It’s not everyday that a huge marketing machine like Apple has a big event in the Southern Hemisphere, and this week it was one of those ’special’ moments. Apple was opening the second biggest Apple Store in the world and I was in the queue watching marketing at work.
Apple Store Sydney Opening
Two years in the making, a big dose of interwebs hype and media attention for 4,000 people queuing in the rain to be the first people through the doors of Sydney’s new Apple store.
I was within the first 500 in the queue, hanging-out with other Apple fans from around the globe. Just in front of me, a group of school kids, excited to be part of an Apple event for the first time, recounting stories about the time when they got their first ipod and their first iBook.
I first started using the Apple Macintosh, over twenty years ago – in a time before these kids were born! I remember getting goose-pimples when I saw the first Macintosh – the Lisa – on the TV. I recall thinking “this is nothing like the Apple IIe, it’s going to change the world”. A grand thought for a 14-year old.
My school got a Mac just a few weeks later and my world changed forever.
A lot of people ask what is it that draws these people, sometimes from the other side of the world, to an opening of a store. There are no new products on offer, and there were no secret announcements. Just a cheap – but effective – limited edition t-shirt for each person through the door.
I wasn’t queuing for the shirt, a new product or some promise of a secret announcement. I went to experience how Apple markets something like the Apple store. I went to experience the queue as well as the store.
Most sane people would not queue for street blocks, waiting hours in the rain just to see a new store. But this is no ordinary store. It’s an Apple Store. It’s special, more attractive and somehow deserving of the wait.
Perhaps it was how long we’ve had to wait for a store like this in Australia, maybe it was the build up and plans under wraps, but never have I seen this type of cult-like following for the opening of a store. It was a remarkable sight.
My wait in the queue taught me that strong brands can get people to do things out of the ordinary and it showed me that smart marketers can tap otherwise hidden opportunities when these extraordinary events happen.
While I waited in a queue I witnessed music stores, sports stores and even recruitment agents handing out flyers to the sitting ducks behind carefully constructed barricades. No message, no shared enthusiasm, simply an opportunity to hand out pieces of paper to people with no attempt to connect.
A coffee vendor passed by offering free coffee with a friendly smile. The coffee certainly went down well, but I couldn’t tell you the name of the vendor who gave it to me.
The best marketing I witnessed was from Nudie – a niche crushed fruit juice maker with a name that always makes me smile. They were handing out product by the handful to the waiting crowd. What made it special was they connected with the crowd. The people handing over the drinks had beaming smiles and were brimming with enthusiasm. Their message was creative and hit the spot with the people who were waiting:
“Nudie loves Apples too!”
What wonderful brand alignment. They met my need, and with a simple message aligned their brand of juice with the buzz, excitement and brand of Apple.
And the juice didn’t taste too bad either!
Now, it rained on the opening night and what happens next is the missed opportunity.
Apple were giving out umbrellas to people queuing and then recycling them back out into the crowd once people were inside.
For customers who had been inside, and shopped, and shared the love there were no umbrellas for the trip home. What a huge oversight! For me it was a bit like the caring, the cheering and the love stopped when you walked out the door.
Apple missed a huge opportunity to send a very powerful message that they care as much about their customers as their customers care about them.
Now, Telstra have their flagship mobile phone concept store right across the road from Apple. Imagine if Telstra turned up on the footpath to meet exiting customers with an umbrella.
It just gets you thinking…
