Apple should probably run campaigns about their future, not their past.
It appears as though Apple has begun their battle against Samsung’s latest Galaxy S4 with their latest Why-iPhone campaign.
Apple poses the question, “What makes an iPhone unlike anything else?” The answer they gave? “Maybe it’s that it lets you do so many things. Or that it lets you do so many things so easily … But there are many others as well.” Apple goes on to make a number of points here and there as to why the iPhone is the one to get, but based on Samsung’s latest Galaxy S4 developments, that’s going to be a hard sell unless Apple can come up with some similar innovative features in their next iPhone.
In essence, the latest Apple campaign doesn’t seem to be an attempt to speak of future developments, but more so an attempt to try and keep iOS6 as fresh in the minds of consumers as possible. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s called marketing and advertising and its necessary for companies to make things happen, but it’s always good to see ads for what they’re attempting to do (not merely what they claim) and this campaign seems to be more about customer retention than anything else.
Apple’s Retina display was the talk of the town when it came out and Apple sort of rested their pride on the clarity that it brought to computer displays. As their “Why-Phone” campaign states, “The Retina display on iPhone ushered in the era of super-high-resolution displays”, but there are a number of non-Apple mobile devices greater resolutions than Apple’s Retina display. Telling people what is to come might help Apple a lot more than telling them what you’ve already made (and others have now surpassed). That’s simply one example of why Apple probably shouldn’t rely on this type of campaigning in order to try and retain a somewhat diminishing corporate status.
One good example of a campaign type that might help Apple fight off potential buyers of the Galaxy S4 would be to speak about potential future innovations being included in your next development. Sure, it’s a little risky, but surely that have to already be some certainties already in the works that can be spoken of.
For instance, last year Apple bought AuthenTec, biometric security company, for about $350M. Word has it that Apple may be integrating fingerprint biometrics into upcoming iPhones. Mind you, this is not to say that biometrics is some new technology that is going to wow the world. In fact, the Huffington Post even recently reported on 5 doctors in Brazil that bypassed the use of their biometrics scanners at the hospital they worked at by using fake digits. Presumably molded like their own finger in some fashion or another. The point here though is that Apple’s campaigns probably should not focus on past achievements, but look forward and build the hopes of a consumer base awaiting and expecting Apple’s next great product innovations, thereby making them willingly hold off until that next great Apple product is released.