5 PR Lessons From The iPhone 5 Unveiling
Apple owns the press event, and today’s new iPhone unveiling was no exception.
In front of a crowd of reporters and Apple enthusiasts, Apple CEO Tim Cook and marketing chief Phil Schiller revealed the faster, lighter, thinner iPhone 5.
“It is an absolute jewel—the most beautiful product we’ve made, bar none,” Schiller said as the new device rose from the stage mounted on a pedestal.
The announcement sparked an explosion of activity on Twitter. During the event, which ran from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET, Twitter mentions about the iPhone 5 surged to more than 180,000, according toSocialBakers. In the hour leading up to the event, mentions topped 150,000.
Besides selling a wildly popular product, here are five things marketing and PR pros can learn from today’s event:
1. Make sure your executives are well trained—even if the product is killer. When Apple released the iPhone 4S, reactions were tempered, in part due to the newly anointed Tim Cook. This time around he was prepared and delivered a performance that impressed reporters. “Cook seems more confident and effusive in his speaking style,” Mashable’s Chris Taylor remarked during his live blog of the event. “Figure he’s been taking lessons.” The New York Times added: “Mr. Cook, normally Mr. Nice Guy, is being funny and sarcastic.”
2. Numbers remain powerful. Facts, not platitudes speak volumes—just ask Cook. Early in the presentation, Cook highlighted the impressive sales figures for the iPad and Mac computers. Among the numbers: 17 million iPads sold last quarter, making a total of 84 million iPads sold through June 2012; the iPad’s market share is 68 percent, a boost from 62 percent one year ago; and more than 90 percent of Web traffic from tablets comes from iPads. The last statistic sparked this quip from Cook: “I don’t know what these other tablets are doing. They must be in warehouses, or store shelves, or maybe in someone’s bottom drawer.” The audience reportedly roared with laughter.
3. Pay attention to sound bites. Schiller’s “most beautiful product” remark will be echoed throughout the media this week, as will Cook’s statement early in the event that “We are in a post-PC world.”
4. Show, don’t tell. The iPhone 5’s front facing camera is getting an upgrade. Instead of simply telling the audience about it, Schiller showed off a variety of pictures snapped using the new device. Several media outlets covering the event swooned over the camera technology—which you wouldn’t get that by simply saying: “And it’s got a 28 megapixels.” (Unless, maybe Ashton Kutcher is saying it.)
5. Maintain realistic expectations. Apple’s stock soared in the lead-up to the event, but traded lower in the wake of the announcement—despite the hype and social media frenzy. That’s nothing new in terms of Apple’s product unveiling, according to a tweet from Rebecca Jarvis, co-host of CBS’s “This Morning.”
Preorders for the iPhone 5 begin Friday. The pricing is the same as the iPhone 4S.
This article was written by Michael Sebastian and originally appeared on PRdaily.
Image via Macstories
Social ROI: If We Only Had A Nickel
Here is a guest post I wrote originally for the Vocab Communications blog. I still tend to get a lot of questions about Social ROI, so I thought it would be a relevant article for all you disrupters to have a look at.
Over the course of my career at one of Canada’s top digital media companies, I’ve learned a massive amount. You see, I started out as a retail wench, waited tables, and even (unsuccessfully) got into acting. Now, working with a large portfolio of brands, and continuously engaging their consumer bases with exciting PR and marketing efforts is what gets me jumping out of bed excited each day.
The past decade has brought us so many advances and opportunities to achieve real return on our PR, marketing and advertising investments. Today, I want to shed a little light on the importance of social.
“What’s the ROI?”
A question a lot of industry professionals throw around when social is brought up. First off, for those who aren’t familiar, ROI is one of the copious amounts of corporate abbreviations meaning “Return On Investment”. There’s three ways (in my opinion) to look at the ROI of social, so lets break them down here:
Brand.
