strategy

advertising / android / creative / hp / music / observatory / strategy / tablets / technology — 4 Comments
15
Feb 11

HP takes a walk on the lame side

As it often does, Sunday night’s Grammys brought us both pain and joy. For joy, we got the snubbing of Justin Bieber in favor of Esperanza Spalding. For pain, HP was kind enough to step in with a new commercial for its forthcoming webOS products.

Let us pause to give HP credit for its sense of drama. If an ad is to horrify listeners with its soundtrack, what better place to fail than on the most important musical event of the year?

HP’s offense was to take the classic, generation-defining Lou Reed song, Walk on the Wild Side, and turn it into a vacuous ode to Tweeting, friending, texting and pretty much every expected thing we already do on our current devices of choice.

To think that the Grammys audience will love you simply because you’ve bought the rights to a famous track makes as much sense as believing a Texas audience will love you because you write a headline that starts with, “Howdy, y’all.” This is an attempted “easy win” that doesn’t come close to winning.

And by the way, Lou Reed — you’re not off the hook for this either.

Once the song was purchased and the original raw lyrics replaced by an exercise in copywriting, all they needed was a singer to bring it to life. Someone failed to realize that even a good vocalist becomes a joke when you force him to desecrate a musical legend.

But rejoice, HP fans. Creative judgment aside, HP’s products themselves actually appear to have some potential. Mute the sound and the future becomes much brighter.

In fact, by muting you will also spare yourself the pseudo-trendy “Everybody on” theme line, as well as the alternate reality that is celebrated in the commercial’s concluding thought: For more businesses and more people, only HP is leading the way.

Oh, that’s right. The HP Touchpad that won’t be out for another six months is leading the way, even though a nameless other tablet virtually invented the category over a year ago. Gotcha.

HP didn’t exactly end up with a spot that scores high marks for music. But it performs surprisingly well in the category of musical comedy.

advertising / app store / blackberry / creative / iPhone / observatory / strategy — 12 Comments
21
Jan 11

Adwatch: Intel soars, BlackBerry splats

These two ads have been around for a bit, but I’m sharing them anyway. Try and stop me. One proves that there’s always a creative way to say what’s been said before. The other proves that lame strategies lead to lame ads.

Starting on a positive note, here’s Intel’s effort:

In one of my first-ever posts 18 months ago, I raved about the new creative work from Intel via agency Venables & Partners. In following months, I gagged at their embarrassing Sad Robot and Penguins spots. These guys are giving me whiplash now, because this ad for their i5 processor is really, really good. (Correction 1/25 2:59pm: Venables did not create the Penguins spot, just the Robot spot.)

Not only is it fresh and mesmerizing, it’s a great job done under difficult circumstances.

Intel makes processors. Every new processor is faster than the one before. So, chip after chip, the creative guys are asked to come up with a new way to say the same thing. It’s one of the tougher challenges in this business. Then there’s the not-insignificant fact that working with Intel can make the veins in your head burst. So when someone makes a great ad, and Intel doesn’t peck it to death, this is big news.

Now brace yourself. Here comes the clunker:

Suppose for a minute that you’re BlackBerry. Your market share is in a well-documented free-fall. You’re watching as Apple and Google fight it out for new customers — a huge chunk of which happen to be your current customers. You get that apps are the big deal in mobile technology, but your own App World is a pathetic also-ran to Apple’s App Store and Google’s Apps Marketplace. (You’re only behind by a couple hundred thousand apps.)

But you’re feisty. There’s still some fight left in you. You bring in your top strategists and creative hotshots, and allocate a nice chunk of marketing money to the cause. And what do you get? An ad that basically says: With BlackBerry, you don’t just get apps — you get “super apps.”

It’s stunning, actually. You would think that grown adults with even a fleeting familiarity with the smartphone market would know better. Does anyone believe there’s anything about the BlackBerry OS that would allow it to run apps that are more “super” than Apple’s and Google’s apps? What the hero of this spot does seems to be easily accomplished via iPhone or Android. This is simply BlackBerry wishing things would be different — but the cold reality is there for all to see.

BlackBerry once had such a commanding share of the smartphone market, it’s hard to imagine them fading to nothing. But ads like this make you think that’s a distinct possibility.

app store / microsoft / observatory / strategy — 13 Comments
14
Jan 11

Microsoft: coveting Apple’s magic words

Every so often, there comes a bit of technology-related news that just makes me smile. Microsoft is pretty good at generating such stories.

The latest: Microsoft has taken action to oppose Apple’s trademark application for the phrase “App Store.”

