Baked In

Creating Products and Businesses That Market Themselves

AGATE Publishing, 2009

15 min read

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Use innovation to “bake” marketing into products so they will sell themselves.

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs approaches innovation with attitude, saying, “I want to put a ding in the universe.” Many would say Apple’s products have done exactly that, from the Mac to the iPad. Customers don’t just love Apple’s innovative gear – they become devoted members of its tribe. Apple’s products market themselves. Indeed, as Alex Bogusky and John Winsor put it, Apple “bakes” the marketing right into its products. In this charming, short book, they explain why innovation is the best marketing tool, why collaboration is the best approach to product design and why the Internet puts the customer firmly in charge (you’ll be all a-Twitter). getAbstract believes anyone involved in product development, branding and marketing could benefit from these concepts. The book is fun to read, from its whimsical illustrations to its succinct ideas: “Don’t just design what you see...design what you don’t see.”

Summary

Your Product’s Story

Products’ brand stories make promises to customers. But, too often, marketers don’t dig deeply enough to discover their products’ true stories, the telling narratives that should be at the heart of their branding and advertising. Instead, ad agencies use focus groups and other such tools to elicit narratives that represent only the wishful thinking of their test subjects. These illusions become the foundation of marketing plans that create product stories which turn out to be lies.

Instead of this flawed approach, marketers should “bake” consumers’ wishes and insights – and, thus, a marketing narrative – “right into a new product.” Such a product, one that is truly congruent with its story and its audience, can sell itself. In fact, the product and its marketing will be one and the same. This is not the traditional business approach. Since the Industrial Revolution, design and marketing have been “largely disconnected ideas.” Companies put everything into separate silos. Marketing and advertising are “strategic efforts,” the realm of CEOs and sales executives. Product development, which takes place at a much lower organizational level, is the ...

About the Authors

Alex Bogusky, an award-winning art director, is co-chairman of a creative agency recognized by Fast Company as one of the most innovative firms in the world. John Winsor is the firm’s vice president and executive director of strategy and innovation.

Alex Bogusky and John Winsor

Baked In

Creating Products and Businesses That Market Themselves

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Your Product’s Story

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