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One of my team send me this piece on Apple’s “secret” approach to launches and their effectiveness.  The naivety of Journalists with regard to how a business works is at times, beyond compare.

As a consumer company, surprises work for Apple.  Shock and awe offsets the need for Proctor and Gamble-like media buys,  Use that approach where your customers are businesses of any size and you are likely to get slapped around.  First, they actually plan technology deployments.  Second, they look to a broad range of influencers throughout the purchase cycle – if you don’t have them lined-up, you don’t sell.

There is a third and more important point that applies to all markets.  Apple’s approach works only if you aren’t interested in any kind of conversation with the market.  I’d rather see a conversation with the market take place at every stage of a product’s evolution.

I’d take issue with the use of research looking at ketchup as a foundation for any good strategy for launching a $1,000+ device. The reporter actually recognizes this and then suggests the research was referencing Apple all along.  What crap.  At the end of the day, we know the average consumer will look and learn a multitude of times before buying – and consult a variety of sources.  Don’t think I’ve ever done that for ketchup.  Have done it for computers and nearly every other major purchase I’ve made.

At the end of the day, Apple’s approach works because they are the only player in their hyper-proprietary market.  They, well, surprise their fan base much in the same way that a rock band surprises its fans.  The echo and resonance occurs within that chamber.  For iPhone and iPod, it’s a good sized chamber – we know that drove Motorola nuts.  I’m guessing its the same for Nokia.  For the rest of it though, is it really working?

The rest of the technology sector is so hyper competitive and multi-market, other approaches are needed.  And, oh yeah, we’re increasingly looking beyond traditional media as a distribution vehicle for those announcements…

But narrative matters more… The NY Times looks at coverage of the Clinton and Obama campaigns over the past week and wonders did the media strategies deliver… based on the result yesterday, you’d have to say yes… Some of the highlights:

• Mr. Obama was the subject of 69 percent of all campaign stories last week, from Feb. 25 to March 2, while Mrs. Clinton was the subject of 58 percent of election stories, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism. Mr. Obama generated the highest amount of coverage in one week than any other candidate at any point so far this year.
• While Mr. Obama dominated the coverage, the amount of news devoted to the campaign actually decreased over the last week, accounting for 38 percent of all stories.
• Then “Saturday Night Live” thrust itself into the vacuum, graphically portraying a media swooning over Mr. Obama and badgering Mrs. Clinton.
• Senator Barack Obama addressed the issue of press bias today, saying he believed that reporters had been influenced by the Clinton campaign’s flood of complaints about media bias over the last week.

Better to be in combat mode that let the media define your current malaise seems to be one of the key messages here.

“With the Clinton media narrative focused on her being a candidate firmly in combat mode, she enjoyed a respite from recent coverage that had focused on her post-Super Tuesday losing streak and her campaign’s strategic shortcomings,” Mr. Rosenstiel said.

Is it the old media? Steve points to a recent study and makes this observation:

Three data points from the joint IAB/Booz Allen Hamilton study are particularly noteworthy:

• By 2010, 53% of media companies surveyed expect to do more business directly with marketers. The majority of marketers (52%) feel the same about publishers
• Only 27% of marketers expect to be doing more business with agencies two years from now
• Today nearly every media company (91%) offers some kind of “agency-like” services. This includes former untouchables like idea generation (88%) and creative development (79%)

Steve goes on to say:

The image of media companies as lumbering dinosaurs lingering toward extinction in a world of infinite content is downright wrong. They are more in sync with consumers than any other contingency in the marketing ecosystem. Their entire DNA is digital.

Really, I haven’t seen a scrap of evidence that this is the case. But I do agree that traditional agencies face a real challenge.

Been a bit busy lately… As a result I’ve spent more time Twittering than blogging… It’s so easy to switch from fully fledged narrative to conversational soundbites.  Before you know you it you are into the flow of the Tweets. 

I’m not sure this results in anything more thoughtful and interesting.  It is a great way to connect with others though.

… Now to find something to write about…

She’s tired of my only updates being Twitter… It’s the lazy mans blogging… Crikey… better get my act together… On top of that I’ve got weird things going on with my Twitter plug-in at the moment… So, no more Twittering into the blog for now.  Just real blogging… Back to the core…