It’s not hard to understand their logic. These days, apps rule the world. They’re the basic price of admission for any smartphone contender. How can Apple own a phrase made of common words?

The quick answer is: those words weren’t common until Apple started to use them.

The evolution of the word “app” is actually a pet topic of mine. Since Microsoft has struck my justice nerve, I can’t stop myself from sharing.

Everyone who has ever been tasked with writing ads for a technology company will tell you that before apps became popular, there was no simple word one could use to describe a software product. In fact, we had only two words to choose from: application and program. If your goal was to write people-friendly ads, both of these choices sucked.

The word app was indeed part of our vocabulary — but that was only on the inside. Real people didn’t talk that way. Whenever some maverick would suggest that we just say app and be done with it, clients would reject it on the grounds that it was too techy. For the sake of advertising, application and program were left to do the job.

What Apple did when they introduced apps on iPhone may seem innocuous now, but it was actually quite ballsy. They made the conscious decision to take the word app to the mass audience. Others might have used the word on occasion, but Apple was the company that really stepped up to the plate. They put millions of dollars into the “There’s an app for that” campaign. They alone made app a household word.

With App Store taken by Apple, Apps Marketplace taken by Google, and App World taken by Blackberry, poor Microsoft finds itself in an awkward (yet familiar) position. They can either try to be original, or spend a few million bucks to echo someone else.

It does make one wonder why Microsoft isn’t trying to wrestle the other companies’ descriptors away from them. Isn’t the world as common as the word store?

The fact is, companies trademark combinations of common words all the time. When you’re first to think of something, you take legal precautions to prevent others from copying you. The Money Store is trademarked, as are countless other common word combinations.

If Microsoft wanted to be more true to their DNA, they might grab The Copier Store. That one was actually trademarked by some guy in New Jersey, but it’s available now.

android / iPad / microsoft / observatory / steve jobs / strategy / tablets / technology — No Comments
3
Jan 11

CES: the second annual tablet-fest

No matter how hard I Google, I can’t find the exact number of tablets that were launched at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. Best I can come up with is “dozens.”

Whatever the number was, it’s a perfect match for the number of tablets that have been largely forgotten in the 12 months since. Steve Ballmer, Vapor Master, made the keynote speech in 2010, delivering a non-demonstrative demo of HP’s Slate tablet, which never saw the light of day. At least he didn’t try to hype Microsoft’s own Courier tablet, which was quietly euthanized three months later.

Now comes CES 2011. Once again, Ballmer will take the stage for the keynote, giving him a chance to wash down the emptiness from last year. With the tablet floodgates opening, one would hope he’d have an easier time coming up with a few devices that actually work. Logic says he’ll try to wash away the bad memory with sheer quantity.

Another company with big dreams is Toshiba. A quote from their director of marketing in today’s New York Times sums it up perfectly: “We could have done this a year ago and rushed it out, but it wouldn’t have had the right features.”

He might just as well have said, “We could have done this a year ago and rushed it out, but we didn’t yet know what to copy.”

There’s really only one strategy these guys can follow: offer more features than iPad, hopefully at a better price. The problem, of course, is that iPad is more than just iPad — it’s rich ecosystem with 300,000+ apps and countless accessories. A few more features or a slight savings don’t quite make up for the lack of such things.

While one of the favorite anti-iPad zingers is “It’s just a giant iPod touch,” we will now see a deluge of tablets that are simply giant Android phones. This is not a criticism, as I’ve long felt that this is exactly what tablets need to be — a faster and bigger-screened version of the smartphones we’ve already come to love. Now that the Anti-Apple is following Apple’s course, we’ll see if that put-down begins to fade.

Expect also to see the haters out in force, damning Apple’s evil plan to control us all, cheering on a spate of superior devices that will finally turn the tide against Apple. By necessity, they will gloss over the fact that none of these new devices would exist if it weren’t for Apple’s invention. And never mind that Apple customers have been enjoying the tablet’s benefits a full year before everyone else.

As always, the problem with copying Apple’s technology is that you’re copying last year’s model. Just a month or two after all these new models show up at CES, Apple introduces iPad 2. For the most part, competitors are playing a game of leapfrog in which they never manage to leap the frog.

This year, I refuse to get my information second-hand. I will be journeying to CES to get my furry little hands on these devices myself. I’ll let you know how it goes…

apple / apple news / creative / iPod / itunes / observatory / strategy — 7 Comments
17
Nov 10

A home page is worth a thousand words

This post is not about the Beatles coming to iTunes. And it will not contain a single Beatles title repurposed as clever copy.

