FLIRTing with the Crowds

I’m sitting in Johto Cafe with my Toshiba laptop reading news. Opposite to me are three tech guys (apparently from HP) with their HP laptop doing somehing.

I have an Apple sticker on my laptop’s lid, over the Toshiba brand. A tech guy has an Apple sticker on his laptop’s lid, over the HP brand. It’s almost as if we’re saying “I want to believe!”

Do you see Nokia phones with LG stickers? Or Samsung Dishwashers with Whirlpool logos welded to them? Maybe if you’re a marketer, you should be thinking how to get other products’ users to stick your brand to their goods.

Apple does this by nurturing a coherent experience, from the second you walk to the store to connecting your new laptop to Apple TV. I went into an Apple store yesterday to get myself a laptop hardpack. Everything was clean, white, playful, inspiring; like a canvas waiting to be painted on. Naturally, the second I walked in, I wanted to buy a Mac (I still keep waiting for the new Macbook Pros, though). They’re not superior machines. The experience, however, is superior to almost any other brand experience.

It’s not the R&D budget or the marketing budget alone, but a creative, driven and compelling combination of both.