father a successful novelist, and Biff waxing the family car. One day you turn around and Apple is everywhere doing things that amaze and delight you.

 

The iMac appeared on the cover of the March 27, 2000 Time Magazine with Steven King peering out of the screen. The story inside was on video editing using FireWire. It had also been a two-page story in Time on December 20, 1999. An iMac connected to a camcorder was the climax of the Oprah Show on January 20, 2000. FireWire was on the cover of MacWorld. On the cover of the Dell Computer product guide. In-flight magazines were talking about FireWire. USA Today and every major daily were carrying stories on video editing using FireWire. Suddenly, Apple was on the front page of everything and FireWire was on page two. The Steve Jobs keynote speeches were lead stories around the world with CNN doing live updates from the convention center on their blog. Apple sales were growing 3X the rate of the PC market. Where could they go from there?

After Blue Dalmatian and Flower Power, Apple computers took a hard right turn. Gone were the wild candy colors. October 2001, the iPod was released with a new, classic, white look. A look that would be replicated in the iMac G4, released in January 2002. The new look was classy but still cool. Going forward, Apple computers took on a look of sophistication befitting a premium priced computer and more importantly, a look that would look right in a corporate environment. Now, the multi-year plan had reached the intended goal.

 

With the new Apple cool look, corporate sales started coming in. Keep in mind; home computer sales are only 30% of total PC sales. Apple had gone from near death to global trend setter in just a few years. They captured the attention of the computer industry with a bold new Mac (the iMac). They generated momentum in the home computer market. They showed everyone that they were here to stay. No more worries about Apple going out of business. Then they kept the momentum going with the iPod which introduced a sophisticated new look.

Financial analysts became virtual marketers for Apple, Inc. which increased corporate interest in Apple. Everyone had shares of AAPL in their portfolio. Apple then started promoting their computers as being better computers, not just fun computers. While a growing number of home computer users where starting to become Apple enthusiasts, corporations started hearing about the lack of problems with iMacs (no viruses, fewer crashes, better operating system). When employees started asking if they could use an Apple at work, a big thaw was underway in corporate America and more and more Apple's started showing up at work.

Ten years ago, the corporate status symbol was the tiny Sony Vaio 505GX notebook computer. Today, the corporate status symbol as a MacBook. The big target, from the introduction of the Bondi iMac, was to get Apple out of the niche market and into the big pond. The small fish in the small pond was now a big fish in a big pond.

 

Well played, Mr. Jobs.

James Snider is the Business Development Director for Accelerant Marketing Alliance, LLC == Marketing,  Communications and Design. Corporate Marketing Department ... one hour at a time. www.linkedIn.com/in/jamessnider

Shock and Awe...the "Chipzilla" Way

This second generation iMac contained FireWire and iMovie for video editing. We were already familiar with Apple’s marketing prowess with the “1984” commercial which still ranks as the best Super Bowl Ad of all time; but what Apple was about to do was well beyond anything we were expecting. Apple was reinventing marketing the way they reinvented the computer. This was “shock and awe.”

Before we cover the Apple version of shock and awe, let’s talk about the different version sometimes employed by an industry giant we will simply call "Chipzilla". 

Chipzilla incorporates a more traditional “overwhelming force” version of marketing. This is similar to the military version (Iraq War) of "shock and awe". Chipzilla is a huge company and enormously influential with their customers. No one wants to irritate them. 

They also have the unique distinction of focusing their resources on a very limited number of technologies. Once Chipzilla decides to promote a technology, they do so with single-minded determination and no mixed loyalties. Every other company in the industry has mixed loyalties. Sony uses both USB and FireWire in their computers, as does Apple. Texas Instruments sells USB, FireWire, DVI, and HDMI products, as does Molex. These companies will not take a bold stand in support of one technology or another. They are concerned about alienating customers if they are too aggressive in marketing a single technology.

Chipzilla, however, will put their considerable muscle behind one technology and nothing else. Their worldwide marketing/sales team goes into every major customer frequently, carrying the Chipzilla message. I have never visited a customer without them informing me that Chipzilla was in a few days earlier telling them something considerably different than what I was telling them.

Despite widespread skepticism about the rosy projections coming from Chipzilla, no one is willing to challenge them. They are simply too strong. Everyone needs access to Chipzilla's vast resources.

Apple, on the other hand, working from a weak position, was able to use raw marketing talent to overwhelm the competition.

In dealing with Chipzilla or Apple, the result is the same; Shock and Awe. It is like taking a stand against a hurricane. They are both wonders to behold.

 

James Snider is the Business Development Director for Accelerant Marketing Alliance, LLC == Marketing, Communications and Design. Corporate Marketing Department ... one hour at a time.  
AccelerantMktg.com

"Shock and Awe" the Apple Way

Henry Ford once said, "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again; this time more intelligently."  

Jobs and Apple had learned some hard lessons with products like the Apple III and the Lisa. During Job's absence from Apple, he'd certainly matured and took into account the things he should have done differently. Now, he had a chance to begin again more intelligently.  

Apple had hit the market with a shocking new device which dominated the electronics headlines…. but they had more. They just needed to wait a little longer before they rolled out the next secret weapon. The Bondi Blue iMac had more than enough market sizzle to generate attention for the remainder of the year. New fruit colors came out in January 1999 which spawned a new look in everything from clock radios to electric grills. Apple was still getting front-page coverage and still changing markets beyond the computer. 

Then, in late 1999 (October 2, 1999) it was time to hit the market again with a refreshed iMac. This time, it needed more than new colors to regain press headlines. This was a true second generation iMac and one designed to attract the traditional Apple user, not just the PC neophyte. Apple’s mainstay had been the professional graphic artist, photographer, and videographer.  

The new iMac followed step two in “The Apple Way” perfectly: “find that one thing you do better and make that one thing matter.” Apple was going in for the kill and the weapon of choice was FireWire.

With FireWire, Apple made it easier to download video from a professional or prosumer (low-end professional, high-end consumer) camcorder into a computer. With iMovie shipping on the computers, it was possible for consumers to edit home movies with title slides, music, transitions between scenes, voice over and other professional touches. With Final Cut and a high-end Mac, professionals were creating digital  movies much more easily than in the past. 

CNN told the 1394 Trade Association that it was saving a million dollars a year by going digital. In the past, CNN had to ship cases of equipment to locations where news was unfolding. Huge cameras and video editing equipment were required to capture and process the analog video. With the advent of digital and the addition of FireWire to professional cameras and high-end notebook computers, all the equipment needed to record and edit a story was contained in the carry-on bags of the camera crew.  

Now Apple had a story that everyone was interested in hearing. No longer did they need to rely on paid advertising to get their message in front of the consumer. In what became the most effective use of PR in the history of electronics, Apple started feeding their story to media outlets and the media outlets were eager to publish it. Time Magazine, USA Today, Oprah and many others became the marketing arm of Apple. This started in late 1999 and continues to this day. That is shock and awe as we have never seen it.


James Snider is the Business Development Director for Accelerant Marketing Alliance, LLC == Marketing, Communications and Design
Corporate Marketing Department ... one hour at a time.
AccelerantMktg.com