01/12/2005
Apple's rumor strategy
Post @ 17:38 in Apple/Mac - Business
Wired has a good piece talk about apple’s recent lawsuite against Think Secret. Worth to read. I had learned couple things from it.
The Story: Last week, Apple filed suit against Think Secret for allegedly misappropriating trade secrets following a report about a $500 monitor-less iMac and new iWork software, a productivity suite to rival Microsoft’s Office. Marketing Experts says Apple’s lawsuit against Think Secret? is a strategic but risky move designed to focus press attention on this week’s Macworld.
Lawsuit is a Strategy: Apple’s lawsuit to Think secret more likely a marketing strategy. the purpose of this lawsuite is about generating more publicity. the story gets into border media and people got know this story as a news, inculde the sercets already leak out that apple’s $500 mac computer. It’s a lot of free advertising from the press that was telling the whole country of apple’s new product. This “rumor marketing” works.
The strategy was risky: It antagonize apple’s greatest fans about suing omeone who is devoted to apple’s products. and also gives some unclear information to fans who are still promoting apple’s products. So this kind of stratege may use once but will risk the relationship with loyalists in the future.
Rumor Strategy: This kind of strategy had been long used by politican to manipulate the press. Wipperfurth (principal of Plan B) said “Rumors are often started by the companies themselves. For consumers, Word Of Mouth is the most credible source of information, and the buzz marketing is becoming more and more important to marketers; Indeed, rumors and buzz about companies and products are fast morphing into full-fledged folklore. Folklore is a more profound and enduring version of word-of-mouth. Folklore is how consumers communicate with each other in modern consumer culture. A brand like Apple is driven by a tribe of consumers. The Mac is a tribe, and the tribe communicates with each other through this modern version of folklore—rumors, anecdotes and ritual product usage."
Guy Kawasaki and Buzz Marketing: Apple has long benefited from customer evangelism to bolster its marketing efforts. In the late ‘90s, buzz marketing was made official: Chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki marshaled a formidable cadre of amateur Macevangelists to fight the stream of bad press about Apple, and organized amateur salespeople to sell neglected Macs at big box computer stores.
Finally Skype 
