The Evolution of Tech Marketing: From Product Features to Lifestyle Marketing

In the 80s, marketing of tech products was focused largely on the merits of the technology itself. The 90s brought about a new wave of technological advancements, including the PC, the internet, and the mobile phone. Along with these novel products came the popularity of celebrity advertisements. 

Somewhere along the line, technology marketing moved away from primarily focusing on product features. Ads began to appeal to consumers' emotions, marketing these products within the context of a broader idyllic lifestyle. 

Apple was one of the first and most notable to make this shift away from product-based marketing. Interestingly, in the 90s, when celebrity endorsements were becoming popular for tech products, Apple did something different. Rather than employing celebrity endorsements, they showed company support for celebrities themselves. This helped to establish Apple as a well-rounded, lifestyle brand, which was a novel idea in the world of tech. 

“Think Different:” Apple Creates a New Blueprint for Tech Marketing 

In 1997, Apple debuted its “Think Different” campaign that focused on the values and ideals of creativity and innovation, rather than particular product features. The ad ran until 2002 and was wildly successful. Within the first year of the campaign’s release, Apple’s stock price had tripled, despite having released no new products. The ad showed black and white photos of renowned innovators, ranging from Albert Einstein to John Lennon. 

Created to communicate brand values, the campaign images appealed to customer’s emotions and helped to establish Apple as the innovator. But what’s key is that “Think Different” didn’t establish Apple as a market leader because of one revolutionary flagship device. Rather Apple’s dominance was solidified through this larger-than-life aspirational ideal that they were able to capture in this campaign. 

The 2000s Onward: Apple Solidifies Lifestyle Branding

With the burst of the dot com bubble, advertising spending for tech companies in the early 2000s drastically dropped off. This was also the decade in which Apple released two new products: the iPod and the iPhone. Advertising for the iMac, released in the late 90s, was also prevalent during the 2000s.   

Apple released an ad for the iMac in 2006, which they contrasted with a less advanced PC. The ad personified the PC as an older, conservative, and socially awkward man, whereas the iMac was represented by a younger, cooler, and more interesting guy. The ad was a massive hit. It quite literally took on the question: who do you want to be, and how does your computer reflect directly on who you are as a person? 

Apple has led this shift toward lifestyle marketing, and has set the precedent for others to do the same, both in and out of the tech industry. In addition to their creative advertisements, Apple has also done an incredible job of creating a technological ecosystem. This means that Apple products seamlessly integrate with their other products, and not so much with different brands. This feeds into the idea that Apple supports an all-encompassing lifestyle. 

An Age-Old Battle: Apple Vs. Android 

Androids, often regarded as the primary alternative to iPhones, have generally focused on accessibility, variety, and product features, rather than building intense customer loyalty and lifestyle branding. 

Android users are more evenly distributed across all age categories, whereas Apple has a strong presence in the 35-44 age category. Android also tends to appeal to a wider economic bracket, whereas Apple appeals generally to those in a higher financial bracket. Due to this wider consumer demographic, Androids tend to offer more options that fit diverse consumer preferences, rather than attempting to mold consumer preferences to their designs. Androids advertise variety, emphasizing the range of devices and features, and contrasting with Apple’s sleek and minimalist designs, which tend to vary little between models. For Apple, this device line gives a streamlined image of products and their accompanying lifestyle. 

Androids also tend to market more toward tech enthusiasts, rather than brand loyalists, so there may be more of a focus on the novel technological features of their products, rather than an appeal to the polished ideal of innovation. By these measures, if Apple epitomizes lifestyle marketing, Androids focus more on functionality and product-feature marketing. 

Balancing Emotional Appeal and Innovation 

Companies such as Airbnb have also shifted away from feature-based, descriptive marketing, harnessing more of an emotional appeal. Airbnb changed its tagline from “Find a place to stay” to “Welcome home.” The first motto succinctly describes Airbnb’s services– put simply: places to stay. The revised tagline appeals to the sentimental connotations of the word ‘home.’ It gives the impression that Airbnb is more than a place to stay. 

This broader transition into lifestyle branding has made sense for brands like Apple and AirBnb. As technology has become an increasingly integrated part of our day-to-day lives, it can more seamlessly be embedded into a lifestyle vision. 

Other brands have straddled this line more closely, highlighting the innovation of their products, while also marketing them as part of a broader lifestyle. As new technologies emerge, there is naturally a pull for each company to assert the favorability of theirs. As the cycles of innovation in Silicon Valley bring about new and exciting technologies, AI being the latest wave of disruptive breakthroughs, companies such as Apple, Google, and Meta all compete to make theirs the best, and favored by consumers. 

With these companies coming out with consumer-focused AI tools, their marketing will be feature-based, especially when their products seem quite similar to first-time buyers. For example, Meta’s Quest Pro and Apple’s Vision Pro are competing in a novel market of VR for the masses. While both brands still appeal to customers’ emotions and utilize lifestyle marketing, there is also a precedent for increased education as to product features and differentiation between alternate models. 

Storytelling Underpins Lifestyle Marketing 

Technology brands are increasingly recognizing the power of storytelling. This is something Magnet has also identified as key to marketing and brand-building. Especially when launching a new product, describing its benefits and points of differentiation is crucial. But it is also powerful in helping consumers envision their life with this product. 

Lifestyle marketing, made possible through strategic storytelling, can help foster a community of like-minded individuals. It is that community that can help create brand loyalty, establish market niches, and build household names.

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