Smart, Smarter, Smartest?
A couple of buddies and I were talking about our respective smartphones the other day. We were comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the iPhone, Blackberry’s Storm, and the Google phone.
We came to the conclusion that the smartphone market is one iteration away from pleasing just about everybody…until something even smarter comes along.
When you think of how rapid the smartphone market has grown and changed, it’s pretty amazing. Even more impressive is the successful integrated marketing approach the major players have implemented:
- Clearly defined target markets and products developed to meet the specific wants and needs of each market: Young hipsters, progressive business leaders, multitasking creatives…it doesn’t seem to matter…there’s a new phone for everyone on a regular basis.
- Strong messaging across the board tweaked to maximize multiple marketing vehicles to ensure each target market is reached and influenced.
- Repetition of the message until we are either sick of ads, phrases become part of our vernacular, or both.
- Cool design, hyped and timely distribution…everything except great customer service…but that’s a whole other story.
It should be interesting to see how the current economic situation impacts these integrated marketing efforts as far as product development, distribution and messaging during a potentially prolonged recession.
Let’s hope things keep changing for the better like they have been the past few years. Maybe we’ll all have that next iteration–the smarter phone–well before our latest service agreement expires.