Running head: IMCM & CUSTOMER VALUE 1
Module 7
Brandy Jefferson
Liberty University
IMCM & CUSTOMER VALUE 2
Module 7
As described by the text, “marketing communications are the means by which firms
attempt to inform, persuade, and remind consumers about the products and brands they sell
(Kotler & Keller, 2012, p. 476).” Marketing communication is the key to successfully branding
a product and building a continuous relationship with consumers. However marketing
communication includes more than just advertising which brings companies to a new
communication environment known as the integrated marketing communication mix. The
integrated marketing communication mix consist of eight modes of communication. They
include: advertising, sales promotion, events and experiences, public relations and publicity,
direct marketing, interactive marketing, word-of mouth marketing, and personal selling. These
major modes of communication include several elements that are key to reinforcing the
integrated marketing communication mix and they assist in helping consumers move toward a
purchasing decision. According to author, Ian Linton, for Demand Media, those elements
include media, consistent messaging, design consistency, reinforcement, and sales alignment
(Linton, 2015). Apple Inc. uses the following to modes in its efforts to successfully promote the
sale of their latest new product, the Apple Watch. Those mode include advertising, sales
promotions, events and experiences, public relations and publicity, and personal selling.
Major Modes of Communication
Advertising. Advertising refers to any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of
ideas, goods, and services[CITATION Kot12 \p 478 \l 1033 ]. For an established company such
as Apple Inc., its purpose is to reach the masses by constantly reminding consumers of the reason
they should continue buying their products. As it relates to advertising Apple Inc. uses both print
and media outlets to sell it newest item, the Apple Watch. To date Apple Inc. has spent more
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than $38 million on advertising alone for the Apple Watch[CITATION Sny15 \t \l 1033 ]. This
is the most it has spent on any product since the launch of the iPhone with the focus of the ads
being geared towards what the Apple Watch is capable of doing. Apple Inc. uses a mixture of
print and broadcasting ads, display signs, and point-of-purchase displays. Social media outlets
such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube have recently become one of Apple’s primary
modes of consumer communication about its products. Apple even has a cult following of more
than 2.7 million YouTube followers who subscribe and watch ads for every new product the
company creates. An example of this is their most recent purchase, in March 2015, of
advertising space from the social media giant, Twitter. Apple Inc. reportedly paid Twitter an
astounding $200, 000 per day for the unveiling of the Apple Watch[CITATION Slo15 \l 1033 ].
This strategy prevented any other rivals from infringing on Apple’s big moment. After watching
and analyzing several of Apple’s advertising ads for the Apple Watch it’s clear that Apple
continues to focus on how it’s new tech can free the consumer up to do other activities.
Events and Experiences. Events and experiences are “company sponsored activities and
program designed to create daily or special brand-related interactions with consumers.” Apple
Inc. has become a master at the use of events and experiences. Apple often host many of its
events and experiences at the Flint Center located at their headquarters in Cupertino, California,
with the most recent event occurring on September 9, 2015. This event announced the release of
the new Apple Watch x Hermes. The new styles “taps high-end fashion Hermes “and will arrive
in Apple’s online store in October[CITATION Gar12 \l 1033 ]. During each event Apple brings
in big name celebrities which draws extensive media coverage for its products. This event is
known as the, “new product launch keynote event.” Upon further analysis, through the use of
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these events Apple has managed to, “create a focused moment in time to deliver the ultimate
brand experience[ CITATION Jen15 \l 1033 ].”
The Apple experience is filled with just as much excitement as the Apple event except
that consumers actually get the joy of playing with Apple’s new products. The Apple Watch and
the other Apple products are placed on display and there are Apple specialists there to answer
questions. Consumers have exposure to the Apple experience by actually visiting a store called
the “Apple Experience Center” stationed in malls throughout the world. According to Forbes
author, Carmine Gallo, these multisensory experiences are meant to build a sense of ownership
through interactivity with their products[ CITATION Gal12 \l 1033 ].
Public Relations & Publicity. Public Relations is described as, “a variety of programs
directed internally to employees or externally to consumers, other firms, the government, and
media to promote protect a company’s image[CITATION Kot12 \p 478 \t \l 1033 ].” Apple has
also taken many strides in public relations and publicity with the Apple Watch through the use of
online press releases, speeches, and seminars. Apple’s basic PR techniques for all of its other
products include top-down discipline, press releases, product reviews, culture marketing, and the
bottom line[ CITATION Com15 \l 1033 ]. While Apple’s PR is “often describe as disciplined,
legendary, and the most effective in the world”, it had to whistle a different tune for the Apple
Watch[ CITATION Com15 \l 1033 ]. Apple PR for the Apple Watch took a different direction in
that it stressed less about the tech behind the watch but more on the style and exclusivity of the
watch.
