Own your Message

Inside Apple - Chapter 6 "Own Your Message"

Messaging is another area where Apple goes its own way. The company breaks the mold when it comes to how it tells stories to consumers and how its treats information.

Apple’s marketing and communication team has got their wall painted with a prominent message in large whitish silver letters. It reads: SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY. A broad line is drawn through the first two SIMPLIFYS.

Addressing Journalists
With journalists, information becomes a commodity that Apple doles out only after weighing the risk versus the potential return on investment. As a part of its plan to debut, market and sell each product, Apple decides who will speak about it and to whom, what the talking points will be and which members of the press will be blessed with coveted interviews.

The precise words Apple uses to communicate its message is repeated so many times that everyone internally and externally, can recite them by heart. A famously used messaging at the launch of iPod was “1,000 songs in your pocket”

Messaging on the Launch of First iPhone
When the first iPhone was launched in 2007, the messaging of its features were kept very simple which said “It was a revolutionary Phone, it was the Internet in your pocket, and it was the best iPod we have ever created” The key in the messaging was highlighting exactly what made the iPhone stand out but giving consumers only as much as they need to get excited.

When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, precisely five people were authorized to speak to the press about it. Even the two most senior product executives who built the iPhone hardware were not in that list. The challenges with these guys were that they were super smart and they know a lot of details, but they haven’t spent a lot of time in front of the press, and they are likely to get asked questions that they know the answers to but that they haven’t learned how to gracefully avoid answering.

Consistency in Messaging
Consistency of message helps build customer loyalty, using the same words over and over again, will turn into the same words that the consumers hears, which ultimately will turn into the same words that they then use to define the product to their friends. Apple story telling initially is high concept, telling customers not what they want to buy but what kind of people they want to be. Apple has excelled at selling a lifestyle.

Spend whatever it takes
Apple employees describe their teams as being resource-constrained. But when it comes to making or marketing products, Apple pulls out all the stops. Sure it’s easy for a company with nearly $100 billion in cash. But Apple has been behaving this way since it was tiny. No expense can be spared in delighting customers. The return is obvious.

Store Messaging
While each store is distinctive, Apple’s architects work with a limited vocabulary of design elements only three materials, for instance – wood, glass, and steel – are used for store interiors. That’s how you know you’re in an Apple store regardless of location.”