Apple is the Mercedes of consumer technology. A Mercedes anyone can own, though. It’s rather self-assuring to have an iPhone when you ask a potential date or new friend for their telephone number. All cool people on and off TV have it, no matter the social background, age or net worth. It’s an affordable luxury and the biggest American company by market capitalisation, which means one of the most powerful corporations on earth. With a legendary founder and CEO. With legendary brand, style and usability. Legendary coolness doesn’t come so easily, hence the appeal of Apple products.
Even some of my best meaning left-wing and alternative new friends sport one or 2 Apple products. They might be conceptually against big corporations and low cost, minimalistic in other parts of their lives but when it comes to Apple, the allure is way too strong. If I ask why? They say I am an artist, I need the MacBook! And the iPad. And the iPhone… Ahhh… sure, I understand now.
I am one that loves marketing. I love it because it involves psychology, sociology, and other ologies that turn me on. There was a time, back in the days, when I was really inspired by a more conventional business career, that’s way before Yoga. At that time, I was writing a business blog, whilst cheek-ley flirting with the most powerful strategy consulting company. When I read it now I laugh! I was quite funny back then.
So I left my early life strategy consulting dreams, worked in financial services with some highs and lows, overall disliked it enough and eventually became a yoga teacher. I love Yoga and I just couldn’t resist any longer, so I went to India for my 7th time for Teacher Training, at the Sivananda Ashram in Madurai.
Back in London I wanted to teach and reviewing various online resources I quickly knew I needed a brand!!! Yes!!! So, the first thing that came to mind was to get inspiration from the coolest brands of course. Shall I call my website Plum Yoga? Or something more exotic, Mango Yoga? Will I get free inspiration from the McDonald’s arches for the logo? As a soon to be nutritionist, that was out of the question.
When Smiley was born I felt a deep feeling of embarrassment. Seriously? I looked at some of the best yoga teachers websites and they all had amazing pics of near perfect asana poses. The writing implied a very serious and cutting edge practice. And Smiley? Smiley was very ugly at first. I built the logo with minimal design skills on my £230 laptop using a free app, with a (bad) WordPress theme. I picked that (bad) theme because I found a youtube tutorial on how to build using that theme. I wasted a day and the result looked more like a taxi company than yoga. I suppose the “local business” theme was mostly made for taxi companies, so I should have known better. Then I found the current theme with great style and usability. Simple and minimalistic, yet shiny looking. The whole website cost me £5, as my current web host was running an offer on .com domains.
And Smiley Yoga makes me proud now. It conveys a certain positivity without pretending to be too serious looking or established. It’s like me, in my yoga journey right now. And I teach 3 times a week. And I love it so I am very grateful. I like the smiley brand idea so much I already bought SmileyNutrition.com and then SmileyRetreat.com
OK, back to Apple. Ahhh, what do you want me to say? Do I own any Apple products? You know the answer, they just don’t fit my lifestyle. Apple’s market cap won’t budge. Can I afford them? Sure, everyone can, it seems. Everyone. Are they good value? Well, you know what I think. Is Smiley Yoga good value instead? Grrrreeeatt value sir! Wonderful yoga, with a smile!