iNnocent 300ML

The hype around the new iPhone 6 was always destined to be big. Apple are geniuses at creating a buzz around their new phone launches, with long queues being pictured worldwide outside their stores. The PR they receive around the launch is endless and the social media buzz surrounding the new product is priceless. The way Apple keep the phone's specifications deadly secret until days before it's release also adds to the desirable and exclusivity of the product.

As Apple gets the limelight, other companies are able to capitalize on their success and get free PR and attention off the back of Apple's.

I really like the way that Innocent Smoothies used their humour and "cheekiness" to produce this amusing ad:

They also used a guerrilla marketing strategy and sent representatives to the store launches where hundreds of people had queued outside to buy the phones, and this was covered heavily by the press. Therefore innocent drinks (who are owned by Coca-Cola- arguably the best marketed brand on the planet) received press coverage and their ad went viral on social media.

Some may say that hijacking other brand's marketing to pursue your own product is unethical, however it is an inexpensive and clever form of marketing, if done in the correct way. It's perfectly legal and if anything, it actually added to Apple's publicity.

An interesting experiment

I attended an event on Saturday where an interesting experiment was done...

The speaker asked the audience to raise their hand if they have a Samsung Galaxy Phone, to which a small proportion of the audience raised their hand. He then asked who owned a BlackBerry, again only a few hands were raised. Finally, he asked the audience to raise their hands if they own an iPhone- and not surprisingly, around 85% of the audience did....

He then asked us to consider why so many people owned iPhones, is it because iPhones are better? is it that they perform better or have functions that other phones do not?

He then asked of the audience that owned Samsungs or BlackBerrys, which of those liked owning that phone, to which they all said yes....

Therefore the argument that iPhones are 'better' than any other phone cannot stand, as some prefer using other phones.

So why do Apple dominate the phone market??

They have been able to create a perception of being the best phone on the market. Their outstanding branding, product awareness, public relations and customer service are what I believe had lead Apple to such high success.

If you're friends are buying, chances are you will too....

And it's happened before! In the 80's everyone had a walkman, if you had just a normal cassette player it wasn't a walkman so it wasn't considered popular - it still played cassettes (and some personal cassette players were far superior to walkmans with extra features), but walkman was THE name.

The iPhone is the same, you pay to "fit in", suprising how much people will spend to adhere to their peers isn't it!? As for everyone having an iPhone that isn't exactly true, that is just the image that Apple try to project towards people to make them believe.