Being Moved by Mysticism in the Technical Space
First it’s good to be back after my website went dark for about a week to address a change in hosts, and an extended bout of laziness that kept me away.
Microsoft, Google, Apple these are 3 of the largest tech companies in the world. They’re so similar and yet so very different. These differences have really come out to the forefront lately with some of the choices in branding and marketing.
Apple
I’ve been reviewing the new products Apple is releasing and how they talk about them to consumers. One thing is standing out, the use of the word “magical”, whether it’s the iPad or the new “magic trackpad” apple wants us to envision a world where their products bring to earth an almost imaginary experience. A new reality this is what Apple Brings.
Their public facing brand has more to do with science fiction than technology. Their versions resemble confectionary delights rather than the operating systems they really are. Yes, Google has really embraced the fanciful in a way that inspires their customer base to jump in and get engaged.
Microsoft
Then there is Microsoft a juggernaut in the enterprise space but still very much an up and comer in the consumer space. They’ve got a few fanciful names like “bing, Azure, XBox, and Zune” but for the most part they are rooted in attaching to a brand that has been iconic in Redmond for over 20 years. Yes, everything is Windowized at the moment with: Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, Windows Azure, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Embedded, Windows Server, and a host of other products.
A once fanciful brand Windows has become a generic extended statement that tries to attach all these new markets to the desktop experience Microsoft dominates. Unfortunately, consumers aren’t getting excited by pushing the desktop experience into all these different categories. The message appears to come off as mundane and ordinary.
Fantasy in Marketing
There used to be a time when marketers were very cautious about making overly ambitious statements. Now making these bold fantastic, nowhere near reality statements have become the way to captivate an audience and cut through all the noise in the advertising space. Time will tell how long this trend lasts but it’s something that we’re seeing 3 major players handling a bit differently and it’s having meaningful results on performance.
