"It's not only what you say, it's how you say it!"

Many people say this phrase in their daily lives, but this is mostly relevant for brands and businesses. When you think about brand or product categories, usually they are all trying to say the same thing. As products have become less and less differentiated because of the technological revolution, it is all down to the connection we build with brands.

If you think about it, even the most sophisticated products like smartphones and tablets now all do the same, look the same, and have the same contents available. So why does Apple sell more, charge more and people love it more? Because of the brand.


Essentially, Apple has developed a brand throughout the past years based on building a connection with its clients, on how they use and live the Apple products. It's not about what the products do, it's not about the price, it's not about the features... every other tablet in the world now does the same things (some even maybe better), but to the customers it doesn't matter!

It's all about what you say (not the old product centric advertising) but also how you say it! And Apple gets this in a very special way... The most recent IPad TV ad is an amazing recollection of inspiring ways that people use their IPads for such different things around the world. It is part of a larger campaign "Your verse" which tells inspiring stories of how people use IPad around the world... and how they're changing the world with it. The story is what people do with the product, the experience, not the product itself!

I'm quite sure that if any of the other tablet brands wanted to, they could find the same or even more interesting stories of how people use their products. But yet they are still emphasizing on the wrong things: price, specs and technical differences. This is the marketing and advertising of the new era, were people want meaning, not products.
People don't really care if they have to pay a little more, as long as you build that connection with them... the power of brands is that people can identify with them! So next time your competitor launches a new enhanced version of their product, if you haven't built that connection, your clients will just go to them to get the latest.

In summary, it's all about what you say (not your product) and how you say it (building emotional connections with the customers). People want to be inspired, connected and engaged with brands, but they will only do so if you build the right brand experience.