Review the case scenario illustrated below and answer the following questions.
Part I: Review of the IPhone.
What other messaging would be successful for the specific brand and why?
Part II: Please review of the Body Bugg.
What other new media tools could be added to the messaging strategy for the brand?
Please include at least one outside reference for each.
Part I – I-Phone Review
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
The product chosen for this analysis is the iPhone, from Apple Inc. The iPhone is a smartphone, which means it is enabled with internet and multimedia capabilities. The first iPhone was launched in 2007 by innovator and then CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs (Frommer, 2011; Snow, 2010). In 2011, Apple released the iPhone 4S, the fifth generation iPhone.
HOW PRODUCT FITS YOUR LIFESTYLE:
As a full-time manager at a non-profit human services organization, a full-time student, and a full-time husband and father of two, the iPhone fits perfectly with this author’s on-the-go lifestyle. It is not always necessary to be connected to a laptop when you have an iPhone and, therefore, busy lives can be somewhat grounded in the comfort that communication with coworkers, family, and clients, through email, text, phone, mediasharing, etc, is packed into one device that can be placed in your pocket and easily used anywhere from a waiting room to a hiking trail. Although Apple did not have the first phone with these capabilities, Apple did package it in a revolutionary way that greatly appealed to the average person, setting a precedent for aesthetics and user-friendliness in the smartphone sphere (Frommer, 2011).
TWO FEATURES OF THE PRODUCT & THEIR BENEFIT:
One of the many benefits of the iPhone is its touchscreen layout, which makes for a larger, easy to read display, and alleviates the need for a clumsy keyboard that takes up space (think BlackBerry). The enlarged display dimensions and the touchscreen together translate as benefits to the person who wants the extra space for reading comfort, as well as the ability to use a quick hand motion to change photo and browser size. It is a very different experience to use a finger to “flip” through photos or begin recording a video than looking for the button to do it.
Another great feature of the iPhone, which also supports its claim as revolutionary product, is that it is software driven. Apple has over 500,000 approved applications (apps), which offer the user a distinct, custom experience (Frommer, 2011). A favorite news channel or weather service, games, budgeting tools, GPS, social networking- whatever one needs or is interested in for their personal device- it is most likely there in the apps store.
COMPANY’S ADVERTISING APPEAL:
Part of Apple’s advertising is really focused on displaying the aesthetically pleasing features of the iPhone. Their website (see https://www.apple.com/iphone/) contains shiny images of the iPhone, with its nice lines, slim profile, and sharp screen image. Apple did a great job as well as building their brand, from what Mooradian, Matzler and Ring (2011) define as forward integration, or moving forward in the customer delivery process for strategic reasons. Apple has moved into its own retail space, in addition to that of mobile carriers. Additionally, previous CEO Steve Jobs, whose passion for innovation and creativity incited many to test their products, became a star CEO, which added to Apple’s overall image; he proved that technology can be exciting for techies and average users alike.
Apple also does a great job of television advertising, really supporting their product introduction through commercials that tout the newest iPhone’s features. For example, the iPhone 4S has a commercial that introduces Siri, the voice recognition feature that can respond intelligently to voice communication (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uS6d7fsPnM).
The Apple iPhone is a great example of a product that transforms features into customer benefits and does a great job of marketing those features.
References:
Frommer, Dan. (June 6, 2011). History lesson: How the iPhone changed smartphones forever.
Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-android-smartphones-2011-6?op=1
Mooradian, T. A., Matzler, K., & Ring, L. J. (2012). Strategic marketing. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Snow, Shane. (June 25, 2010). The history of the iPhone. Retrieved from
https://mashable.com/2010/06/25/history-of-the-iphone-infographic/
Part II – The Body Bugg Review
Product Description:
The description of the product is called the BodyBugg. The BodyBugg is a personal calorie management system that will enable you to keep track of your daily, weekly, monthly as well as yearly caloric intake in addition to the type of exercising that you do and the amount of calories that you burn during a specific workout (BODYBUGG. (2012).
How The product fits your life
How this product fits into my life is simple. It takes the guess work out of how long I have to work-out, how many calories I have burned total within a 24 hour period what I can and can’t eat in order to be able to lose a certain amount of weight.
Two features of the product and their benefit
The two awesome features that I truly love would be the feature that has it where as you can enter in the amount of weight you would like to lose and the amount of time that you would like to lose it in and then it will tell you what you need to do in order to get there.
For example I would like to lose 50 pounds within 7 months so the calculations will break down and show how many calories I should consume within a 24 hour period, and how many calories I should burn in order to reach my target goal for that day. Just say I fall short on Monday of the week I am always able to pick up my slack by doing extra on any other day to make up for what I didn’t do on Monday to keep me on track. The second feature is the online tool that goes with the product itself. Some may say that it is expensive, however when you are talking about your health It’s not expensive at all it is well worth it. You have to do everything with the band strapped to your arm because it reads your heart rate, and counts the steps that you take as well. We all know when your heart is elevated for more than 20 minutes and you are within a certain range depending on your age you are in a fat burning zone. This device will tell you how long you should be in that zone for optimal results.
Company’s advertising appeal:
The company’s advertising appeal would be geared towards individuals that are trying to get fit, stay fit and the ones that are thinking about getting fit and taking the guess work out of it. The first time I heard about the BodyBugg was on the Biggest Loser on NBC and I was shocked and amazed that a device would be able to do all that, however it couldn’t be more true. As we all know the contestant that are featured on the Biggest Loser are there for one reason only and the individuals that watch the show are watching for one reason and that is to get in shape and to find different ways of doing that. So the company’s advertising appeal has definitely hit a home run because their sales have flown off the charges since the Biggest Loser has made its first debut.
References:
BODYBUGG. (2012). Retrieved January 9, 2012, from https://www.bodybugg.com/