Bose Art

Talking with a UVa marketing major recently, I was surprised to discover that Bose® isn't used as a case study. Bose has carefully built their brand equity by delivering what their customers want -- better than average sound, discretely elegant styling, simplest possible setup and operation.

Harkening back to the Pew study, Bose successfully markets to those who either use technology grudgingly, or those who prefer not to use it at all. And by serving that large demographic well, they've become a very successful company. Here's how:

1. Bose knows technical specs are intimidating to the average person -- Bose doesn't use them.
2. Bose knows their customers don't read Stereo Review audiophile magazines. Bose places ads in the publications their customers do read -- upscale and general interest publications, like Architectural Digest and Parade Magazine.
3. Bose knows hooking up electronics is scary for most people. Bose uses propiatary color-coded connectors. Everything hooks up just one way, and connectors are kept to a minimum, well within the comfort level of non-technical folks.
4. Bose knows mixing and matching A/V gear is off-putting. Bose designs their products so that Bose gear always works with Bose gear. As long as you buy Bose, compatiblity is never an issue, and its always easy to hook up.
5. Bose knows their customers don't think A/V gear is the most important part of their life. Bose equipment is styled to unobtrusively blend in to the decor -- not call attention to itself.

Finally, consider the Bose's uMusic® intellegent playback system. Feed CDs into the media center of a Bose Lifestyle® system (or similar Bose home theater system), and all the tracks are automatically copied. The system's loaded with a database of albums and titles, so it automatically fills in that info. Call the menu up on your TV, and delete out the tracks you don't want. Voila -- you've got a digital music library.

While this may seem awkward compared to the iTunes or Windows Media experiecne, consider this: Umusic lets you build a digital music library without using a computer or the Internet.

And that's appealing to a significant part of the population -- perhaps as much as 49%.

So why aren't marketing majors studying Bose? It's a mystery to me.

- Ralph

How do you measure "good?"

I had a buddy e-mail me the other day with an audio question: "How good are the Bose systems?"

Turns out that he and his wife were looking at the Bose Wave Music System with the add-on multi-CD changer for their great room. Basically a glorified boom box for $700.

Now, I have my own opinions on audio. While I'm not an audiophile by any means, the idea of this Bose piece as my primary audio system doesn't appeal to me. Even a modest investment in a good-quality receiver, CD changer, and bookshelf speakers would give me better sound and better capabilities for expansion in the future. Bose equipment does a pretty good job, but most people in the know will agree that marketing, not audio quality, is their real genius.

But that's not the only thing to consider sometimes. "Good," in this case meant how well it would suit their needs, not mine. I dug a little deeper into why they were considering the Bose. Here's what I found out:

The wife had seen it advertised in her favorite magazine -- this gave it legitimacy in her eyes.

A 0% financing offer meant they could pay for it over a year -- it fit their budget.

They both wanted something that wouldn't take up much space and could be moved easily -- that's certainly true of the Bose.

The wife "didn't want wires all over the place" -- yup, no wires here.

I then considered what I knew about this couple. They aren't really active music listeners -- music is a background part of their lifestyle. The audio performance of the Wave Music System is up to that task.

In the end, I thought, it's all about what'll make them happy.

"Go ahead and get it, buddy. You'll like it just fine."

---

Ken