This is really just about the current Apple home page, which is now all Beatles. And I mean all Beatles. No MacBook Airs, no holiday iPods, no news. Just Beatles.

For anyone looking for evidence that Apple doesn’t work like other companies, consider this Exhibit A.

The home page is the most valuable real estate a company owns (at least marketing-wise). Now, for a single cause, Apple removes all hardware selling messages as the busiest buying season descends upon us.

Oh okay, Mr. Cynical. You do have a point that this Beatles tribute isn’t exactly altruistic. It’s there because Apple intends to make a ton of money. And probably because they had to promise this very thing as part of the Beatles deal.

But they are doing this to the exclusion of everything else they make. And this isn’t the first time Apple has dedicated its home page to a message bigger than its products. In fact, previously they’ve done this from the heart, completely sacrificing business as usual.

There were memorial home pages for board member Jerome York (earlier this year) and George Harrison (2001). Rosa Parks (2005) and Gregory Hines (2003) got the main home page image, though product messages remained at the bottom.

It boils down to that fact that Apple tends to act more like a person than a company. Wonder why. From a brand standpoint, this is a very good thing. One of the biggest reasons why Apple connects with its customers emotionally is that it has no problem expressing its values — sometimes in dramatic ways.

advertising / apple / creative / iPad / observatory / strategy — 4 Comments
10
Nov 10

Verizon & Apple start dating

After months of winking at one another across the room, Verizon and Apple are finally seeing each other. In fact, it’s a little embarrassing the way they’re carrying on in public.

Just in time for the holidays, Verizon is selling iPads — and now they’re running an ad to make sure the world knows it.

Call it infatuation for now. But we all know the way these relationships blossom. First iPads, and before you know it there are iPhones everywhere.

Poor AT&T. Hey, they sell iPads too. They could be running their own ads if they wanted to. They just seem a bit resigned now that Apple has started to see others.

Okay, I’m sick of this metaphor. What about the ad itself? Good? Bad? Ugly?

Honestly, my reaction to this spot is supreme indifference. It’s an ad. It says what it’s supposed to say. It doesn’t make me leap from my seat, but then it doesn’t make me want to hang myself either. I’d file it right there in the middle under “seen and noted.”

I have a theory about how this happens. We know that Apple insists on approving ads from their partners. But they can’t get involved in every step, and there are deadlines to meet. I think they look at a spot like this and say, “That’s about as good as we’re going to get from these guys.”

This ad clearly says that the iPad has now available on Verizon. It has special effects. It uses the word “magic.” What more do you need?

Apple hates relying on other people’s creativity. When all they can do is say yea or nay, at some point they’re forced to approve — if only to ensure that the ad airs within our lifetime.

But let’s not lose sight of the important thing: Verizon and Apple are finally working together. This should make 2011 a much more interesting year. There’s plenty of time to worry about the pesky little details later. Like better ads.

strategy — 6 Comments
2
Nov 10

The day Steve Jobs was wrong

future-crystal-ball2

It happened in 1997. Can’t quite remember exactly when or where. It doesn’t show up on Google, so I’m thinking it came at some internal Apple event or agency meeting.

Though some details are hazy, I remember Steve Jobs’ words precisely, because they were sober and stinging: “The battle for the desktop is over. And we lost.” *

Of course, he wasn’t tossing in the towel. He was simply trying to dispel the “beat Microsoft” mentality that still lingered in the Cupertino halls. What Apple needed more than anything was to be Apple again.

He compared Apple to BMW, which owned less than 5% of the world’s car market, but was still one of the world’s great brands. This was Steve’s vision: to cede quantity, but stun the world with quality and innovation.

Flash forward about 13 years and we find that the vision wasn’t exactly 20/20. It turns out that the desktop war wasn’t lost — it simply became irrelevant.

Technically speaking, the desktop war remains lost. Microsoft continues to own about 90% of it. Yet Apple is the most valuable technology company on the planet, and Microsoft now fights off the perception that it’s on the oblivion express. A thought that was unthinkable just a year or two ago.

Microsoft hauls in the cash with Windows 7, but plays second fiddle to Apple in music players, smartphones and tablets — consumer technologies that are all changing the face of business.

Funny, you don’t hear people talking about how Apple lost the desktop wars anymore. Certainly not Steve.

* At Macworld Boston in 1997, Steve did say “Microsoft won. The OS wars are over.” Close enough.

android / blackberry / iPad / observatory / strategy / technology — 4 Comments
30
Sep 10

BlackBerry & the business user myth

BlackBerry's all-work-and-no-Playbook?

