Apple: Why less is more when it comes to strategy

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BE WARY OF COMPLEXITY

Want to know one of the biggest threats to business growth? Complexity. Time & time again I have seen companies fall into the same trap. They try to create too many product variants, stand for too many things & land too many messages. Yet this is a dangerous game to play. Let me show you why with a brilliant example from Apple.

Apple is one of the most successful companies and iconic brands of today. Yet this wasn’t always the case. In 1985 Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded. And following his departure it didn’t take long for the company to suffer at the hands of complexity.

At a business level, Apple shifted from making a few brilliant products to creating an almost endless array of undesired new innovations. They tried to ride on the coattails of the Apple II’s success with a boatload of spin-offs and variants. They also experimented with new products, such as the Apple Newton, which was a total failure. Why was all of this so unsuccessful? Complexity. The company had become obsessed with creating lots of new things and forgot a simple truth - build products people want first, and innovate second.

At a brand level, Apple also lost sight of its purpose and its reason for being in the world. A constant pipeline of new products saw the company default to an endless array of disparate product-focused communications. In short, the brand was overly complex and almost schizophrenic in how it talked and behaved.

THE POWER OF SIMPLICITY

Thankfully Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997. And what was one of the most effective things he did? Embrace simplicity.

He went back to basics. He peeled back the layers of complexity and got to the heart of what made Apple great and distinct in their category. At a business level, he cut around 70% of Apple's new product lines and focused all the company’s efforts on developing one brilliant product, in two variants. What was it? The iconic Apple Macbook and desktop. The very one that evolved, over time, to become one of the best-selling range of computers in the world.

This simplicity of product, also enabled the company, to bring greater clarity to its brand. They realised they could not afford to compete with other technology companies, with far greater resources, head one. They realised they if they ‘wanted to win the game’ they had to play by different rules. Looking at their new range of products, and who historically bought Apple products, a powerful truth revealed itself. A truth that revealed they were not just another company selling technology. Rather, they were a company that makes tools for creative minds. This shift in strategy enabled them to build a brand that was far more distinct and unique in the category.

This focus on building tools for creative minds also paved the way for a more simplistic and lucrative line of product innovations. Leading to the hugely successful iPod, iTunes, Apple Music and Apple TV. All products that other technology companies failed to see coming and whose brands were not set up to own.

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CONCLUSION

No matter whether you are a startup creating a new snack brand or a big tech company, complexity is one of the greatest threats to effective strategy. Yet as many of us are forced to navigate office politics, meet quarterly sales targets or catch up with our competitors it can be a trap all too easy to fall into.

Yet in those moments when complexity rears its head, remember brands such as Apple, Liquid Death & Tesla. Each a hugely successful company that established themself with a simple business offering and brand point of view on the world.

Have a lovely Easter.

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Expect big thinking & small typ0s because i'm #MadeByDyslexia 

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Will Poskett

Co-Founder Defiant