Thousands of people queued overnight to be among the first to buy it. Fans excitedly claimed it sold 100,000 units on its first day in stores. Internet bloggers dubbed it the ‘Jesus phone’ because it supposedly signalled a new era in communication.
There is no doubt that Apple Inc's iPhone 3G mobile phone was one of the most-hyped product launches of 2008, generating enormous publicity in the 22 countries (including Australia) in which it was launched on July 11.
It also appears to be one of the most successful. Apple refuses to release sales figures, but telecommunication industry executives estimate that Telstra, Vodafone, Optus and Virgin Mobile have sold about 100,000 iPhones over the past five months (not 100,000 on day one).
The iPhone was also the best new product of 2008, according to a survey of senior marketing and media executives conducted by The Australian Financial Review, scoring more than eight times the votes of what was judged the second-best new product of 2008, Patties Foods' Four'n Twenty Magic Salad Plate (a plate with plastic salad stuck to it and a space for a meat pie).
Paul Williams, chief executive of ad agency Belgiovane Williams Mackay, says: "When something is called the Jesus phone, it has to be on the list of the most successful new products of the year. The queue outside the Apple store on the day of its release says it all."
Although iPhone generated widespread editorial coverage before July 11, Apple Australia did not start marketing it until its launch date. Since then, it has run an extensive public relations and television advertising campaign, with Optus, Vodafone and the other telecommunications companies covering part of the cost of the TV campaign. The sales spiel that iPhone is more than a phone has been embraced by marketing and media executives (Apple has introduced about 10,000 software programs that can be run on iPhone).
One marketer says: "It turns the mobile phone into a media and communication tool with broad application. If any product can transform the way mobile phones are used, iPhone can."
An Apple Australia executive says the company is "very pleased" with the local sales of iPhone.
Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde estimates it has sold 40,000 units in Australia since July 11 and says sales have "dropped off sharply over the last few months". But industry executives say his estimate is too low and say it has sold about 100,000.
The third-best new product of 2008, according to the AFR survey, was United States president-elect Barack Obama. The internet-dominated campaign the Democrats ran this year was also named as the best marketing campaign of 2008.
Bill Obermeier, the former senior Telstra marketing executive who now runs Publicis Mojo's digital marketing business Myne, says: "Obama demonstrated for marketers everywhere the power of social networking and leveraging new media assets as part of an integrated marketing strategy."
Although Baz Luhrmann's movie Australia has fared badly in the United States, local marketers and media executives say its marketing campaign was one of the best of 2008.
(Mid-last week, Australia's worldwide box-office revenue was $US43 million, including $US33 million in the US. The movie cost $US130 million to make and distributor 20th Century Fox spent $US80 million marketing it).
Starcom MediaVest chief executive John Sintras says: "Australia has managed to weave itself into just about every other marketing campaign.
"If the movie isn't successful it won't be because of a lack of awareness or brand associations."
OMD chief executive Mark Coad agrees. "Like it or hate it, the set-up, hype and pre-promotion around the movie was amazing," he says.
Tourism Australia's decision to build a $40 million marketing campaign around Australia, including TV commercials made by Luhrmann and featuring one of the stars of the movie, also won fans.
Lee Stephens, chief executive of Aegis Media Pacific, which owns Carat, the media agency that holds the Tourism Australia account, says: "I'm biased, but Tourism Australia's partnership with Baz Luhrmann turned a $40 million campaign into a $300 million event.
"It's impossible to miss the campaign in Tourism Australia's key overseas markets."
The success of iPhone and growing popularity of 3G mobile phones fanned what marketing and media executives considered the most important consumer trend of 2008.
"The key trend this year was the growth in the number of people using their mobiles to go online, link with Facebook, do email and so on, making the mobile an even more significant personal medium," Obermeier says.
One of the key trends this year was "enoughism", which emerged in the United States and Europe last year and is gaining attention here.
Wayde Bull, planning director at the marketing firm Principals, says: "Enoughism is driven by people who are alarmed about the health of the planet, particularly the pervasive influence of materialism on their lives, and have decided to take personal responsibility and action.
"Enoughism is reflected in people switching things off, buying less stuff and seeking to reconnect with the simpler pleasures of life."
Brent Stewart, chief executive of global research company Synovate's Australia and New Zealand division and its global business planning head, says the rise of enoughism is not bad news for marketers.
"There will be a flight to quality among consumers and an emphasis on attributes such as durability, versatility and functionality," he says.
"Conspicuous consumption may well be replaced by responsible consumption. That will offer marketing opportunities: people will want to be seen doing the right thing and associated with brands and products which reflect their take on enoughism.
"Many savvy marketers are already on to this trend, as evidenced by the swag of "sustainable" products and campaigns hitting the market and some of the hideously expensive upscale products made from recyclable materials," Stewart says.
The best - Media and marketing executives’ views on 2008
Best new product
1 Apple iPhone
2 Four’n Twenty Magic Salad Plate
3 Barack Obama
4 Nestlé Green Blend coffee
5 Digital video recorders
Most important consumer trend
1 Growing use of 3G mobile phones
2 Rise of online social networking
3 Enoughism
4 Lack of confidence
5 Going back to basics
Best marketing campaign
1 Barack Obama
2 Australia, the movie
3 Tourism Australia’s link to Australia, the movie
4 Vodafone “Fold”
SOURCE: AFR SURVEY
