Ch. 7 - Business Marketing

Apple products have not traditionally been aggressively marketed toward business and enterprise. Thus so far the thought and convention has been that Apple computers were more for the "creative types" and Microsoft was for business, this is all changing though. Apple is in much higher demand and growing in popularity and finally sees a market in enterprise and a chance to possibly compete with such titans as Microsoft, specially after the explosive popularity of the iPad.

According to a 2008 cover article in Businessweek, "The Mac in the Gray Flannel Suit," "In time, more and more office work will be done using Web-based applications, as opposed to programs stored on a hard drive. That trend erodes Microsoft's dominance in office applications and reduces the need for Windows hardware. (And Windows runs well on Macs with Intel chips.)" The article also says, "The Mac's popularity on campuses is soaring, according to Student Monitor. Of students that want a laptop, 42% say they want a Mac (up from 8% in 2003). They're especially popular with creative types companies want to recruit, and Mac fanboys may not put up with PCs at work." This was an article written in 2008. It was true then and even more true now.

With the iPad we can definitely start seeing the shift of Apple trying to appeal to business as much as the consumer, whereas in before the target was mostly the end consumer, as that was the core of Apple market. The business market has been one that Apple can no longer ignore, as it can bring enormous revenue.

The "If You Asked" iPad ad (one of the latest ads for the iPad) mentions the many ways the iPad is being used by parents, musicians, doctors, CEOS, teachers, and children.

The apps market has also proven itself incredibly profitable. Apps are not only made being marketed to appeal to the consumer, but also to the businesses. Apple wants businesses to make apps for the iPhone and iPad and to attract as many of these business to make apps for them rather then other competing platforms, such as android. This ad "The Story Behind the Apps" is clearly made to appeal to businesses that develop games and apps or for businesses to develop apps for Apple, and in true Apple fashion in the end displaying these big companies that work to develop Apps for Apple appeals to the consumer as well.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs on the Foxconn Suicides

Interview with Steve Jobs at D8 conference in which he comments on Foxconn suicides (June 2, 2010)



Jobs told D8, "Foxconn is not a sweatshop." He also said "You go in this place and it's a factory but, my gosh, they've got restaurants and movie theatres and hospitals and swimming pools. For a factory, it's pretty nice."

Foxconn Employess Forced To Sign 'No Suicide' Pledge

This is a re-post of article "Foxconn Employees Forced To Sign 'No Suicide' Pledge: Report" by Mark Brown from Wired.com.

Employees at the Foxconn facilities in China are forced to sign a pledge, promising that they will not commit suicide. The new mandate comes after more than a dozen staff members killed themselves over a 16 month period.

This latest revelation comes from a new report that looks into the notoriously grim working conditions of the gadget manufacturing plant. Foxconn is hired by companies like Apple, HP, Nokia and Dell, to build their fleets of laptops, smartphones and tablets.


The firm has a reputation for depressed workers and suicides, with some plants even putting up “anti-suicide” nets to catch employees who throw themselves off buildings, or bringing in monks to exorcise evil spirits. The plant’s managers and companies like Apple have promised to improve conditions and wages.

“It is very troubling,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, when asked in June 2010 about the numerous suicides. “Apple does one of the best jobs of any company understanding the working conditions of our supply chain. We are all over this.”

Labor group Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) went to the facility and interviewed more than a hundred employees in March and April 2011, to survey the current working conditions. The report found staff working overtime that exceeded the legal limit, endless back-to-back shifts and dormitories that feel like prison blocks.

Labor laws in China dictate that overtime should not exceed 36 hours per month. The report says that workers are usually subjected to 50 to 80 hours of overtime a month. In the Chengdu facility — where Foxconn employees put together the iPad — staff could expect a grueling 80 to 100 hours of overtime, on top of the 174 regular work hours.

Staff members interviewed said that working overtime was voluntary, but making up the extra hours was necessary to earn a regular salary.

A typical day for a worker at Chengdu consists of waking up at 6:45 AM for a 7:40 AM start at work assembly, before working all day until 8:00 PM. Staff are often bullied into moving directly from regular work into overtime hours without a break, and are often punished if they don’t.

Staff members — who aren’t allowed to talk, carry a mobile phone or even sit down — are not just punished if they mess up: they’re humiliated. “If they made [a] mistake, they had to write a confession letter and hand it to the supervisor,” the report says. “If the mistake is serious, the worker has to read the confession letter in front of his other colleagues.”

A spokesperson for the firm, Louis Woo, admitted to the Daily Mail that conditions can be rough. When asked about the humiliation of workers, Woo said, “It is not something we endorse or encourage. However, I would not exclude that this might happen given the diverse and large population of our workforce. But we are working to change it.”

SACOM has demanded that Foxconn and the technology companies that hire the plant change their policies. For the employees, though, they just want to be able to talk, to hold a normal social life or, in some cases, get their hands on the gadgets they make.”

“Though we produce for iPhone, I haven’t got a chance to use iPhone,” a worker from Guanlan said. “I believe it is fascinating and has lots of function. However I don’t think I can own one by myself.” A luxury gadget like that would cost a Foxconn employee around two months salary.

The Word - Buy and Cellulite

Today in class we spoke of products that were "new to the world" and the challenges that a marketer encounters when having to market such new product. The discussion made me think of this clip...enjoy.

This is a segment from The Colbert Report on Comedy Central – a satirical political "news" program.

In this segment of "The Word" he says, "One of the secrets of sales is fulfilling the public’s need.The other secret is inventing the public’s need" and "If there is one sure way to financial security is inventing…insecurities " – Oh...How often satire and comedy are the best truth tellers!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Buy and Cellulite
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Apple has combined strategies for selecting and segmenting target markets. Once again, I must say that Apple does not necessarily follow or fall into conventional business wisdom. This does not mean either that they take some cowboy approach to their marketing strategies – Apple uses conventional, proven to work strategies, unconventionally perhaps. While Apple is unique in many senses, they are not immune or ignorant to the "rules" of the market.

Apple uses strategies for segmenting markets such as demographic segmentation in the placement of their retail stores. There are 47 stores in California (the most in any state or any other one place) and while there are 14 in New York 4 of those are in the small island of Manhattan, making them the most concentrated. Here they are definitely focusing on a certain market. Apple has used a concentrated targeting strategy that has helped them position themselves as a niche and quality product. A limited product mix and small product lines have also worked to their benefit, which many might say goes against convention. And now this "niche" brand appeals to the masses. The most successful and most applied segmentation strategy has been psychographic segmentation, which appeals to our personalities, attitudes, motives, and lifestyles. Apple has aimed at being a "lifestyle brand" and this lifestyle appeals to Tweens to Boomers, low-income to high-income individuals, and all shape, race, and size.