Social has the ability to turn a brand into a friend. The benefit of using social as a way to communicate and develop relationships with advocates and fans alike is something that should be determined priceless. Never before have we had a more honest way to connect with our consumers, and really effectively listen to what they want/need/desire.
Impressions.
I’m going to stick to Facebook and Twitter for now: Pinterest, Google+ and others to be elaborated on in upcoming posts.
In the twitter world, each tweet has an impression value. These values are calculated in a variety of different ways depending on the company, and what metrics matter to them. At the moment, there is not one standardized way of measuring the value of a tweet. Best practice with clients is to make sure you get a good understanding of their expectations, and use social measurement tools that will deliver them with the data they find valuable. I would recommend checking out http://hashtracking.org, and http://tweetreach.com as a couple free services.
Facebook is a somewhat simpler beast. Their analytics tools are fantastic, and you’re able to really dive into the data. Just make sure again that you find out what matters most to clients, and deliver that information. Also, keep in mind that vanity metrics like ‘virality’ are not what makes a campaign successful. In the interest of being transparent, very few campaigns go ‘viral’- and that should never be the MAIN goal. It’s important to communicate your content, and engage with the consumers and influencers that really matter to your client.
Dollars.
This metric proves to be the most difficult, and (of course) the most desirable method of social tracking. Many companies are fixated on making money with social, yet no one has come up with a seamless way to make this possible. Sure, you can share trackable links on your networks – and hope that people convert into online purchasers: but is that an effective way to keep social networking social? This can sometimes be a challenging concept to convey to clients, and there’s nothing wrong with proving its validity through testing. Social definitely has potential to increase sales, but it’s arguable that social is effective in sales growth in the same way word of mouth is, and always has been. And let’s be honest: have we really ever been able to track the oldest and most effective form of marketing? Well, that’s another debate.
In the PR world, we constantly have to be on top of the trends and ahead of the game. The face of ROI in social will be ever changing: much like the networks themselves. Using these 3 areas as a barometer will help you identify just how much you’ve been able to deliver to your clients, and where you can help them grow.
Fall 2012 Reading List: Books The Professionals Recommend
One of the benefits of working in an innovative and diverse corporate office is the opportunity to grab great reading recommendations from my co-workers. I’m always on the prowl for great new material that can broaden my scope in business, strategy and self-discovery. I’m currently pouring through the Steve Jobs bio written by Walter Isaacson – a book I won’t think twice about recommending. There’s so much I hadn’t known about Jobs (right down to his surprising drug abuse), and find his self-made man story to be absolutely fascinating.
Knowing that I’ll soon be done the Jobs bio, I wanted to make sure I had a few other reads lined up. Lucky for me, after sending out an email to some of my closest colleagues, I now have a huge list of books I intend to read this fall/winter. Here’s a few that came my way:
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
In this stunning investigation of success, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on a journey through the world of “outliers”-the best, brightest, and most famous-asking the question: what makes high-achievers different? Gladwell argues that in order to solve this riddle we must focus on the contributing elements around the successful-their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way, he explains what the Beatles and Bill Gates share in common, the reason you’ve never heard of the smartest man in the world, why almost no star hockey players are born in the fall, and why Columbian and South Korean airplane pilots are more likely to crash.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.
Are You Smart Enough To Work At Google? by William Poundstone
This book guides readers through the surprising solutions to dozens of the most challenging interview questions. The book covers the importance of creative thinking, ways to get a leg up on the competition, what your Facebook page says about you, and much more. ARE YOU SMART ENOUGH TO WORK AT GOOGLE? is a must read for anyone who wants to succeed in today’s job market.
The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity — principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.
How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
For more than sixty years the rock-solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.
Descriptions courtesy of Amazon.ca. Special thanks to Bhumika Kapadia, Seema Lakhani, Jonathan Naymark, and Katie Hinks for the recommendations.
How about you? Are there any books you’ll be reading over the fall/winter season? Share them in the comments!
