There have more articles about Steve Jobs in the weeks
since his death than in the months, if not years, of his Apple
career.
Most of them have included 'interesting' insights about
the man, as a creator, manager and a complex person.
But this piece from the US industry publication,
Advertising Age has a real message for marketers and the senior
management who approve their plans and budgets.
The perception of recent times is that the 'smart'
marketers are rushing fearlessly into digital media in every
conceivable form. The only media growth game in town is in
the digital world.
Stay locked into 'old' media and the world will pass you
by. If you are not pushing more and more of your budget into
digital media, your customers will be out of reach and your brands
will shrivel and die.
That's the essence of the non-debatable direction from the
people marketing digital marketing. And it has become the
badge of the 'leading edge' members of marketing
management.
Except for at least one real marketing leader, the late
Steve Jobs.
In this Ad Age story, the facts point out the
reality for this globally recognised digital game changer. He
was committed to the power of the brand story. He placed
product and it's compelling advantage at the centre of the reason
to buy.
And he used the tools of proven media to reach his
potential markets. Television, newspapers, magazines and
billboards (in 2011 being in the top ten outdoor advertisers) were
his dominant weapons of choice.
The data referenced for this article suggests that ''well
under 10%" of Apple's ad budget went into digital media.
Other observations on the man point to his strength of
conviction in making innovative decisions and his trust in his
intuition. But that's another brand marketing
story.
For this piece, the story is, again, look beyond the
fashionable noise and the impressionable perceptions in the
marketing of marketing, and dig for the facts in order to ground
your judgements in realities.
Source: AdAge