Steve Jobs: Lessons from a Master Marketer
In researching for the most recent podcast episode about Category Creation, I inevitably came across Steve Jobs’ 2007 iPhone launch presentation.
And wow.
It’s got more marketing lessons in 10 minutes than most professionals would make use of in their whole careers.
Take a peak and pay attention to these key segments:
0:40 - He sets the table and positions Apple as an innovator, recalling previous successes (Note: he doesn’t talk about failures)
2:20 - He gets the crowd absolutely fired up! (Remember: half the crowd are Apple fanatics, the other half are reporters from top media outlets…)
3:20 - Teasing us by telling us the name, but not showing it yet.
4:20 - He literally breaks down why the iPhone is NOT a Smartphone. He reiterates multiple times that the iPhones is an Internet Communications Device.
5:00 - Still talking about the problem (keypad).
6:00 - Still talking about the problem (display).
6:37 - It’s not ‘till nearly 70% into the presentation he finally shows what the product even looks like! (anticipation.
7:14 - He beings to write his own headlines for the news articles the next day. In big letters, he describes his product with sound-bites like “Works like magic” and “Breakthrough: 5 years ahead of any other phone”
Of course, iPhone is a great product. But imagine how much this press release helped give Apple the momentum they needed to join an already saturated market, overtaking it in less than 5 years.
Until next time, Stew
PS: To read more about how iPhone was able to position themselves differently than Blackberry and Motorola, I wrote a breakdown of what they did differently.