Apple Stickers Create Fanboys – Marketing Genius
Photo by ifranz
Apple Inc. has positioned itself as an upscale brand, with stylish and reliable consumer products. They enjoy great profit margins on their products, and have a devoted fanbase. The majority of their customers have a certain brand loyalty. Even though their products usually have comparable analogues made by other companies, there is a certain elitism associated with the brand. Most people have at least some brand loyalty to the products they own, not many people like saying they made stupid purchases of course. You like to be proud of the products you own, but Apple users take this to another level. There’s nothing wrong with this as long as they are not blindly loyal, but I believe it was worth writing a post about.
I believe this all stems from a basic marketing tactic: Every major Apple product I can think of ships with an Apple sticker in the box. This creates a bond with the brand. You put this sticker on your car, on your non-Apple laptop, whatever. It’s visible. It now represents a bit of who you are, and everyone can see it. Now when someone speaks negatively (or positively) about Apple products, it’s personal. You identify with the product, it becomes part of your lifestyle instead of just something you bought. Now this is also prominently evident in their actual devices: Mac PCs, iPods, and iPhones all have a very minimal design aesthetic with a large, bold, Apple logo smack in the middle. This faces outward of course, making sure everyone notices. This is logical marketing thinking — there’s no doubt they’re going to put their logo on their products — but Apple really built that customer/brand loyalty better than any of its competitors. The only other brand I can think of that comes close is Sony.
This is my practical explanation for why Apple fanboys are such a prevalent part of the Apple culture. You might think, “but it’s because the products are so good!” I will say that yes, they consistently create good, even great, consumer products. However, I do not think their products merit the rabid fanboys / hipster elite that they generate. This is a product of good marketing and branding.
I really couldn’t agree with you more. Brand loyalty is perfectly fine when one is reasonable.
Agreed. It is genius marketing. I guess it’s partly due to technology not being for technology enthusiasts. The target market (people who aren’t techie – programmers, system admins) craves a sense of uniqueness and originality that Apple caters towards. If you look towards the campaign slogan “Think Different”, it’s all about providing a sense of originality. Amazingly, the campaign fuses “originality” with the product itself, so Apple users feel this “need” to brand all their stuff with the Apple logo to show you and everyone else how much they “Think Different”.
Agreed. I know a bunch of people who have told me that having an apple sticker in the back of their car makes them feel cool and original since they own an “Apple” product. All they own is an iPod and can barely use it.
i agree with you, especially the part where you said it’s personal. i showed the video iphone vs evo to a friend who owns an iphone.. everyone got so tense. the party was over, i even had to leave because he was so offended, which proved my point even more. anyway, i laughed my ass off and went home, haven’t heard from him since..