Marketing and Engineering in Apple Inc - Research Paper Example

Marketing Innovative Apple Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 2 Marketing and Engineering 3 Apple Inc. 4 Apple’s Innovation 5 Apple’s Marketing 9 Conclusion 10 Recommendation 11 Works Cited 12 ABSTRACT This research paper focuses on the importance of marketing and engineering in an organization. Apple Inc. is taken as an example in this regard as it has a creative team of engineers that invent products and work in collaboration. It is evident from the Apple’s story that while engineers steer the company to move upwards, it is always the sales and marketing team which keeps the company and its products running. Therefore, it is important to understand how both teams within a company cannot be successful without one another. Great ideas may keep floating in the company but only the implementation and marketing of those ideas lead to success. INTRODUCTION Marketing is an important tool since it contributes immensely to the success of the business and its products. Productivity and sales are largely dependent on companies’ marketing strategies. On the other hand, engineering is also an important aspect as it brings innovation in an organization. Often innovation is conducted as a private activity within an organization via some carefully managed steps. Keeping in mind the importance of marketing and innovation, companies must understand their product to be able to market them. According to Bill Campbell in an interview, only engineers know the information that they should get and deliver about the product they have produced . It is only through effective communication of information would the customers yield desired results. Now, this effective communication is done by the super-creative marketers. Therefore, it is important that marketers and engineers work hand in hand to effectively deliver what customers want. Marketers know their customers and their goal is to create customer value whereas engineers know their product and their goal is to create producer value. Therefore, when marketers and engineers work together, they yield innovative products that are customer-oriented. In an investigation, it was found that only those firms are successful at innovative product development where there is greater communication among marketing, engineering and manufacturing. Recently, a product-development process called Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was adopted by U.S. and Japanese firms. It promotes communication within the core team (marketing, engineering and manufacturing) and changes communication patterns from “top-to-bottom” management to focus more on horizontal routes where core team members communicate directly with each other and come up with better results. MARKETING AND ENGINEERING Engineering is an important aspect of a product because it focuses not only on its technology but also on the design, look and feel of the product. It makes the product effective and comfortable to use. Marketers tend to collaborate with the innovative engineers to build up on the touch points of the target audience to be able to sell their product. Engineers are not specialized in understanding the mechanics of the product. They are well aware of the needs and appeal of their target market. Engineers are also the marketers of the powerful brand because they know exactly what their target market want and how it should be presented to them. An excellent example of this is Steve Jobs of Apple Inc, who is the mastermind behind the company. Until recently, he, himself, used to design the product and its marketing strategy. Now he has hired a marketer, who he works very closely with to ensure effective advertising of the products. Engineers and marketers form the most creative team within the company. First, invents a product that’s not only fashionable but also fulfills consumers’ need and the latter, artistically designs the different ways of marketing that product to the consumers. Therefore, it is very important for engineers and marketers to work in partnership to reach a larger target market. Engineers serves as an ignition for the sales of the product through its innovative design and technology that appeals to audience, while marketers provides the fuel for continuous and smooth sales through effective advertising, promotions, and market presence. One of the greatest examples of integrating innovation with marketing is of Apple Inc., a multinational corporation which is ranked as the world’s most innovative company. APPLE INC. Apple Inc., formerly known as Apple Computers, manufactures world’s most innovative consumer electronics, computer hardware and software and commercial servers. Apple is recognized in the electronics industry for its innovative appealing designs and unique marketing campaigns. It has a strong and loyal customer base which trusts Apple’s products beyond measure. Fortune magazine ranked Apple as the world’s most admired company in 2008, 2009 and 2010. It was established in April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak. The company was previously known as Apple Computers for 30 years and in 2007, it was renamed as Apple Inc. to reflect the intended expansion of Apple in the field of entertainment technology. APPLE’S INNOVATION In a periodical it was stated about Apple, ‘…this is truly one of the most innovative companies on earth, one that has defied the odds and overcome amazing adversity.’ (DeMarzo) Apple has always provided its customers with unique products which are ahead of time because its engineers are product-oriented. They create even before the consumer realizes that he needs it. In this period of global recession when companies are laying off their employees and cutting back on its research, Apple is successfully moving forward through ‘...investing, inventing and innovating. In an interview to Bloomberg Business week, Steve Jobs pointed out that in a technological industry, an engineer needs to be product-oriented to be able to understand what his consumer would want in the future. This future need is identified even before the consumer realizes it and then this need is developed in an effective way to create a product that has never been anticipated before. According to Jobs, Apple’s goal is not to be the biggest or the richest company but to develop best products and these best products set the direction for the whole industry. They create, innovate and develop products that are copied by other companies later on, and irrespective of this, their products have a significant competitive edge over others. Apple’s customers are loyal and trust their products. Apple’s first product, Apple I, marked the beginning of its novelty. It was introduced in July 1976 as the first computer that used keyboard as an input device. Punch cards were used before that. Though this computer was merely an assembled circuit board with more than 60 chips, it had a distinctive computer terminal. This differentiation made it the most innovative machine of its time. In 1977, Apple II was launched and it was a major technological development after its predecessor, Apple I. It became the first most successful personal computer and continued till 1990s. Apple II was soon adopted as the standard computer in American Education throughout the 1980s and for a major chunk of the 1990s.This was the computer that exposed most of us to personal computing. The Apple II was popular in all genres from business to families. In 2001, Mac OS X was launched, and it transformed the computing world. The beauty and simplicity of this new Operating System was instantaneously identifiable. Since 2001, there have been major upgrades to original Mac OS X, and each time it has become bigger and better. From simple things like making it easier to manage multi-tasking to other features like Spotlight, it completely transformed the way files would be searched for. OSX set a standard for operating system which remains unparalleled even today. In 1984, Apple’s most famous and innovative product was launched, Macintosh. The Macintosh computers were the first ones to allow Desktop Publishing possible, and due to this artists and publishing companies create their projects on Macs till date. It transformed the way people used computers with its sophisticated graphical capabilities and instinctive Graphical User Interface. Apple has continually evolved the original Macintosh with iMacs, Mac Mini, Mac Book, Mac Pro, Mac Book Air, and more, but the original Macintosh remains an icon and the most innovative product by Apple. In 1998, Apple started to focus on the design on iMac to make people notice their super innovative products. It started with “blueberry” and then more colors soon became available. By 1990s, the colorful iMacs became another sensation. The iMac continues to evolve with its sophisticated and advanced software and hardware. In 1991, Apple launched its first laptop, PowerBook. Apple did not invent laptop but it did re-invent it with its innovative design which has become the trademark for laptop design today. It just pushed the keyboard up towards the screen, leaving the lower part for the user to rest his hand on. Here, I would like to point out how engineers focused on the design to make their product easy to use for the customers. At this point, marketing and engineering collaboration is evident through customer-oriented products, keeping consumer comfort in mind, and ground-breaking designs. Then the Apple Newton was launched in 1993, an innovative and portable device, which was though not a big success, but marked the invention of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). This modern device was coined by then CEO, John Sculley, and it served as the basis of design of modern Blackberry and Palm. In October 2001, Apple’s biggest success was launched, iPod. Since its initial release, it has been the market leader in the music industry. The iPod’s innovative design and integration with iTunes has truly made it one of Apple’s greatest innovations. It is the most popular portable media player and currently, it is available in four famous variants. In January 2007, Steve Jobs revealed its long-awaited convergence of iPod and internet-enabled Smartphone, iPhone. It features web-based and Dashboard applications such as Google Maps and Weather. Its most innovative feature is its intuitive software, scaled-down versions of Mac OS X. Now, three more iPhone versions have been launched with more features and innovative designs than the previous