The Anatomy of an Apple Product Launch.

Can Apple do anything without creating buzz? Hardly. Today they featured an event for two new MacBooks. The event and the build up to it was very similar to previous events they have hosted for new product launches. Below is the anatomy of an Apple product launch.

How a typical launch goes:

1. Apple announces event date and featured item.
2. The blogosphere goes crazy predicting what will happen.
3. Details of the event get leaked a few days early generating buzz online.
4. The event takes place. The top tech sites live blog from it. Bloggers wait for details to come out so they can chime in with their 2 cents.
5. After the event is over, it gets covered by thousands of outlets and bloggers.

See the review of the MacBook event here.

Hello, My name is...

In today's world of social media, I think there may be better ways to raise awareness about a cause you are passionate about. A 19-year old PETA intern formally known as Jennifer Thornburg recently changed her legal name to CutOutDissection.com (yes, it's a real website) in order to bring awareness to her protest against using animals for dissection in schools.

Somehow I really wonder if CutOutDissection.com will still like her name a few years from now. I think the idea of associating yourself very closely with a cause can be effective (ie Bono and ONE or AIDS), but not to the point where the best option is to change your name to a bizarre website address. Social media and viral marketing seem to be the best way to get a message across effectively, especially if it has the legs to support itself through relevance, importance, urgency, or strong truth.

Twitter Amber Alert

I was alerted to a new function of twitter today. Making use of the ability for information to spread quickly, an Amber Alert via twitter was sent out. It was retweeted hundreds of times, as you can see by the picture below.




If you live in South Carolina, check out the link here to see if you can help.