Poor RIM. They sell more smartphones than anyone else on earth, yet they can’t shake this sense of foreboding.

Maybe, possibly, it has something to do with the iPhone/Android freight train headed their way.

But no worries. RIM has a plan for BlackBerry. Not only will they plow ahead with their “#1 smartphone for business” strategy, they’re going to double-down on that one.

Now they’ve announced plans for a tablet — you guessed it — made especially for business. The BlackBerry Playbook.

This is the “thank you sir, may I have another” approach. Not content to have their share of the smartphone market savaged by iPhone and Android, they’re going to use the same strategy to do battle with iPad and the Android tablets-to-come.

Only one little flaw in this plan, fellas: the business user is a myth.

It’s based upon this antiquated notion that people who work in large corporations are unmoved by such trivial things as design, or that business and pleasure don’t mix.

It’s simply untrue today. Business people, as  some have long suspected, are human beings as well. They do care about design. They also care about simplicity. They have personal lives that intertwine with their business lives. And they’re more productive when they’re happy with their technology.

BlackBerry has had a longstanding love affair with business, meeting the rigid standards of corporate and government IT. But from the numbers, it’s pretty clear that business has a wandering eye. The groundswell from within — c-suite included — has opened the floodgates for the more people-friendly iPhones and Androids.

By their own schizoid behavior, RIM confirms that business users aren’t what they used to be.

They introduce the BlackBerry Torch with the line, “Business, meet fun. Fun, business.” Even though Torch has precious little fun to offer. The business-focused tablet they dream of building is whimsically called the Playbook, with PR images touting photos and games.

It’s like your 60-year-old uncle pulling up a seat at the kids’ table.

If the picture looks bleak for Playbook now, imagine how it will look next year when the thing finally ships. By then, there will be a second-generation iPad (or a family of them), as well as a fleet of Android tablets from a number of manufacturers.

RIM’s lifeline to the IT department is looking more and more tenuous every minute…

apple / observatory / strategy — 12 Comments
28
Sep 10

Apple’s biggest object of lust

Since its near-death experience in 1997, Apple has been propelled by its ability to create technology lust.

Some people covet their neighbor’s iPad. Others pray for a Christmas iPod. Still others crave a new iPhone to replace the 3G that suddenly feels so pathetic.

Capitalism 101: the company with the best business plan wins in the end

But Apple’s most important object of lust isn’t something you can carry in your pocket.

It’s a business model.

All around the world, CEOs and their executive teams stare at Apple’s model, fantasizing that they can build one even half as effective. But somehow reality always seems to get in the way.

Put simply, Apple has built a business that allows it to make far more profit than the other guys — by selling far fewer products.

As was reported last week, Apple sells a mere 3% of the world’s smartphones (correction: cell phones), yet it pulls in 39% of the category’s profits — more than the top three phone makers combined. It achieves almost identical results in PCs. Worldwide, Apple gets 7% of the computer revenue while it brings home 35% of the operating profit.

This is because Apple has built a super-powerful brand. Just about anyone on earth can tell you what it stands for: innovation and design. Millions will happily pay more for an Apple product, because they believe it’s worth it.

Right on cue, many will chime in, “but their products are overpriced,” “Apple is too controlling,” “they censor apps,” “I can’t play Flash on my iPhone,” or whatever happens to be the whine of the day.

These people miss the point.

Technology is a business. Selling a product people want is part of the business. Selling a product profitably is the other part. If you can’t do both, you might as well pack it in now.

Rude as it may sound, Apple doesn’t care if you don’t like their products, or if you think they are evil incarnate. If that’s the way you feel, you’re simply not their target. No hard feelings, just move along. What Apple proves day after day is that there are millions of people in this world who do appreciate the experience they offer, and that this number is getting bigger, not smaller.

Other companies can lust after Apple’s business model, but they can’t duplicate it. At least not quickly. What Apple has today is the result of 14 years of nurturing since Steve Jobs returned to the company.

What about Android, you ask. Its market share is fast rising, right? That means big trouble for Apple’s precious business model, right?

Actually, not. Google is about to prove the superiority of Apple’s model all over again.

There will be plenty of ecstatic Android customers, all believing they got the phone of their dreams. But the makers of those phones will be slugging it out over ever-diminishing profit margins, making only a fraction of the money that Apple does.

Apple has baked it into their business model: they may not win the popularity contest, but they will always win the profitability contest.

That’s definitely worthy of a little lust.

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