The LAN of Milk and Honey

“I very much believe the Internet is indeed all it is cracked up to be” - Jeff Bezos

The internet is one of the few things in the world that is just as impressive as people say it is. A massive, singular avenue of information accessible by anyone from anywhere around the world. The internet is a worldwide library, a mailing system, a music player, a video player, and just about anything else. The internet is predicted to eventually extend into every aspect of our lives in a concept known as the ‘Internet of Things’. The world is near an age where it is possible that doors will unlock when they sense us nearby, our coffee makers will connect to our alarm clocks, and much more. Technology progressively continues to make the customer’s life easier, streamlined, and neat. This trend of simplicity and connectivity is reflected in the design of modern websites, internet ads, and videos. If companies want to stay on top, they must follow suit.

Before Apple’s successful marketing campaign, simplicity in technology was not a priority. In fact, showing the complexity of the machine was actually something to brag about. People wanted to see all the wires and buttons! Television designers dreamed of wild technology of the future with hundreds, if not thousands, of buttons to press, (which can be seen in the set designs of shows like Star Trek, Doctor Who, or Star Wars). However, as technology progressed, and the internet became more prevalent in our everyday lives, it was not the grand scale complexity that society craved, but a single button. This single button can solve all your problems, it promised. People no longer desire grand gestures, they want something sleek, sophisticated, and easy. Apple facilitated this change in with what turned out to be an incredibly effective marketing strategy.

Publicist Ken Segall, who worked with Steve Jobs at Next (the company Jobs created after Apple fired him), says, “Apple revolutionized the business of PCs, music, telephones, and Tablet because everything revolved around the search for simplicity.” They did what no one else was doing, and it worked. People bought into not just the product, which was genuine of good quality, but into the experience; the class that came with an Apple product.

Neil Patel, one of Forbes’s top ten marketers, explains Apple’s marketing strategy using layers. At the center of most companies, there is a ‘what’ layer, (what they sell). There is a ‘how’ lay (how it is a good product, what features make it better), and finally, a ‘why’ layer (why you should buy the product). Unlike most companies, Apple starts with the ‘why’ layer. At the center of the company lies their values; ‘think different,’ for example. Then, the ‘how’ layer (we help people to be different and creative and etc. by designing user-friendly, sleek products). On the outside lies the ‘what’ (they also make pretty nice computers). By focusing their company around an idea, when people buy the product, they don’t just buy the product, they feel like they participated in something grand and creative.

In Victorian France, aristocrats kept up expansive lawns to prove that they had enough money to own land and not use it. Simplicity follows a similar mindset. Decades of hard work and coding is reduced to a single button and a screen that fits in your hand. It looks beautiful and easy like it ought to be that way. You do not necessarily purchase the lawn because you need one (although it is nice and useful) but because it's comforting to be known as the sort of person who owns a lawn.

Simplicity in 2020 is necessary for web and ad design. The tide has come too far to turn back and 75% of consumers admit that they judge a business’s credibility based on their website design. If a website is confusing, jumbled, or old fashioned, they will probably exit out, which will seriously impact the potential for business. However, it is not enough to have a user-friendly layout (although that certainly helps). Given Apple’s success, it only makes sense to imitate their strategy. Simplicity worked for Apple because it had an air of mystery and it gave the customer a sense of value. Traveling companies can do the same by selling value rather than a product.

On the surface, a traveling agency’s ‘what’ might be ‘helping people travel’. The ‘how’ is booking tickets, finding hotels, getting taxis, and whatever is necessary to make for a good trip. The ‘why’ might be, ‘it’s difficult to plan a trip and we make it simpler.’ But if instead of having the ‘what’ at the center, what if the ‘why’ is?

A company with a central value does better than one with products at the center. The travel agency isn’t selling a trip, it is selling the experience, the elitism of adventure, and curiosity. By working with the company, the customers could feel as if they are a certain type of person; a person with dignity and eccentricity, or whatever the company decided. This is the method Apple uses to market its products, and travel agencies could do so just as well.

It is necessary to implement values and simplicity in web design, ad design, and video. The internet has opened up a range of abilities for marketers, but because there are so many ads, it is necessary to be better than everyone else, to stand away from the rest, in order to be noticed. Pop up ads are regarded as one of the most irritating things on earth, and they are not an effective use of the internet. Focusing on the wellbeing of the customer, their experience, and the simplicity by which they can use the product, yields greater results.