Archive of ‘Marketing‘

I think some people forget that marketing doesn’t end at promotions. Apparently, someone at Apple did too.

In the early days of the iPod, you had commercials of silhouettes spinning, flipping off walls, and moving in every possible way to their favourite tunes, all through their Apple earbuds. It was a great creative that made the most visible aspect of the iPod and iPhone experience – the earbuds – the most prominent, making them an icon for Apple and a huge awareness opportunity.

Why spend money on advertising when you can have your customers handle awareness for you? It was the perfect setup – or could have been, had the earbuds not sucked (and continue to suck). Poorly-fitted, tinny sounding, and tethered by a short wire, I’d choose any number of other headphones before I chose one from Apple. Premium headphones exist, but they’re little-known and for the price, you might as well splurge on something more established.

So what’s Apple’s excuse? Yes, you have manufacturing costs, but as a premium-priced product, any iPod markup could have easily swallowed the cost for better headphones.

Such a waste.

Back in September, I was one of the winners for Blenz’s SuperTweetWeek, nabbing myself a sweet $25.00 gift card. Time passed, the card never arrived, and all was forgotten – until this Monday, when I tweeted my situation.

In less than a day, the lovely Linda Olsen responded the following:

The very next day, the card arrived, with a letter (pictured above), signed by George Moen (the president of Blenz) himself.

It’s frustrating that a coffee shop treats me better than companies who have several thousand dollars worth of my business. That said, it’s that’s kind of attention that makes Blenz great; they really know how to appreciate and take care of their customers – even when giving away free swag. Thanks for being awesome, Blenz!

Do you love Blenz? First person (in Vancouver) to comment gets a free Blenz coffee on me!

While I was cleaning my inbox, this AdSense unit popped up:

“Sony’s eBook Reader – Re-kindle your love for reading Complimentary custom engraving!”

Re-KINDLE. Hah. The word-play geek in me is pleased. Well played, Sony marketing. Well played.