Winner: 

Despite what most elected Republican officials are claiming, Michael Steele did not say the wrong thing.

Steele’s job is to lead the party.  He is doing it by staking out a tough and realistic position on the war in Afghanistan. 

Fact is, his job is to guide the party to a comprehensive strategy that will result in nationwide Republican victory.  An important part of building this strategy is looking beyond the immediate demands of local contests and the nervousness of politicians in tight contests (i.e., John McCain who has been one of Steele’s most vocal critics) who don’t want to rock the boat with controversial statements.

Steele knows that for the Republicans to win, they must appeal to a much bigger tent and many people in that bigger tent have serious questions about our fight in Afghanistan.

Bottom line, it’s good positioning to start drawing a distinction between the way Republicans might have handled the Afghanistan situation and the way President Obama is doing it.
 

Steele shouldn’t back down.

Instead, he should clarify what his role is as Party head and what he is trying to do for the party.   He must do this while also emphasizing that to raise doubts about the war is not to be against the troops.  And he must work harder behind the scenes to get politicians like McCain on board with the strategy –without their support he’s going to have a tough road ahead.

But Steele’s general approach is right.  If the Afghan strategy is wrong, the Republican Party must be seen to offer the American people an alternative.  That’s the party’s job when it’s in opposition and that’s the way the best marketing works.

Loser:

I have long praised Apple for its marketing genius, a genius that is so comprehensive it seems to be present in every aspect of the company’s operations.

Recently, I noted that Apple’s emphasis on marketing had propelled them into the Number 1 position of all tech companies.  But the praise came with caution because a little while before that momentous achievement, it was becoming clear that Apple was letting some arrogance creep into its operations.

The iPad was an amazing piece of hardware but it wasn’t able to play Flash.  Given the popularity of Flash this seemed to be a direct snub to its customers.  Arrogance spells death to good marketing because marketing requires humility to work.  In other words, marketing is always about meeting real needs well and never taking your customers for granted.

In the last few weeks, the Apple arrogance has been bearing some potentially toxic fruit. 

First, there have been the software glitch in the iPhone that overstates the signal strength –that kind of thing annoys and alienates customers and also casts doubt on Apple’s credibility (i.e., if this critical part is flawed, what else is?  Also there are doubts among consumers that Apple has even correctly identified the problem). 

Second, the rush to get their products to market seems to be implicated in the question marks around the troubled IPhone antenna.  

Third, I’ve been wondering whether Apple has overlooked the younger demographic with the iPad.  Sure, it’s been an exciting launch, but my research, purely informal polling at this point, suggests that the IPad doesn’t really appeal to the younger generation who seem to favor laptops.  Summer PC sales figures seem to back this up with PCs beating Apple in shipment numbers.

Fourth, competition is growing on all fronts from hardware like the PCs to music with Google’s entry into the field.  It is more vital than ever for Apple to remember that it was responsiveness to its’ customers’ needs that got them to where they are. 

Marketing problems and company declines usually don’t happen overnight.  Today Apple is in a great position, but it needs to pay attention to getting every aspect of its marketing right pronto.

And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.