Film Friday: Taylor Mali Poem
We speak too often with questions at the end of our sentences. The declaration and conviction of our opinions and outlooks have somehow become muddled in new speech patterns that don’t convey that we mean what we’re saying. This is precisely what Taylor Mali addresses in his powerful poem that’s been assembled visually while he recites. Definitely take a moment to watch this video (with sound) to hear some valid and interesting commentary on the way we communicate today.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree?
The Pros and Cons Of Mac
I’m no longer a Mac virgin. I got my first MacBook Pro a couple months back, and have been aggressively using it daily. When I was making my decision to purchase my new computer, I did a lot of online research to try and find out exactly what the benefits were to buying Apple merchandise. Having grown up using a PC, and having conducted most of my work on one, I entered into this market with a pretty keen eye for what was important to me.
The Non-Negotiables
There were a few things I needed to make sure of before buying, and here’s some of what made the list:
- Full Compatibility with MS Office
- Easy transfer of old hard drive data
- Calendar synchronization
- Easily adaptable operating software
Not a long list, but a list nonetheless. Here’s a list of some the pros and cons I’ve noticed within my first few months:
Pros
- Twitter is integrated into EVERYTHING on the new Mountain Lion OS. It’s so easy to share content (which is huge for me).
- MS Office is not only the same, but slightly prettier.
- Files are so easy to find with the SPOTLIGHT tool.
- The new ‘MESSAGES’ feature allows incoming SMS messages to be delivered to both my phone and desktop.
- Multiple desktops: I can now have several different programs open on the go, and simply swipe my finger to toggle between them.
- Intuitive mouse pad: Much like using an iPhone or iPad – it’s easier to navigate through your computer than on a traditional PC model.
- It’s really darn pretty.
Cons
- Icon hovering preview: I became accustomed to hovering over my taskbar’s open programs on windows, and seeing what was in them. There’s an app called Hyperdock that does this upon installing on Macs, but I can’t bring myself to spend the $19.99.
- Adapting: I still do the control+alt+delete a lot, but I know I’ll unlearn eventually. There’s a laundry list of Windows shortcuts that I have to re-learn for Mac – but I’m willing.
- Minor difficulty with Mac Mail: Setting up new accounts can get a bit challenging, but nothing too horrible.
- MacKeeper Ads: I stream a lot of video – and as many I’m sure are aware, pop ups are inevitable. The issue I have with the Mac Keeper ads is the annoying sales pitch voice that starts talking upon loading.
- Only 2 USB ports: You can buy an expansion plug in, but I was a bit bummed.
I’m sure there’s more to share as my usage continues, but as a starting point – these were some real standouts. I definitely recommend making the switch, because the benefits surely outweigh the downsides.
What are your thoughts? Do you prefer Mac or PC? Why?
Instagram Reigns Supreme
Ever since Facebook bought Instagram back in April, it seems is though everyone and their mother is uploading filter friendly photos to the popular social network. I recently found a great INFOGRAPHIC (below) that details some of the impressive stats that Instagram has been able to achieve.
Some of the highlights are:
- Instagram gains one new user every second
- One billion photos have been taken with the app
- There are roughly 58 photos uploaded each second
What Consumers Really Want
Last week, I was attending a book club meeting where we were discussing Eric Ries’ now famous novel: The Lean StartUp. In the book, Ries outlines all of the basic principles that a startup can put in place to achieve measureable success with proper testing and evaluation. The lean principles can merit their own blog post, so I won’t get too detailed today– but the idea of identifying precisely what your consumer wants came up in discussion.
We talked about making sure to listen to the consumer, and really take into perspective what they’re asking for. It was then proposed that the consumer is more likely to provide you with a complaint, or a desire that perhaps has nothing to do with the current product or service they’re using.
Let’s put this into context: back when VHS tapes were in their prime, one of the major gripes was that they took forever to rewind. Traditional thinkers would take this complaint, and try and design a faster VCR – when really, the customers were actually indirectly asking for a DVD player.
