International Marketing Study Program 2004
Apple Computer
22 January 2004
We were very privileged to be invited to visit Apple in New York. This was the first time that the Monash University Study Tour had visited the company. It was a very beneficial visit which allowed us to obtain rich insights into the operations of a very customer oriented brand.
The day was very effectively organised by Julia Bushyhead (Business Development Specialist) who had arranged 4 presentations. Each presentation was designed to assist us with our specific areas of study including advertising, branding, relationship marketing and marketing orientation. The presenters were really enthusiastic about answering as many of our questions as they could, which impressed all of us.
The first presenter was Patrick Dennard (Account Executive) who gave us an overview of Apple and its history. He went into details about Apple's core strengths, vision, consumers, as well as how Apple is slowly regaining its market share.
The next presenter was George Blankenship (Vice President of Retail Real-Estate) who talked about Apple's retailing strategies and the company's concept stores. His enthusiasm, passion and talent in his position provided an insightful understanding of the company's culture. He talked about how they communicate the organisation's message to their consumers using their concept stores to build brand equity.
After George's presentation, a delicious lunch was provided in one of their conference rooms where it enabled us to have an informal chat with George and Julia. We were also treated with a magnificent view of New York City from the conference room!
Kelvin Boland (Consulting Engineer) was the next presenter. He talked about the technical side of Apple computers which gave us all a greater appreciation of how Apple computers are made and the difference between the brands. We now know a lot about computers!
We then had a very exciting presentation via a video conference with Grace Kvamme (iTunes Product Manager). We talked with her about Apple's newest innovation - the iPod. With Grace, we discussed iPod's increasing popularity, reasons behind it, market trends and their advertising strategies.
After bidding farewell, some of us went to visit the Apple concept store in Soho. Their stores are amazing and we now can't wait till they come to Australia!
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