(And Why This Strategy Prints Money)
Imagine this a brand worth trillions unlimited budget, the best engineers on the planet.
And yet…
They spend millions running ads for a product you cannot buy.
No checkout page.
No release date.
Sometimes… not even a finished product.
Why would the world’s biggest brand do something so illogical?
And more importantly—
Why does this strategy work better than traditional ads?
Let me tell you a story.
This case study is about Apple.
Yes. That Apple.
The company that:
Doesn’t compete on price
Rarely explains specs
Almost never “hard sells”
But here’s the strange part most people miss:
👉 Apple markets ideas before products.
And they’ve been doing this for decades.
(And Why This Strategy Prints Money)
In 2006, Apple ran one of the most famous ad campaigns ever:
| “Get a Mac.”
Remember it?
A guy in a hoodie (Mac).
A guy in a suit (PC).
Funny. Simple. Memorable.
But here’s the twist:
❌ They weren’t promoting a new Mac.
❌ They weren’t pushing a specific model.
❌ No price. No CTA. No launch.
They were advertising a belief.
| “I’m a Mac.”
Not a product.
An identity.
(And Why This Strategy Prints Money)
Fast forward.
Apple Watch (Before It Was Useful)
They ran ads focused on:
Fashion
Lifestyle
Status
Not battery life.
Not health features.
Because the product wasn’t ready to be defended yet.
So they sold the future version of you.
Apple Silicon (Before Consumers Understood It)
They ran cinematic ads about:
Power
Possibility
“The Next chapter”
Most people had no idea what M1 even meant.
Didn’t matter.
The idea landed first.
Understanding came later.
Apple Vision Pro (The Best Example)
This one is insane.
Apple released:
Cinematic ads
Emotional storytelling
“The future is here” messaging
When:
No mass availability
Extremely high price
Limited use cases
They weren’t selling the product.
They were selling permission to dream.
This strategy works because of three deep psychological triggers:
Desire Before Availability
When something is unavailable, the brain fills the gaps.
And what the brain imagines
is always better than reality.
Apple lets you design the product in your head
before they ever ship it.
Identity > Utility
People don’t buy Apple products.
They buy:
Creativity
Simplicity
Status
Belonging
So Apple markets the identity first.
Once you emotionally accept:
| “This is who I am”
The product becomes inevitable.
Commitment Without Pressure
By the time the product launches:
You’ve seen it everywhere
You’ve emotionally agreed with it
You’ve defended it online
At that point, not buying feels… inconsistent.
Most brands do this:
| