Ad Proposal for Apple 2014 - Essay Example

?Ad Proposal for Apple This paper will propose a plan for a new ad campaign for Apple to be launched in the year that will have a pressure to maintain the already built brand image of the company and also to take it to a new level in the global information technology industry. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The principle intention of the paper is to analyze the present marketing strategy of Apple Inc (Apple) and depict the strengths and weaknesses of the same, which would further be considered for strategizing future campaigns. Contextually, keeping in consideration the strengths and loopholes of advertising in Apple, a proposition has been made to the company, aiming at its launch of an ad campaign in the succeeding year, i.e. 2014. This proposal has been based on the analysis of the past records of the advertising strategies adapted by Apple, which were further assessed from a critical point of view in order to identify its strengths and weaknesses, with respect to the ad campaigns. Observably, the main strength of advertising approach of the company is its simplicity and its ability to ensure emotional connectedness with the targeted customers. However, the company is seen to be somewhat reluctant towards targeting the non-competitive market with the help of its advertising, which has remained to be a debatable topic in the recent years. Contextually, a proposal has been made planning the future advertising campaigns of Apple, which has focused on enhancing the appeal of the advertising on the competitive and the non-competitive markets along with insuring maximum innovation of the same keeping the company’s strengths and weaknesses into account. INTRODUCTION With the changing nature of businesses in the contemporary world, Apple has apparently been quite competitive in battling it out to gain a recognizable brand image. From a generalized perspective, global organizations strategically attempt to build and continuously manage their brand image, which can further ensure them sustainability in the global market for the long-run. Among the several strategies usually taken in business, marketing strategies is deemed to have utmost benefits with regard to gain a sustainable reputation for a company among the customers (Vieceli and Valos 14-16). It is worth mentioning in this context that Apple has also been focused on applying competitive brand imaging strategies, taking the approach of year-on-year ad campaigns. COMPANY OVERVIEW Being a renowned global Information Communication Technology (ICT) company, Apple is principally engaged with the designing, manufacturing and marketing of innovative ICT products of high quality. The company is famous worldwide as an innovative brand and a pioneer in advancing the quality features of ICT devices to deliver utmost conveniences to the customers. The success of the company worldwide can also be regarded as a byproduct of its effective marketing and product strategy. Notably, the current marketing strategy of the company is based on the notion of simplicity and on the intention of developing a direct connection with the customers. Contrastingly, there are certain loopholes in the marketing section including lack of innovation and targeting non competitive markets that the company strategically desires to overcome in its future campaigns (Hoovers, “Apple Inc. Company Information”). CURRENT MARKETING STRATEGY OF APPLE INC (ADVERTISING) As discussed above, Apple is one of the biggest consumer electronics companies of the world. The success ratio of the company is currently observable at an uprising path, owing to its effective policies and approaches to satisfy the customers. Among the major approaches of the company, it marketing tactics has a pivotal role in its success worldwide. For instance, the company believes that simple marketing campaigns are much better and effective in delivering favorable results. The marketing approach of the company, which works according to the changing market trend, can be stated as its major strength. In all its ad campaigns till 2013, the company has intended to preserve simplicity, in order to allow the targeted customers to comprehend about what the company is actually offering to them rather than increasing their perplexities presenting jargons and intellectuality in the ad campaigns (Ad Week, “Apple Needs a Fresh Marketing Vision, and We Have Some Ideas”; Lamido, “International Marketing”). Innovative thinking and clarity in the presentations can also be considered as strength of Apple’s ad campaigns. For each of its products, the top level management of the company has been addressing the general public in order to inform them about the offerings of the product or service being launched.. The company has been able to attract the targeted customers i.e. mostly youth of the society with its ad campaigns with including scientific and fashionable elements in it. Nevertheless, if there are strengths, which need to be praised, then there are also limitations that must be discussed with regard to the advertising strategies currently implemented by Apple. The company is often criticized for being reluctant towards innovation in its advertising campaigns wherein a continuation of facts or information delivering strategy can be observed. Additionally, it has also been argued that the company mainly targets the competitive markets of the global world, which is further believed to hinder the organizational efficiency to obtain a wider appeal for its product (Ad Week, “Apple Needs a Fresh Marketing Vision, and We Have Some Ideas”; Lamido, “International Marketing”). PROPOSAL FOR FUTURE AD CAMPAIGNS (RECOMMENDATIONS) Augmenting Strengths and Diminishing WeaknessesFrom the above analysis of the currently applied advertising strategies of Apple, it is apparent that the company possesses certain strengths as well as setbacks. Based on these understandings, it is suggestible that Apple’s 2014 ad campaigning should intend to back on the strengths evaluated above and diminish the weaknesses to the highest possible extent. The company, in its 2014 ad campaign should draw its focus towards expanding its market base and targeting the potential customers in the non-competitive markets around the world. Notably, non-addressal of the growing non-competitive market constituting potential customers has been criticized as one of the major weaknesses of Apple’s current advertising strategies, which needs to be treated with significance to reward the company a continuous growth prospect. Strategies to be taken for Ads in 2014 Apple should focus on an extensive use of print and digit media in order to reach to the ultimate customers within the worldwide context in its ad campaign for 2014. The company should also maintain simplicity in its advertising in the process of exploring the less competitive market, which is one of its primary marketing strengths. Apart from this, its brand image should also be used as a primary element to attract the customers via its advertising campaigns in the succeeding year. The company should also need to firmly hold its present markets in the succeeding years with effective advertising campaigns, where it can bring a variance by addressing its different groups of targeted customers on the basis of age or technology choices and price concerns. In this regard, one point where the company needs to work will be to ensure innovation in its 2014 ad campaign, which is also one of its major strengths and brand identities. Since it is recommended that the company should target more markets including the non-competitive one, accordingly it would need to increase the number of its ads. Increasing the number of ads would mean that the company should design its ad campaigns based on the tastes and preferences of the target markets, which is proposed to be expanded in the year 2014. This will also require the company, to go for several ad campaigns for the same product in accordance to the changing market. Furthermore, it is believed that the advertising strategies currently applied by Apple have been able to touch the emotional chord of the customers. In order to gain momentum and move a step ahead to launching a more effective and integrated ad campaigning framework, Apple can aim at launching a contest for its worldwide customers that will give the stakeholders an opportunity to convey their perceptions regarding the brand and accordingly, deliver suggestions to develop a more interactive and innovating strategy. This approach shall also contribute to the social responsibility of the company, making its marketing strategies more transparent to the stakeholders and likewise, building strong connection with its existing and new group of customers. In a summarized form, the suggestive ad campaign strategies for Apple in the year 2014 will include the following model. Fig: 2014 Ad Campaign Model for Apple Cost for Ad Campaign in 2014 It is quite evident that with changing nature of strategies in any domain of business, the cost for the same is inclined to change. Correspondingly, the change in advertising of Apple for the future years will also impact its cost which, can further be assumed to rise in the next year, 2014, which can also be substantiated with reference to the fact that the advertising cost of the company for the financial year 2012-13 was $1 billion that increased since the previous annual ad campaigns of 2011-12 and 2010-2011 (Apple Inc, “United States Securities And Exchange Commission”). Based on these assumptions, the budget for the Ad campaigns in the year 2014 has been presented hereunder, depicting a slight increase in the advertising budget of the company as compared to the previous year. CONCLUSION From the overall analysis, it is apparent that Apple’s currently applied marketing strategies posses several strengths that have been ensuring maximum success for it in the past. There are also certain weaknesses that have been depicted in the past ad campaigns of the company, which should be kept in consideration for the future campaigns. Contextually, a proposal with several approaches has been made in the paper for future ad campaigns of Apple, which shall include the blend of considerable elements from both its identified strengths and weaknesses as depicted from the past records. Works Cited “Apple Needs a Fresh Marketing Vision, and We Have Some Ideas.” Ad Week. 2013. Web. 12 Nov, 2013. “Apple Inc. Company Information.” Hoovers. 2013. Web. 12 Nov, 2013. “United States Securities And Exchange Commission.” Apple Inc. 2012. Web. 14 Nov, 2013. Lamido, Kamal. International Marketing. 2013. Web. 12 Nov, 2013. Vieceli, Julain, and Michael Valos. Marketing Management. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distri, 1998. Print. Read More