But none of these was the reason why the computer entered the house. I was just 12 years old and my parents had no idea about computers. The reason was Mr. Guy Kawasaki, born in Hawaii in 1954:
Guy Kawasaki started working at Apple Computer in 1983. He worked in the Macintosh marketing team for four years as chief evangelist. He returned again for Apple in 1995. The term evangelism was introduced by Mike Murray, another Apple worker. He convinced my neighbour to recommend Macintosh through evangelism.
What is evangelism? Well, it is a marketing technique that excites users about the quality of a product so much that they will start recommending it to others. Today, this technique is also known as trust channels in the talk, think and trust marketing. But evangelism was different, like a religion it had an spiritual part. Industry magazines and websites (there were no blogs) followed this model in its contents, increasing the readers loyalty to the brand and positioning them against the PC. Also, this strategy was reinforced with campaings like Think different. With such a cocktail you really ended thinking that you were saving your colleagues life by recommending Macintosh:
It was really nice while it lasted, and very effective. I admit being a victim of this strategy, even today I would sell you a classic Macintosh without thinking. But Windows 95 came out, free software grew up and everything ended. Personally I think it was a double-edged sword: it created a personal bond with the users, but when things went wrong many evangelists felt abandoned by Apple. I experienced this in Spain, where magazines like MacFormat, very focused on evangelism, had to close.
As you may remember. the firm did very badly until Steve Jobs returned, because Apple computers lost their advantage in innovation. About this Guy Kawasaki said in an interview that someone like Steve Jobs but with the incorrect ideas on what products to develop would ruin Apple. He also says that it is a miracle that Apple is still alive.
But what matters most to us is that Guy Kawasaki knew how to evangelise and sell. Nowadays he gives very good lectures and writes books for entrepreneurs:
What stands out about him is his transgressive style to introduce marketing concepts. With sentences like "Don't worry be crappy" meaning that you should release a new product fast to take competitive advantage or "Let one hundred flowers flourish", stating that when people starts using your product in ways that you did not expected you should take profit of it.
What do you think? Have you ever been a victim of evangelism? Have you ever had an annoying friend, victim of marketing?.
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