Apple launched its iPad this week and made the media across the world go into a tizzy. The buzz that followed the launch was any PR professional’s dream come true – every one had something to say about the new Apple product.
7000 Apple tweets per minute during iPad announcement.
Thousands of technology journalists and bloggers across the World hooked to every word Steve Jobs had to say about his latest offering and a front page headline on most publications across the World.
A quick search on Google – is enough to showcase the media frenzy Apple unleashed with its recent product launch.
Over 6 Million coverages for its iPad is currently visible on the search engine of which more than 330,000 are mentions in blogs from all over…
Am I then surprised to hear a fellow tweeter tweet – “I would love to join the PR team of Apple – it is the easiest job on Earth.”
Looking at all the eyeballs Apple manages to get and all the tongues it sets rolling, I feel like agreeing with my tweet buddy. iPod, iPhone and now the iPad each outdid the other in terms of media coverage.
As a company Apple has always been tight lipped, which has worked for it in many ways. Speculations about its tablet PC were rife in the market, videos of its tablet PC were available on YouTube for over a month before the launch, yet it could not diminish the curiosity of the technology buffs and managed to take all by surprise.
While I would like to believe all this interest in Apple and its products is because of the great work and efforts put in by their marketing and communications team – in truth it’s not their doing, at least not ‘just’ their doing.
The real credit goes to the people behind the products Apple launches. They have managed to establish themselves as the creators of the most desirable products in the World – known for their cutting edge technology and exclusiveness, which every time manages to change the course of future technology.
Very rarely do you see the pride of owning a branded gadget like that among the Apple users.
Cynics can debate that despite the technology they were down in the dumps and almost on the verge of closure before they re-created themselves with the iPod, and yes there is truth in that – but then iPod was a success because of its technology and the way it managed to capture the imagination of music lovers all over.
Public Relations as a profession is a lot about creating that feel good fluff around your clients and their products, but for it to really make a mark it is important that the product in itself is good, of high quality and one which finds favor among its users.
At the end of the day, if the user experience is compromised, then how much ever good you write about it – the truth will finally find its way out.
I wouldn’t like to undermine the role PR professionals can play in creating the hype and building a company’s brand reputation – after all it’s my bread and butter.
But the truth is even if I were the best PR person in the World, with the best of media relations I would not be able to build the hype and keep it going if, the end product I was promoting was not good enough.
- Apple iPad
