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How Would You Save Apple?
Flaming Pie Revelation
by MattLesAus

The following was revealed to me in a dream by a man eating a flaming pie:

1) Apple needs a name-brand CEO with charisma, a good marketing background and or a big mouth who is also willing to work for minimum wage and gizillions of stock options. Short list: Ross Perot, Michael Ovitz, Lee Iacocca, Joel Gray, Stephen Covey, or that guy who coaches the Miami Heat.

2) More marketing. They should try to emulate NIKE on this one and spread their name around. They need to make themselves appear to be cool. The next product regardless of what it is should be called the James Dean.

3) Emphasize the Davy vs. Goliath thing. Everyone loves an underdog, but will they buy it? Commercials should feature Ewoks using macs fighting the tyranny of Darth Vader and his IBM clone accompanied by an imperial forces magistrate who looks amazingly similar to Bill Gates.

4) One - stop shopping. Unlike the ill-fated Sony Betamax, Apple does not need to rely on traditional retail outlets to carry software for its products. It should sell itself as a self-contained unit where all support is provided via Internet. This new retail method should be embraced and emphasized in advertising.

5) Kids. Mac needs to exploit its relationship with education and become the tool of choice for young people. Every percentage point of market share it loses is a mark of distinction for the Gen X me-against-the-world set.

6) Emphasize art, literature and music.

7) Sell the products for more than it costs to make and market them. Sell a lot of them.

8) The dream fades, but there is a brief flickering image of Roger Staubach's Hail Mary pass to Drew Pearson.

Moricand

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