Pricing and Distribution Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Pricing and Distribution Strategy - Essay Example Conceptually the Ad’s must be considered the benchmark for any successful product campaign as the Apple iPhone has defined the smart phone market in the United States for the better part of a decade. No carrier or manufacturer had ever managed to expose any vulnerability in Apple’s iPhone and its advertising strategy, until Micromax teamed up with Android OS to produce an â€Å"iPhone killer† advertisement. Introduction: â€Å"You don’t buy a smartphone, you buy an iPhone.† This is the Apple mantra; it is the capstone of their entire advertising and marketing campaign. Apple isn’t content with being a leader in sales alone; they want to own the market. The iPhone wasn’t the first phone, but they engineered it to be so unique that you couldn’t help but think it was. Apple introduced a concept of innovating ergonomics that could be marketed in simple dynamic visual ads that affected consumer perceptions of their products, and ulti mately allowed Apple to dominate the entire smart phone market segment. Such was the state of the smart phone universe until October 2011. The iPhone 4S was unveiled at Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" event on October 4, 2011, on the Apple Campus in Cupertino, California.( Chaffin, 2011) With the usual pomp and circumstance Apple rolled out its standard new product campaign in a typically â€Å"Apple fashion†.( Chaffin, 2011) As iPhone 4s sales commenced on October 7, 2011 Apple prepped a One Half page Top Fold Advertisement to run in the USA Today on Sunday October 9, 2011. Following the Apple print ad Micromax and Android OS rolled out a Full Page print ad in the exact ad space within the USA Today on Sunday October 16, 2011. These two ads are the focus of this paper and represent the proverbial yen and yang of the battle between Apple and its competitors for the smart phone universe. While Apple’s ad followed its dynamic marketing strategy, the Micromax and Android Adve rtisement exposed a hugely successful tactic that could be deployed to counter the iPhones dominance in the market. II.The Advertisements Comparison/Contrast: The Apple â€Å"Fasten Your Seatbelt† Print Ad from October 9, 2011: The Apple iPhone 4s Advertisement follows a traditional â€Å"Apple† philosophy: It’s not so much the marketing angle that matters as it is the way that people identify with that angle. The Ad itself is a clean Picture-Window Layout featuring the sleek sexy iPhone as the center feature of the Ad. The theme, copy brilliance and wit of the Ad are more important than layout. Apple takes the basic ideas of Doyle Bernibach and enhances them around the architecture (Beasley, 2002) of the iPhone as a product. The simplicity and execution of the Ad creates a contextualization of the product for the consumer (Beasley, 2002), it successfully builds upon the aura of the iPhone and Apple with a â€Å"New† and â€Å"Faster† sales hook th at captures consumer’s attention and presents a clear call to action that motivates current iPhone and Smart phone owners to upgrade to the iPhone 4s. The Micromax and Android OS â€Å"I CAN’T† Counter Ad from October 16, 2011. The Micromax Advertisement is a variation on the frame layout in which kidney-shaped copy is spread over a large portion of the layout, creating a cul-de-sac of white in which the headline and product are placed. (Altstiel, 2005) The Copy type is reversed in non-patterned or plain-toned areas to allow the consumer to first focus on the headline, then