This concept (though simple) blew me away. I’ve always considered myself an out the box thinker – but to hear this put into such a simple example really resonated with me. One of the key parts of innovation is being able to hear feedback, and produce products and services that are able to better consumer user experiences. This was done ingeniously by the introduction of the DVD player, but has transcended into many different facets of technology to provide us with some of our now daily necessities.
It’s just a true testament to the fact that the consumer doesn’t always know what they want, but they certainly can identify what they don’t want. It takes great vision and foresight to look beyond the present day products, and create products or services from ground zero.
I’ll leave you with a quote from the late, great Steve Jobs:
“A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
The 36 Rules Of Social Media
Fast Company (one of the only magazines I still buy a paper copy of) recently asked social industry leaders what they thought were the fundamental rules of social media. I loved how they presented the information found (pictured below), and these 5 really resonated with me:
#5. As monetization attempts to go up, consumer experience goes down. In my experience, it’s really important that social remains social. Not only does turning followers into dollar signs always backfire, but long-term relationships aren’t sustainable if you’re always looking for a buck.
#12. Not everything will work, and that’s fine. Embracing failure is such an important part of social. Be sure to test out your efforts on a small-scale before launching social campaigns – it’s ok to make mistakes if you’re learning what the consumer wants.
#14. EVERYONE’S an influencer. Whether a person has one follower, or one million followers – they’re still influencing someone. Remember that social is a public arena – and everyone can see everything.
#15. If fans distribute your content without permission, offer to help. This should be a no brainer, as a large part of this community is all about sharing content. It’s obviously preferable that your content is the stuff that’s being shared, and that turns into traffic, new fans, and new followers!
#35 Think past vanity metrics like followers. This can not be stressed enough. Quality over quantity – followers can be bought, but smarts and great content are the valuable metrics.
Image Via Fast Company
Film Friday: Jennifer Aniston’s Sex Tape
You read the title correctly. A little while back, the people at Smart Water hired ad agency (Zambezi) to put together the video below for promotion of their product. They conducted research to find out exactly what makes a video go viral, and found that having cute animals, dancing babies, and a beautiful woman (Jennifer Anniston) acting seductively just might do the trick. They combined all of these elements, with a clever (?) title – and boom – 10 million views. The key to the success of this video (in my opinion) is not just the cheap tricks, but the fact that the brand doesn’t take themselves too seriously. You can tell this production is pure fun – and a great example of cheeky viral advertising.
Staying Healthy: 5 Daily Things You Can Do To Improve Well Being
A lot of people spend an incredible amount of time sitting in front of the computer on a daily basis (myself included). We often have a hard time making sure we give our bodies the exercise, nutrients, and balance it needs. Here’s 5 things you can start slowly doing that will improve your well being – cause every little bit helps!
Body Break’s Hal Johnson and Joanne McLoud would agree.
- Ditch The Drive: If possible, walk to work – or bike. It’s something that will add that extra bit of activity into your routine, and will help you wake up and unwind from your day.
- Switch From Coffee To Tea: This one is hard, but if you can swing it – there’s plenty of benefits to ingesting tea (including keeping those teeth whiter!)
- Take A Multi Vitamin and Omega 3s: You won’t notice the benefits of taking both of these immediately, but after working them into your daily routine you’ll start to see your energy levels increase. Not to mention, Omegas do wonders for you hair, skin, and nails.
- Get 8 Hours Of Rest: Easier said than done, but if you make sure to go to bed earlier – or even sneak in a nap after work, your body is sure to thank you. After all, you can’t reach full potential unless your body feels rested.
- Indulge Yourself: It’s important to reward yourself regularly. Whether that’s a drumstick from the convenience store, a glass of wine after work, or a night out on the town – you need to make sure you’re enjoying yourself. Life isn’t about deprivation, it’s about moderation.
