Apple does not simply buy reach around a product launch. It creates an event that other people choose to talk about. This e4m feature deconstructs one of the most studied and least understood marketing playbooks in the world, published on the eve of Apple’s annual September event and John Ternus’s first major product outing as CEO. The article explores how Apple has ritualised anticipation itself, with its keynote, product films, website and ecosystem updates establishing the story, while media, creators, analysts, fans and sceptics then tear it apart, extend it and keep it alive. Featuring Mihir Mehta, Managing Partner at 0101.Today, who notes that paid media does not have to manufacture attention from scratch but can concentrate on directing and converting attention that already exists, the piece argues that Apple’s real competitive advantage is not its advertising budget but the self-sustaining conversation ecosystem it has built around every launch. Every rumour, leak, meme, teardown, review and criticism becomes part of the distribution system, and that is something competitors can template but cannot replicate.
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