Personal Selling. Personal selling refers to, “face-to-face interaction with one or more
perspective purchasers for the purpose of making presentations, answering questions, and
procuring orders[CITATION Kot12 \p 478 \t \l 1033 ].” Apple has yet again successfully
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mastered the art of personal selling with the many openings of Apple Stores throughout the
world. Apple store employees uses the fact that most customers who enter the store seeking the
watch already have plans to eventually buy it. It recommends their employees refer to the
following strategy once a customer shows interest. The strategy includes picking the customers
brain for what they already know about the watch, what style the customers prefers and finding
out if the customers iPhone is compatible[CITATION Sny151 \t \l 1033 ]. For those consumers
interested in buying the expensive gold Apple Watch, Apple has put together an hour long
personal selling experience geared towards, it “intrinsic value” and “unique style choice”.
Personal selling is were Apple makes the most bang for its buck. According to MarketWatch,
Apple Inc. is now the No. 1 largest retailer in the world in terms of in-store retailers boasting the
highest annual sales per retail square foot. Obviously the strategy they are using is working as
the Apple Experience in retail store across the world continues to flourish.
Internet Marketing
The success of Apple, Inc. is not only based on the talent of a strong CEO who had the
ability to create products that people didn’t even know they wanted until he showed them, but it
was the marketing campaign. According to Technology news, it is believed that Apple’s strongest
competitive advantage is its marketing strategy: “The Company simply seems to understand
what will get people excited about its products, and then it executes on that vision” (Enderle,
2004). “Apple grew exponentially from an online marketing campaign that drove out inferior
product lines and focused on what Steve Jobs (previous CEO) had confidence in working.
According to marketing analysts, this strategy resulted in one of the greatest comebacks in the
history of Corporate America. A $700 billion comeback!
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Although Apple has been a traditional user of ad media ( Taube, 2014), its online
marketing campaign led to the successful launch of many Apple products such as the iPhone,
iTunes, iPad, iPod Touch and most recently the Apple Watch. Most of Apple’s internet
marketing has been in the form of detailed banner ads that open up into a high-quality video
advertisement (Taube, 2014). The best online marketing strategy that Apple uses is the curiosity
of its own consumers with speculations and rumors of upcoming products. They allow the
speculations and rumor mill to brew, the blogosphere to blog, tweets and social media
anticipation without spending any money, the lack of confirmation from Apple plays into even
more abounding curiosity (2011, September 23). The mere announcement of Apple unveiling a
new product steamrolls into its own marketing campaign. In fact, the morning of the iPhone 5
announcement, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and Founder of Facebook, admitted that the Facebook
IPO and drop in stock value was created by the “next big changes in mobile technology”.
The roll out of the Apple Watch was somewhat of a different strategy for Apple, not only
was it marketed heavily online and through other media outlets such as TV ads, magazine and
billboards but consumers were only given the option to purchase the product online with
limitations of 1 Apple Watch per order . According to Apple, the watch was in a different
category, presenting the customer with many different options. By ordering the watch online,
Apple promised an efficient process and the best customer service. "They're going after the top
because of the trickle-down effect," said Robin Lewis, CEO of The Robin Report and co-author
of The New Rules of Retail: Competing in the World's Toughest Marketplace, which explores
Apple's retail strategy. "Scarcity just creates greater, more intense demand."
Apple’s new strategy of internet marketing is being deployed by 2 new partners, Huge
and AKQA, who are taking on a very different approach. According to AKQA, the best
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advertising isn’t advertising at all, creating something similar to an App that consumers want to
actively play with. In closing, it appears that Apple is implementing a digital internet marketing
strategy that mirrors their brand, “cutting-edge”, sleek, “easy-to-use products people can’t help
but want to play with (Taube, 2014).”
Social Media. Regarded as one the most innovative companies in the World, Apple has
not traditionally used the social media space to engage its customers, like many other
organizations, who utilizes it as a marketing strategy and a way to address support and feedback.
Not Apple! Steve Jobs summed up his theory of customer input and marketing by stating “A lot
of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Although Apple has
somewhat shunned some aspects of social media, some of its products have a strong presence on
Facebook and Twitter. (Kapko, 2015) “The pervasive strength of Apple’s brand means it can
break rules other marketers must follow on Twitter, Facebook and other networks without
consequence”. Possibly, Apple’s relationship with its consumers is so strong there is not a need
for an online social network or community. Apple’s products are known to be disruptive and they
somehow get people to talk about them. In fact, the company has no @ Apple twitter account,
yet Tim Cook, the new CEO has 1.44 million followers since only joining Twitter a few years
ago. Apple Music has 7.5 million followers, the Apple Store nearly 4 million, iTunes 806,000
and Beats ( just launched in June) 314,000 followers on Twitter ( Kapko, 2015). As for
Facebook, there was an unofficial page created for Apple, Inc. that has more than 24.5 million “
Likes”, 5.5 million likes more than Goggle’s official page! Although Apples’ presence is
undeniably strong on social media, Tim Cook revealed in an interview with PBS, Charlie Rose,
that Apple had no immediate plans to enter the arena of social media.
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This approach is not recommended for most organizations, “ arguably, Apple is a unique
case, there’s no other brand in the world with that much love, and practical ownership of the
mainstream media to the extent that it can always rely on the press to spread the word for them” (
Berkowitz, 2015). According to the Bissmark Blog, The marketing campaign for the Apple
Watch is going to be remembered as one of the best in tech history. It included all the traditional
avenues of TV ads (prime time), paid-search ads, website call-outs and app cross-promotion.
