Colors, Brands, and Competition
November 27, 2005
I almost never think anything in business is a zero-sum game, least of all intangible things like branding or aesthetics. But some part of me thinks that a lot of last year's success of the Livestrong brand (and those ubiquitous bracelets) must have come at the expense of the sales of NYPD and FDNY gear. There may only be room in the public consciousness for one "public empathy" brand, and if so, that would also explain why so many of the other attempts at making colored bracelets haven't succeeded.
Also, given that the Livestrong yellow color took off last year at the same time that the iPod was ascending to its status as a cultural icon, how come nobody at Apple wanted to pair up and make a bright yellow iPod? Half the iPods available today come in black, so the white color's already not as pure a representation of iPods anyway, and safety yellow is probably the only color that's as high-impact as white.
There's also a lot of missed opportunities for third parties: one thing that amazes me about iPod headphones is that the cheap knockoff audio brands that I see at airports (I'm looking at you, Coby...) still aren't selling generic white earbuds with their low-end products. People who are deciding between two identical $30 CD players at an airport would probably choose the one with the white headphones if it means they might get mistaken for one of the cool kids. And losing the monopoly on white headphones (which still doesn't seem to have happened, despite the PSP using white phones) would actually force Apple to innovate on their iPod marketing, which has pretty much stagnated since they switched from first-person testimonials in front of a white screen to dancing silhouettes.
There's a real challenge there... what do you do with the white headphones in ads if most iPods being sold don't have them? Cordless headphones, black earbuds, the entire iconography of iPod ads could be obsolete in a year if Apple's product team wanted to make that happen. And they'll need to be ready for the inevitable backlash, once the iPod has truly reached its saturation point (meaning the people who are on their second or third iPods start to get upgrade fatigue) and people are hungry for a new visual to go along with the player.
Maybe they could find a way to make owning an iPod seem like it'll cure cancer.
11:18 PM
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I agree with your views but i think that making an ipod yellow would force it to change its endorsement from white to yellow. The point will ipod have sold more of they had been yellow? I think not. Firstly, It was still selling amazingly well. Secondly, one could make money from the livestrong association only if all the people who were buying livestrong would be potential buyers for ipods. I believe some of them would be but having a yellow ipod maynot endorse livestrong brand (since they developed a niche with wristbands).
Although i do think the points that you brought could still bring up some interesting results.
HP tried to ride the Livestrong coat-tails:
www.hp.com/go/livestrong
But you're right that a yellow iPod tie-in would have been 100 times more effective.
There's a great Lenny Henry sketch where he talks about how everyone has white earphones now. It went something along the lines of "Poor kids are painting their regular earphones with Tipex and REALLY poor kids are sticking together bits of string and acorns!"
That said, I do actually know someone who bought iPod earphones off eBay -- she doesn't have an iPod, just the earphones because they're a status symbol!
i think product tweaks to enhance brand association, and potentially drive strategic business relationships, are intelligent moves for a customer-centric brands. the trick is to know which ones. in this case, i think you highlighted an interesting missed opportunity.
it has been killing me that no one else has copied the white headphones! how long was it before every company who made a mac compatible product (and many who didn't) copied the imac colors/look? it seems like just a matter of time before things go white for the same reason: mac is just that cool. i also recently noticed a pic (in a NY Times style article) of the sky train in bangkok. the train is wrapped in ipod ads.
and like a cancer, it spreads...
I thought you were going somewhere else with this. I thought you were going to say someone should have started selling Yellow LiveStrong earbuds, maybe even Apple.
The white iPods are "iconic", the other colored ones are less so. Ergo the white iPod's use in commercials.
Apple should have made a series of limited edition LiveStrong iPods distinct from their main line, much like the U2 iPods. Their exterior would have been coated in a similar yellow rubber as the bracelet with the words "LiveStrong" embedded in the material. Apple would then donate some of the proceeds to the Lance Armstrong Foundation; they likely could have gone so far as to charge a premium price for these and had the premium and a bit more go to the foundation for each sale. Not only would this have been a good PR move by Apple, I'm willing to bet the LiveStrong iPods would have quickly become coveted items.
Umm, Apple's classy - they don't try too hard - it all comes easily to them. That's why people love them.
Piggyback riding any cause seems pretty kitschy if you are making the kind of money Apple is. So I am glad they didn't do the yellow.
But I too would honestly love to see Apple move beyond the whole "white" earplugs thing (even if it takes cheap imitations). Apple does need a new visual - the whole "slim, ultra-portable, white mp3 player" thang is cold. Dammit you're right.
Where can Apple go with its visual/creative?
Get funny.
I think everyone knows the USP of the thing - so stop hammering it and play up your brand now. Make people love the brand. Sony and Honda (power of dreams) are pretty good at it.
Inside my head I see an ad that ends with a whisper "Got Apple?"
Yeah, something like that.
Regarding a possible Livestrong tie-in: What if a third party made some sort of agreement to manufacture a yellow silicone case? While I wouldn't purchase an entirely yellow iPod, I would consider a Livestrong-branded iskin.