Why We Buy An Experience, Not a Product

One thing I've come to learn from working at a marketing research company and being generally aware of marketing strategies is that companies succeed when they don't try to sell the product. They succeed when they sell an experience, a lifestyle change, an emotion. Create a specific, desired emotion in your consumers regarding your product and you have locked them in in the highest degree. The iPad 2 sales have been far beyond expectations, with Apple selling every iPad they made in the 2nd quarter. And it's not like the iPad is the best thing ever or there aren't adequate alternatives. But it seems almost weekly I read a new article about a new market for the iPad, from aviators eschewing paper charts to hospitals opting for the ease of electronic document handling. Apple's iPad commercials (like most of their commercials) are stunning visually, span many capabilities of the product, and most importantly trigger basic human emotions. The commercials show artists engaged in creative pursuits, members of the military viewing ultrasounds as they happen, toddlers learning fine motor skills and the ease of creating personal photo albums, slideshows and home videos. The effect of the commercials is not "I want this high-end, incredibly functional tablet that's easy to use, portable and beautiful." The effect is "I want to remember family memories, advance myself, produce music and art and other things I love and see my newborn." The effects are non-tangible, Bunyan-like in their strength and are a real reason the iPad will continue to dominate.