Although Apple stuck to its traditional methods of the TV advertisements, during poplar shows
tied such “The Walking Dead,” the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball
tournament and NBC’s talent competition “The Voice.”, the strategy may be changing somewhat.
Apple also used the social media platform of Twitter to unveil the new Apple Watch. Tagged as
the “Apple Event” on Twitter, promoted tweet ads along with promoted tweets appeared to
anyone searching for many of the keyword related to Apple and watches. Another shift in Apple's
social media strategy, is the recent hire of a digital marketing specialist who worked on the Beats
by Dre social response twitter feed (Campbell, 2015).
In closing, (Fouler, 2013) “Apple knows its customers extremely well. It’s a loyal,
passionate one-to-one relationship the company has invested decades and billions in cultivating.
And who needs community when you’ve got a relationship like that, right?” Whatever it is,
Apple has taken on the approach of allowing their brand and the products it creates to speak for
themselves.
Customer Value
Customer value is referred to as, “the difference between the values the customer gains
from owning and using a product and the costs of obtaining the product (Kotler & Armstrong,
2015).” Apple is known for using values-based marketing approach which encourages
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consumers to be individual. What customers get in return is a product that promotes
individualism, hedonism, and intellectualism. The Apple Watch delivers value to its customers
in terms of speed, functionality, and convenience. The Apple Watch further delivers value to the
customers by reducing the amount of time spent in interactions with other forms of technology
(Matthews, 2015). Basically this new tech prevents consumers from wasting precious time
looking at a mobile phone, tablet, or computer screen. There is value in that because it frees
consumer up to spend time on the more important things in life. However value is subjective and
this week’s new thing could be old within a matter of minutes.
Social Responsibility
Panera Bread is a leader in the bakery/café market; in the past six years it is the second
best US performing restaurant with annually sales of over $3 billion. It is known to its customers
and shareholders for its bread and free Wi-Fi in it’s over 1800 nationwide stores. What separates
Panera Bread from the masses is it’s socially responsibility it disciplines itself with: it donates
unsold food and has given back over $150 million in food products to name of few, yet it still
strives for more. The company has vowed to remove all artificial ingredients from all the food it
serves by next year. It inspiration has come from the growing aversion of customers who want a
healthier substitute to all the fast food restaurants America is known for. This has played to their
advantage in marketing benefits; being able to claim and support that their foods are artificially
free will attract more customers looking for a clean option. This relates to a cognitive marketing
campaign by explaining the nutritional value of their foods. Customers want to benefit a
company that continues to give back. As competition grows, it comes more and more important
for companies to distinguish themselves from the field. An attractive way to do this is by making
responsible decisions that benefit not only the consumer but have positive, sustainable effects on
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the world as a whole. As a consultant put it, “There is a triple bottom line – people, planet and
profit – and the people part must come first (Keller, 2012).” Being socially responsible with
marketing, Panera Bread continues to rise to new heights.
Apple Inc. has taken several steps in the right direction to reduce its carbon footprint: the
company has eliminated some of the most harmful toxins (lead, arsenic, PVC, mercury to name a
few) from its iPhones, now has 73% of all its facilities powered by renewable energy and has
reduced some of its iPhone packaging by up to 26%. Apple has employed a slogan for its
environmental responsibility campaign: “We don’t want to debate climate change. We want to
stop it (Apple Inc., 2015).” Another feature Apple employs is how transparent it is with its
emissions; on their website they show the carbon footprint the company had on the planet last
year, breaking it down into five parts (facilities, product use, transportation, recycling,
manufacturing).
Apple Inc. utilizes the cognitive campaign method – they have demonstrated the
importance of renewable resources and have set a precedence in the technological realm. One of
the downfalls of Apple is that their products are expensive to buy, expensive to fix and expensive
to replace. Their entry level phone, the iPhone 5S, retails for upwards of $499, a steep price for a
phone that was released in 2013. Their entry level MacBook, the MacBook Air, has a price tag of
$899 for the least expensive model. The entry level iPad, the iPad Mini, has a starting price of
$269. These are all examples of the expensiveness three Apple product lines. Another downfall
of the company is that they only keep updates for their iPhones for about five years. Once Apple
stops making updates available for their older models, the phones become no more than
doorstops.
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The price of Apple’s products makes it an expensive investment for the average
consumer. While being upwards of a $1 trillion company (Icahn, 2015) Apple has given the
appearance that their products are overpriced. This high price makes it seem that Apple is out to
just make more money. In 2014, the CEO of Apple was paid over $9 million, while the average
worker salary was less than $40,000, making it a 251-1 ratio (Protalinski, 2015). The high ratio
between the average Joe and top-end management dissidence within a company. A suggestion for
Apple to become more socially responsible is to expand the life cycle for their iPhones, iPads
and MacBooks while making them less expensive to purchase. The high prices for these products
makes it hard for the average customer to purchase an Apple product. If Apple lowered their
prices, then their social responsibility would flourish more than it does.
