Bob Borchers was the Marketing Director for the iPhone from its launch in 2007. Now that he's moved on from Apple, he's been able to speak about some of the strategy behind the now infamous product. There are a few key things about brands that I've learned from this short article.

1. Price isn't an objection if the consumer sees value in a product


2. when a product is new, it takes effort to create that value your product needs


3. Identify a need or problem in the marketplace and communicate your solution for it


4. Market research can describe what happend in the marketplace


5. Think like "The Great One", anticpate where the consumer will be, not just where they are

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/mowi/article.php/3838926

• marketing guy who hosted the original, 24-minute iPhone guided tour video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKXWBb8F-w4) back in June of 2007 when the device first came out


• Borchers also spearheaded the Nike+iPod partnership and Apple’s iPod integration efforts with major auto companies


• When the iPhone launched with a $500 price, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said his first reaction was “that is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard.” Later he said, “it may sell very well.”


• He says one his goals at Apple was to establish in people’s minds that the iPhone was more than just another product, and something a consumer would be happy to pay more than a hundred bucks to own.


• “Steve (Jobs) realized no one loved their phone,” says Borchers. “The goal was to make the iPhone irresistible and make the customers give the most effective demos. We deliberately never called it a smartphone because we don’t want to be part of what that was.”


• He also believes Apple’s other edge is a long held marketing strategy it shares with his previous employer Nike — complete disdain for market research in devising new products.


• “As a company, and I think Apple gets this better than anyone, you want to follow what Wayne Gretsky said about hockey: skate to where the puck will be, not where it is.”

PPM - a new way to measure TV and Radio

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS135579+31-Aug-2009+PRN20090831

• the world's largest combined panel for television and radio audience measurement is now live in Canada using Arbitron Portable People Meter(TM) (PPM(TM)) technology.


• The PPM technology is designed to measure exposure to all audible media and is easy-to-use, mobile, flexible and language-agnostic.


• PPM technology is now used throughout Canada, replacing the legacy electronic measurement technology for television. It is also replacing BBM Canada's diary service for radio in five markets.


• "In September 2004, BBM began using PPM technology to measure television viewing in the francophone market of Montreal and over the past 5 years we have grown confident that the PPM service is the audience measurement solution that can best meet our members' needs today and well into the future."


• The Arbitron Portable People Meter system uses a passive audience measurement device -- about the size of a small cell phone -- to track consumer exposure to media and entertainment, including broadcast, cable and satellite television; terrestrial and online radio as well as many types of place-basedelectronic media


• Carried throughout the day by randomly selected survey participants, the PPM(TM) device can track when and where they watch television, listen to radio as well as how they interact with other forms of media and entertainment.


• PPM detects inaudible codes embedded in the audio portion of media and entertainment content delivered by broadcasters, content providers anddistributors. At the end of the day, the meter is placed in a docking station that extracts the codes and sends them to a central computer. The PPM isequipped with a motion sensor, a patented quality control feature unique to the system, which allows Arbitron to confirm the compliance of the PPM surveyparticipants every day.

Branding Vs Advertising Vs Promotions Vs Marketing Vs Public Relations

http://ezinearticles.com/?Branding-Vs-Advertising-Vs-Promotions-Vs-Marketing-Vs-Public-Relations&id=2114051

BRANDING

A great example of branding is Apple. iMac, iPod, iTouch, iPhone, iTunes. Get the point? Apple has created a massive brand strategy using the "i" element.

Does everything you do, say, print, write, and provide consistent with your brand message? If not, you may want to consider who your true target audience is, and work at ensuring you continue to provide services that directly relate to them.

ADVERTISING

Advertising is the actual process of displaying your message. Advertising on the radio... Advertising on tv... The one act of making something happen

Tie your Advertising and your Branding together, you have the Marketing Process

PROMOTIONS

Whereas marketing is ongoing, a promotion can be a one-day, one week, one-month, or even one-hour event.

In retail, a "SALE" is typically a promotion. Car dealerships offering Zero percent interest is a limited time promotion.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

typically revolves around un-paid news sources and focuses on your business as it relates to the community

You, too, can harness the power of free press and public relations, although it can be difficult at times to get noticed

MARKETING

Marketing is the process that drives all the above elements

It directs the feel, image, and tone of the advertising, promotions and public relations.