Apple's HomePod Advert: 5 Things Marketers should get ready for in 2018
Kumwe Cj Dumeni
Helping One Person Agencies Hire Talent & Scale | Founder at TCG | Award Winning Marketing Specialist | Tedx Speaker
WATCH Apple HomePod Advert
Apple is well known for making products that change industries forever, and their new HomePod is no exception. The company recently released a 4 minute advert for the HomePod and I believe there are 5 key takeaways that marketers need to be aware of.
#1 Story Telling
Story telling in marketing is not new to the industry but it seems to be a dying art. Apple's new advert tells the story of a typical New Yorker's life, busy and crowded with a need for a release. The company managed to tell a story that millions of Americans can relate to, but most importantly they successfully managed to show how the HomePod would fit in their everyday life.
#2 Creativity
Creativity is the art of looking at something that is said to be impossible< and linking it to a realistic way of thinking. Apple's new adverts show how music can be used to change one's perception of their surroundings and how art can be used to grow spaces. The creativity in the adds creates a beautiful association with the HomePod and a solution to a problem we all have, which is the need for something more.
#3 New Audio
The new age of radio is here! Interactive home audio devices are changing the way audio is consumed, and if your marketing team is not planning on playing in this space, I would suggest you wake them up! Audio has always been a powerful marketing tool because it allows the consumer to multitask while being exposed to the medium. The new age of radio is even better! Thanks to the explosion of podcasts and curated playlists, this idea of "the new age radio" transforms the power of the radio stations and gives it straight to the consumer. As marketers, the idea to create audio content that can build a personal relationship and make the consumer choose you is vital to your strategy plan.
#4 Personalized Content
" Hey Siri, play me something I would like" This moment in the advert was a game changer. A referral has always been an extremely powerful marketing tool for building trust, especially when it comes from a reliable source. Now we have one source talking to millions of people. The HomePod is able to find customers preferences by curating all the information from what they watch on their MacBook, to what they search for on their iPhone. As marketers our ability to offer personalized content will be imperative to where our brands sit on the list of providers. The idea is, when your potential client says "Order me something I would like" your brand is first in line.
#5 The Need to Share
We all have family, friends and people we want to connect with to share a piece of our lives. The need to share plays on the idea that when you take away the product and the brand, at the core of any advert (regardless of the media you use) you need to have a concept that is worth sharing Something that will bring value to anyone that would give up 5 mins of their busy day to watch. When your content addresses the need to share, that's how you go viral!
By Cj Dumeni
PS *Shameless pun alert*
I speak way better than I write, follow my podcast for more insights on marketing
Founder and CEO at Measurebyte ???????????? | IAB Council Member
6 年Hey CJ, I love the fact that you are documenting your thoughts and opinions. Keep it up! This video ad hit me on multiple levels. One, the creativity is great. How Apple used the stretching of the apartment shows that the HomePod declutters your life - or at least, that was my feeling that I got from watching it. On the negative but maybe because I saw the ad out of context. The ad's success will be determined by audience targeting. I saw this ad through the lens of having a family. A wife, two kids and a goldfish. So I couldn't relate to it. However, if this ad was shown to graduates, singles starting out in their careers - then I can definitely see how this ad can relate. So for me, to make the HomePod speak to a broader audience - they'd need to produce a number of follow up ads to cater for their audiences. The argument to my opinion is of course, if they have substantial data showing that this demographic portrayed in the video is the their largest audience and provides the most sales (and other audiences are too small), then absolutely - they nailed the ad. Creativity - nailed Value proposition - nailed Audience - debatable