Let’s take a moment to marvel at the marketing machine called Apple. Cool, shiny, game-changing products. A customer base that camps out outside its retail stores even during a recession. Quirky, jumpy, but cool (that word again) advertising.
Sure, you may be sick of it. You may not be an “Apple fanboy” or girl. You may not see what all the excitement is about. Why consumers have long running debates on Web pages about why Apple is or isn’t the greatest.
Or, you may wonder why Apple’s competitors haven’t been able to mount a challenge to the iPad three years later, though Google’s Nexus 7 inch tablet is said to be selling out. But Apple could put a stop to that by launching its own 7 inch screen, which might be coming up this fall.
It’s just a computer, or a cell phone, or a tablet, right? It’s an inanimate object, yet people treat these things–and the company that makes them–like they are family. They referred to Apple’s late CEO as Steve, as if they knew the guy. Strange, no?
Yes, it’s strange. But the Apple phenomenon does point to several trends in the culture that merchandise marketers should take into account.
1) People are lonely. More people are living longer and by themselves than ever before.
This, despite the existence of various online and off “social networks.”
It stands to reason that the device that enables us to connect is going to be important. But, it’s still hard to connect. How many stabs at online dating really result in a meeting? How many people who sign up for Meet Up actually ever go to an event? Those obnoxious AT&T ads aside, how many people actually show up for a yuppie flash mob?
“Young people are becoming ‘skin hungry’ because networking online leaves them feeling as lonely as the elderly, according to a recent Daily Mail (UK) story. “Despite having an average of 243 Facebook friends, teenagers are spending so much time on the internet that they have little time to go out with friends. Sixty per cent said they found it difficult to make friends ‘in real life’ compared with online and a similar number (69 per cent) said they believe that Britain is an unfriendly place to live.”
Or, as Paul McCartney once wrote, “All the lonely people, where do they all come from?”
2) Electronic gizmos have become personal buddies. Don’t blame Apple for this
one.The big TV in the “family room” became the personal TV, the personal “Walkman,” the personal iPad. We spend more time on cell phones than we do paying attention to real flesh and blood family members. There’s a reason: cell phones and iPad offer the novelty of new experiences, however shallow they may be, whereas Mom and Dad and the spouse are known quantities.
3) “Fake familiarity” is easy to come by, and requires no effort. So now we’re on a first name basis with Kim, Snookie, Steve, Lady Gaga and a whole bunch of other people we’ve never actually met.
For marketers, it means we’re open to new adventures that promise connection, but we’re most likely just as isolated as we ever were. We want to hang out with the cool kids, and in their absence, the cool kids’ products, made by Apple, are an acceptable substitute.
In a way, it’s sad, but it’s also an opportunity.
