We’re less than a week away from Apple’s WWDC where Tim Cook prepares his last address to developers and creative marketers before moving to Executive Chairman.
His successor, John Ternus, was my preferred pick for CEO over Craig Federighi. At a high level at Apple and across verticals right now, AI’s the forcing function for a massive shift away from brand-led marketing campaigns toward product-led organizations.
And he’s the product leader. The Apple M series of chips is its most impactful and differentiated product since the iPhone. The M1 is six years old and runs everything but my AI software as well as the day I took it home. Generational product line. We aren’t talking about it enough.
AI isn’t the only catalyst for the age of product. Outside of a generational disaster of unforced errors in foreign policy and trade shooting prices of everything up, there’s a clear trend from brand to product. Price for value now matters. Being able to explain this succinctly matters. A product can’t be at parity in your space and rely on marketing campaigns to keep it top of mind anymore.
The average American wallet doesn’t seem to be opening for another bloated subscription or inflated cost of a discretionary expense. (Ask your friends at CPG companies, wine/liquor/beer retailers, restaurants how it’s going.) They also aren’t falling for packaging tricks and PR stunts/influencer partnerships that were more effective in a thriving economy. If you were an adult in 2008, your spidey senses are tingling.
While Apple’s always been great with brand, next year we’re going to see Apple’s launch of glasses (a Ternus project) and later this year the iPhone Fold (also a Ternus project). Think it will be slightly above Samsung’s version price-wise and have the built-in advantages of Sidecar and the software ecosystem.
I’m watching Apple because this is a company priced correctly on their actual revenues and EBITDA vs. a company like Anthropic (also a product-led company) whose current valuation doesn’t seem grounded in revenue reality.
My career’s in brand and social strategy, so this is a reality even I need to digest. Unless you’re building a product that can do what Apple is doing better or cheaper (since Ternus’ silicon effectively guarantees you aren’t beating them in “faster” for the money), a strong brand isn’t going to cut into that market share like it would have ten or twenty years ago.
Again, that’s true across most verticals. Brand’s always important but won’t be leading. If you have some doubts, ask your friends at DuoLingo. Ask your friends at CPG companies. Ask your friends working in spirits. Ask your CMO’s marketing budget.
You’ll find the answer’s the same as the title of this post.