This week we were at the Festival of Marketing, Econsultancy’s annual event, held at the Tobacco Docks in London. The two-day event saw many brands talk on a range of topics such as content, customer experience, digital transformation, multichannel marketing and personalisation.
Adido hosted their own crêpe stand, feeding attendees’ bellies and brains, which was hugely popular. There was one speaker however that had queues longer than ours… Steve Wozniak, Co-founder of Apple.
Sat with Econsultancy’s Ashley Friedlein, Steve spoke with great enthusiasm and passion about the world around him. Here’s what we learnt.
1) The UK is one of his favourite places: he’s visited Stonehenge “at least 20 times” and loves the maze at Longleat.
2) He believes the 3 things needed for a successful company are: engineering, business sense & most important of all marketing.
3) He knows the difference between marketing and advertising: marketing is audience, defining product and creating valuable experiences we’ll pay for.
4) He sees the next big tech developments in automobiles, housing and energy
5) He has a Master’s degree under the pseudonym ‘Rocky Raccoon Clark’
“I STILL WANT TO BE THAT GEEK THAT CREATES THINGS”
6) When the company started to gain traction there was pressure to change the company’s name: “You’ve got to give up the name Apple as it doesn’t imply the power of the computers” revealed Wozniak. “We tried to tell them once our products get into the home and change people’s lives it will make sense as an apple is a good name for a household brand.”
7) He admitted Apple may have reached a plateau, however, important innovations are the ones that count, even if they aren’t big. Apple was the first company to introduce fingerprint unlocking and paying via your phone, and they do it better than competitors.
8) He’s very humble: 'I like all the films about Apple. They always show me as being brilliant and nice.'
9) “I wanted to be an engineer to improve life in the average home”
10) He’s incredibly passionate about young minds and education. His dream was to be a 5th Grade teacher, which he achieved recently. He said he too noticed the inequality in gender in his lessons, which is something that still needs to be addressed as a society.
“REAL MARKETING IS UNDERSTANDING WHAT PEOPLE WANT”
11) His dream would be a future where every student has a singular teacher, which is not feasible if the teachers are humans, but with robots they could be tailored to each individual.
12) He said his bucket list was small, but he’d like to beat his high score on Tetris, visit Kiev, Bucharest, Tanzania, and be a good father
13) He only watches two TV programmes: Dancing with The Stars and The Big Bang Theory (he’s appeared on both)
14) He believes when something “comes out of love, that’s the thing you’re going to be good at”
15) He also has never read Apple’s Terms and Conditions. You and me both Steve, you and me both.
