Marketing 101: Enlighten the customer

My dad was in the market for a new cellphone and had come under the spell of Apple’s impressive marketing campaign.
“You can browse the Web on it!” he said excitedly before expounding on the iPhone’s other eye-catching capabilities, including an impressive media player and a cool mapping application. “You can take photos and upload them to the Internet from the phone!”
Well, yeah, I acknowledged. “But you can probably do that stuff on the phone you already have. I can do them on my crappy free phone.”
Really? he asked.
Sigh. Steve Jobs’ marketing wizardry had managed to convince Dad not only that the iPhone is a fully connected multimedia computer in miniature – which, of course, it is – but also that it’s the only such device on the market.
Now, my father is no Luddite. His fully-loaded iPod accompanies him everywhere, and he can argue at length the virtues of Macs vs. PCs. An amateur photog, he’s constantly e-mailing the latest shots taken with his high-tech digital SLR. But he had been unaware that most mass-market, bargain-basement phones could also be used to check box scores, send e-mail and upload images.
That lack of understanding is pervasive among U.S. mobile users. And carriers seem uninterested in trying to enlighten their customers, opting instead to focus on networks and price points. Verizon Wireless’s latest commercial touts its all-you-can-talk plan, T-Mobile plugs its myFaves and AT&T Mobility continues to brag that it offers “more bars in more places.” (Kudos for AT&T’s most recent spots, though. “Shooting tiny hoops with the townies” is a hilarious line, and can you really call someone a “dill weed” on TV?)
The iPhone is a game-changing device, of course. A revolutionary user interface, the Safari browser and a sexy design help the handset match – or even exceed – the iPod’s coolness quotient. Those factors help explain why 85% of iPhone users browse the Web on their device, according to M:Metrics – dwarfing the 13% of average wireless subscribers – and why developers see the iPhone as a life raft in the turbulent mobile gaming waters.
But the biggest reason the iPhone is serving as a catalyst for mobile entertainment revenues has nothing to do with cutting-edge technology or sleek lines. Apple’s blockbuster ad campaign has succeeded where the wireless industry fears to tread: in letting users know that they can access the Internet or share content from a mobile device.
Carriers can continue to market themselves as cut-rate telephone companies that deliver spectacular voice services. But doing so will only ensure that customers see them as such at a time when players like Apple, Google and others strive to become wireless media companies.