one. The technology and design of iPhone 4 is way ahead of other companies’ products in the industry. Apple partnered with Intel and created Boot Camp, which enabled the users to run both OSX and Windows XP on the same machine. Till then, this had never been done before and this innovation allowed Mac users to install Windows and access both operating systems at the same time, maximizing its processing capability and using both Windows and Mac features. Ipad, another very unique product by Apple, is a media tablet which has a version of Mac OS X running on it and it features a multi touch screen with multi-media formats. These were the highlights of some of the major innovations at Apple Inc. and there are still several consumer products that have contributed the profile of Apple.In an interview to McKinsey Quarterly, Bill Campbell, while emphasizing the importance of innovation and scarcity of innovators, pointed out, ‘…empowered engineers are the single most important thing that you can have in a company.’ APPLE’S MARKETING The importance of marketing for Apple products could be understood by the words of Bill Campbell, ‘“A marketing person would never have conceived of a Macintosh. But a marketing person could have made it better.” This highlights the role of a marketing person in the success of the product. As far as marketing strategy of Apple is concerned, it is very people-oriented. The main focus of the brand is how people perceive the brand, what do they do with the product and not what product does for them. The branding strategy of Apple focuses primarily on emotions and according to marketers, emotions-based advertising is most effective. Apple’s brand personality is young, fun-loving, passionate, innovative, liberal, ambitious, imaginative and powerful. It signifies how Apple’s products make their lives simple yet fun, understanding the complexities of their lives in terms of technology. Apple’s brand has now become the reason of its success. Marketers and advertising experts feel that now Apple’s products sell only because of its brand. In late 1980s and early 1990s, John Sculley inflated Apple’s advertising budget from $15 million to $100 million and boosted its annual sales to $11 billion. It was then when Apple became the biggest computer company of the world. In 1984, when Apple Macintosh was launched, its debut was announced by the popular $1.5 million television commercial “Super Bowl”, directed by Ridley Scott. This advertising campaign is now considered as a defining point for Apple’s success and a masterwork. When iPhone was launched, it had a very unique marketing strategy. It began its sale with a very high of $599 to cover its development and advertising cost, but soon after reduced its price to $399 to give customers the feeling of great deal. Steve Jobs launched a $100 million advertising campaign to launch iMac all over the world. Apple still continues to make high profile ads to create a powerful and emotional brand. In 2001, BrandChannel.com awarded Apple as the “Brand of the Year” and the author of Emotional Branding, Marc Gobe, said “Apple’s brand is its key to survival. It’s got nothing to do with innovative products like the iMac or iPod.”This statement by marketer Grobe signifies the important role marketing and advertising plays in today’s world. He emphasizes how important it is for a company to create a brand image for its products so that customers may develop relationship with the brand which helps a company survive in the long-run. CONCLUSION In an interview Steve Jobs once pointed out, “Some very good product people invent some very good products, and the company achieves a monopoly. But after that, the product people aren't the ones that drive the company forward anymore. It's the marketing guys or the ones who expand the business…” He explains that engineers of the company initiate an upward move by creating products but it’s the responsibility of the marketing personnel to keep the show running. It’s not just innovation and product development that defines the success of a product but it is important to understand how it is delivered to the customer. Very often, new inventions are not acceptable to the customers because they are not accustomed to the new product. Apple doesn’t advertise to reach out to its first customers but use it to help their first customers reach out to the rest. Apple’s marketing is so consumer-oriented that people buy their products even before seeing it. This happens when people market products for the consumers. An example of this is 250000 iPhone sales on the first day prove the success of their marketing strategy. RECOMMENDATION Apple is, without doubt, the most successful consumer electronics company but it focuses primarily on business-to-consumer market. In my opinion, Apple should partner with other companies and also focus on business-to-business market. This will not only boost its profits but will also help them create more innovative products like they did when they partnered with Intel and HP. I believe that Apple has become a market leader of business-to-consumer market and now, it should also work towards becoming the market leader of business-to-business market. References: Aaker. 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