Getting a piece of the Apple pie

The strength of the Apple brand has been achieved by an aggressive international marketing and advertising campaign and the results are clearly being felt in the local market.

Take a quick trip round the Net and the number of sites exclusively covering all things Apple is testament to the astonishing loyalty and support of the true Apple aficionado.

The incredible desire of the hip young thing to blend in with their international counterparts has led to a growing global brotherhood, united in tech brand heaven. The Apple brand has truly moved from the exclusive domain of the geeks and design and advertising creatives to the mainstream.

Apple was voted the hottest brand by American advertising executives in January this year - proof positive that the company's branding has cracked the nod at the highest levels.

What is astonishing is that just six years ago the industry was predicting the imminent demise of the Apple empire and most local retailers were turning to PC sales to bolster their flailing Mac business. The turnaround from the brink of disaster to global success was achieved by more than just R and D investment: Apple took an holistic view of its target market and aggressively marketed a Mac Culture and an Apple lifestyle.

In the second quarter 2005, Apple shipped 1.07 million Macintosh computers and 5.31 million iPod players. That's up 43% year-on-year in computer shipments and up 558 percent on the iPods.

This concerted drive from the parent company has certainly had a positive knock-on effect in South Africa and Digicape has enjoyed an average growth of 60% year-on-year since 2003, based on sales exclusively in the Western Cape. The trick however, is to effectively leverage off the international branding, because although local Apple consumers are just as effusive, the local sales numbers just don't measure up to the global growth.

The challenge lies in bumping up the number of consumers and gaining revenue on peripheral sales. All of this lies in a cohesive and dedicated push to market the lifestyle to those wishing to be seen as part the electronic consumer cool.

Cult branding is no simple task - the companies that succeed are those that are willing to take the risk. And Apple has been known to take enormous risks. When the company changed its flagship multi-coloured logo to solid red, the outcry was monumental. Now, however, old logos from Macs are being auctioned on eBay to both young and old Macaholics.

The company then went on to stir up the marketing pot when it decided to co-brand the iPod with HP. Not the wisest move according to the marketing gurus, who claimed that the two companies had conflicting branding positions. HP was considered to be an industry stalwart, old school and establishment - the antithesis of iPod's target market. More importantly, the company was in danger of alienating its most loyal followers who reveled in the fact that they were swimming against the stream.

However, once again the brass at Cupertino made the right call, and a bevy of businesspeople began to realise that they too could be a part of the techno-geek chic, while claiming that the iPod was a business tool and not just a portable music centre.

Tackling the South African market remains a challenge. The local Apple channels need to be more aware that ultimately they are targeting a market of creatives. There is no room for error in advertising campaigns when you are talking to the ad community, adhoc productions will certainly not get the message across.

Dedicated integrated marketing is required if sales are to be bolstered. In essence, a leaf needs to be taken out of the Apple international book and local marketing needs to be aggressive. Now, more than ever, South Africa has the opportunity to build on a massive international drive and that may well be achieved through a cohesive campaign.