The iPad2 Cover – Smart. Innovative. Revenue and Margin King!
Ever since my parents bought my first computer – an Apple IIe, I’ve been an Apple Fan. Sure they have made their mistakes along the way and I’ve owned (and still own) Windows based computers. I love great design and one thing Apple has always done is great design, even the boxes their computers are packed in are smart, well thought out and have excellent UX.
When Apple lunched the iPad2, I was immediately taken by the cover – more so then with the iPad2. The iPad2 had the features I expected but the cover surprised everyone and I have yet to met a person that doesn’t love the design and ingenuity. Aside from the great design, my quick follow on thoughts are this:
- I want one
- They just captured the lost revenue on iPad2 accessories
- Everyone will buy one vs. the other third party covers – since only Apple’s will have magnet
- BIG REVENUE and BIGGER MARGINS
- Second quarter will blow past Wall St. expectations
If you have ever walked into an Apple store, I’m sure you have spent time at the accessories wall. Apple has certainly created a great business for a lot of accessory companies over the past years and they have always had some great accessories. I had an Apple joystick at one point (I was great at Karateka). Apple’s Magsafe power cords are a great example of smart design and great margin accessory products, for which Apple holds the patent and does not license the technology. Not many people buy multiple power adapters. I bet people will buy multiple covers. But even if consumers only buy one iPad2 cover, Apple still wins since it’s one more cover sale they were not getting with the last device release.
I’m not the only one that is thinking this way about the sheer brilliance of the iPad2 cover [revenue] strategy. I follow Asymco “curated marketing intelligence”. This past week Horace Dediu’s (@asymco) acticle, The Billion Dollar Smart Cover nailed it. Although I think his estimate of only 60% of iPad2 buyers getting the cover is conservative. I bet that Apple reports 85%.
Whatever the percentage, I really like the continued smart design that Apple keeps cranking out. Call me a fanboy if you want but all I can say is show me another device or media company that innovates and has the margins of the kids down in Cupertino.
Cross Platform Connections – Getting it Done
One of the hot topics in the world of Integrated Marketing, especially when it comes to CPG advertising is crafting a strategy that connects the dots across multiple platforms, such as TV, print, digital, in-store marketing and FSIs. Over the last 24 months the pace of truly integrated marketing campaigns has really picked up, as brand advertisers follow the consumer – and she is connected in ways like never before. A great example of these media consumption habits and trends can be seen in the GMA Shopper Marketing report, Shopper Marketing 4.0: Building Scalable Playbooks That Drive Results. (A special callout to my friend Matt Egol at Booz & Co, for his leadership in creating this report)
Last week, I had the opportunity to get on stage and present “Maintaining Connections Across Platforms” at iMedia Brand Summit in Austin, TX. My presentation showcases two iconic brands, Kibbles ‘n Bits and Milk-Bone. I had a short 15 minutes to present the two cases and take some Q&A from the audience of brands marketers, media folks, publishers and brand experts.
If you have a few minutes, watch the presentation and think about how brands are connecting the dots for you as a consumer or how you’re doing similar work as marketer. I would enjoy hearing your thoughts and feedback.
Special thanks to @KozComm for blogging from the event and posting his thoughts on the presentation in his SXSW Report
And how did I celebrate after the presentation? By having a fantastic tex-mex lunch at an Austin institution – Chuy’s! (there may have been some queso and creamy jalapeno ordered)
Like this:
Social Media Monday Blues
I had a sneaking suspicion that today would be an interesting day. And it certainly has been a “Monday” for several folks in the social media world. One of the email lists i subscribe to is Tom Fishburn’s Maketoonist (@TomFishburne)”Brand Camp” cartoons. The cartoon today was especially interesting to me, since the cartoon nails what I believe a lot of brands get wrong – outsourcing social media management.
I’m certain there are many highly qualified and competent agencies that do a solid job for their clients. In fact, we use a hybrid model at my company. That said, I’m a firm believer that brands and their marketing (digital marketing) organizations should manage social media in house. Here’s why. First, Nobody knows the brand better than the brand team and the marketing organization supporting the brand(s). Second, paying a third party, exposes the brand to the risk of the constant churn in agency account teams. When that twentysomething leaves for the next step in their agency career all the knowledge leaves with the person. On the other hand, having a brand person (ideally multiple brand team members) actively engaged in the conversation keeps the knowledge of community management in house – and when that brand person switches brands that skillset stays withing the organization. It’s all upside. Granted people will leave the organization, however, I would rather manage that transition vs. a new junior person at the agency (which I will certainly have little or no control over)
I’m sure there will be plenty of agency types reading this and several will disagree with me. There will also be brand marketers reading this and say “I have no time for community management”. Both are fair points and I will certainly be happy to address them. In fact, I plan on writing a few posts with my thoughts on both of those viewpoints. Stay tuned.
Midway through today I heard the news that Gilbert Gottfried, the voice of the beloved Aflac duck was canned for tweeting some incredibly insensitive and moronic things about Japan. Not a good thing to do, especially given that 75% of Aflac’s business comes from Japan. Talk about a #FAIL of galactic proportions.
I’m a bit bummed since I do like Gilbert’s voice for the Aflac duck, especially since I don’t have to see Gilbert’s annoying squinting eyes. Perhaps Gilbert and the guy that thought he was tweeting from his personal account but tweeted from the @ChryslerAutos account and dropped the F Bomb, was subsequently fired by his agency, New Media Strategies, right before they were fired by Chrysler, can join forces and form one of those agencies that mange social media strategies. [See above paragraph].
I am biased towards in-house social media management but I truly think there is good reason. I’m always happy to hear your thoughts, so feel free to ping me at @Dougchavez or post a comment below.
Olympic Medal Count Methodology
The other day I was looking at Yahoo! and Google front pages to compare what they are doing with their logos for the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Hats off to Google for starting this trend that all the portals are now doing. I happen to think that Yahoo!’s Olympic landing page is the best overall.
Of the three sites (NBC, Google, Yahoo!) I’ve been checking and comparing on a regular basis, Google is the only US portal that has China listed first in the medal standings. The US has more overall medals but Google is listing China at the top of their list. IMHO this medal count methodology would seem to fit well with Google’s “all or nothing” approach to things in the Google centric world of all or nothing. What do you think? Granted their source for the medal count is the Beijing Summer Olympics website – built and hosted in China by the Beijing Olympic Committee which I’m sure has no bias to the Chinese team. Perhaps their medal count methodology is from the same school that determines age for the Chinese women gymnasts.
New sneakers and the cat in the garage
So, I left my favorite sneakers in the garage the other day. Actually, they ended up staying in there for a couple of days. I went to put them on yesterday and noticed a strange odor coming from the left shoe. I’m pretty sure the cat that’s been leaving paw prints on my car hood decided to leave its nasty scent on the left shoe. I bought these North Face sneakers at Sports Basement this evening.
I’ve been putting up with this rogue cat leaving its paw prints on my freshly washed and waxed car for several months. This latest stunt by the feline intruder means war. Granted I needed a new pair of sneakers, I don’t need the cat marking my shoes and thus dictating the timing of my shoe purchases.
For now the score is Cat 1 Doug 0
This score is going to change. The cat my not know it but it will soon be relocated to the humane society or some other locale. Does anyone have a havaheart trap I can use for a few days?
