> Marketing and design are surely down to a psychological science by now.
Really? I just read an article about how Apple is intentionally avoiding a traditional social media presence as a part of its marketing strategy. So does the science work like, "if you are rich enough to buy out several independent nations, do not use social media for marketing?" Or what?
And as a designer myself, I have to say "science" applied to design has a bad reputation among designers [1]. I put the word in quotes because true science is an interest of mine. And if one day in the future the application of science to design is solidified, hopefully this means fractal design software will rise from its current "American Idol without Simon Cowell" state of chaos to become part of the Adobe Creative Nebula, or whatever it's called by then. Because right now, the golden mean and fractals are just a couple of the millions of tools in a very intuitive toolbox, and they seem most likely to underwhelm when used alone as part of some grand demonstration of science meeting design.
So: If there's a science to all of this, by all means elucidate.
Apple tends to serve people looking for a high value experience and who will pay for ALL value added, not just portions.
Product quality, user interaction, control (and yes, that is value added to a lot of people who don't want to know stuff and just have tech work for them), etc...
Compare two pieces of technology on specs alone, and a lot of value is ignored. This is what is behind your average, "Apple computers cost too much" argument. The buyer of an Apple computer sees value in the OS, environment, packaging, design, etc... and they are willing to pay for that value too.
Others do not value those things, seeking only to get technology features at a lower price. To them, it's all fluff and margins play out accordingly.
Avoiding traditional social media is very likely part of that high value experience. People who don't want to be bothered or who want to run a little outside the mainstream mass means, ways, paths, pick up on that and it's likely working for Apple.
Consider two companies, both delivering a similar product. One competes on price, the other value added. The always low price company will do a lot of volume, but will also see very thin margins. The one delivering lots of value, properly positioning it, and asking to be paid for it, will do less volume, but see much higher margins.
Both companies will have to maintain all the infrastructure needed to service the market.
Apple is extremely well capitalized and this is part of why they are. Apple does the work others do, but does it well and with design sensibilities and experience goals that people will pay nicely for.
No need for a massive social media campaign. Those who see that value will pay for it easily. And it's not hard to miss, given the alternatives.
Really? I just read an article about how Apple is intentionally avoiding a traditional social media presence as a part of its marketing strategy. So does the science work like, "if you are rich enough to buy out several independent nations, do not use social media for marketing?" Or what?
And as a designer myself, I have to say "science" applied to design has a bad reputation among designers [1]. I put the word in quotes because true science is an interest of mine. And if one day in the future the application of science to design is solidified, hopefully this means fractal design software will rise from its current "American Idol without Simon Cowell" state of chaos to become part of the Adobe Creative Nebula, or whatever it's called by then. Because right now, the golden mean and fractals are just a couple of the millions of tools in a very intuitive toolbox, and they seem most likely to underwhelm when used alone as part of some grand demonstration of science meeting design.
So: If there's a science to all of this, by all means elucidate.
[1] http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html