While reading Neil Patel's 7 Marketing Stats That Changed the Way I Think About Marketing I watched Apple's video for the Vision Pro. Neil uses Apple's video to illustrate the need for "launches." I put launches in quotes because what Neil calls launches I think of as campaigns, but launches refers to the intense beginnings anything new needs as Neil explains:
In essence, they promote a product hard right before they are ready to sell it, as well as the day their product opens up for people to buy, and throughout the first week that their product is on the market.
Use Links Below to discover why the nine and a half minute video for the Apple Vision Pro is a masterclass in marketing your should learn and steal from.
Calm, confident, and unhurried capture my first impressions of Apple's almost ten-minute video about the Vision Pro. Apple doesn't worry about arbitrary benchmarks. Instead, they focus on telling a compelling story for three distinct target audiences:
Selling an expensive new technology is only possible with knowing your customers, target audiences, and personas. Apple's video speaks to Arthur C. Clarke's most famous quote from his 1962 Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Apple's narration embraces Clarke's quote while putting some "shock of the new" padding around it. The video opens with a beautiful animation followed by a simple declaration, Introducing the Apple Vision Pro. The era of spatial computing is here."
Great opening, but did you notice how quickly Apple follows with "familiar yet groundbreaking?" Apple knows confused and frightened customers do many things buying isn't one of them. Their marketing must walk a slender line between magic and familiarity. They calmly explain key "magical" intellectual property terms such as:
These phrases emphasize Apple's magic, but those terms get balanced by overtly emphasizing you, the gamer, worker, and fan of television and movies who aspires to be your best self. Clarke would be correct, and Apple's Vision Pro would be more frightening than desired.
I lost count of how many times Apple says "you" in their copy, but their emphasis on "your unique features," things "you control," "your eyes" as they (images) "wrap around you," and using other Apple products users know and love such as their short but significant references to the Apple Watch and iMac balance the magic of new with the familiarity of "you."
In a Yale study, you ranked as the No. 1 most influential power word in English. You shows compassion and empathy, which are at the heart of persuasive speech. The only way to boost the power of you is by using the person's name. "You know it's true, [name]" makes your pitch suddenly very meaningful. 7 Powerful Words That Instantly Get You What You Want, Inc
In a Yale study, you ranked as the No. 1 most influential power word in English. You shows compassion and empathy, which are at the heart of persuasive speech. The only way to boost the power of you is by using the person's name. "You know it's true, [name]" makes your pitch suddenly very meaningful.
7 Powerful Words That Instantly Get You What You Want, Inc
Merlin's magic without you, the movie fan, gamer, and memory maker on the other side makes Apple's magic feel indistinguishable and scary. Apple's script follows Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey." Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" is a work of comparative mythology published in 1949. Campbell discusses the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies. This journey has come to be known as the "Hero's Journey."
The Hero's Journey, as Campbell describes it, has three main stages:
Departure The hero departs from their familiar world after receiving a call to adventure. They may initially refuse this call, but eventually, they cross the threshold into an unknown realm, often after meeting a mentor.
Initiation The hero undergoes a series of trials and tribulations, facing challenges and overcoming obstacles. They encounter allies and enemies, experience revelation and transformation, and eventually confront their greatest fear or challenge (often referred to as the "abyss" or "ordeal").
Return Having achieved their goal—often some form of knowledge or a physical token—the hero must return to the ordinary world. Return can involve further trials and the need to reconcile their old life with the changes they've undergone. The hero may become a teacher or leader, sharing their bounty with others.
The "mentor" or guide for our Apple Vision Pro adventure is the company with the circular headquarters in Cupertino. The hero's journey sounds and feels familiar because you've seen it in movies from Star Wars to Top Gun and the reluctant hero's return as an influential leader, a common meme your marketing would be wise to steal.
Share what you learned, like, or dislike about Apple's Vision Pro video and I'll add your voice to mine.
martin (at) wte.net Martin Wescott Smith (on LinkedIn) 919.360.1224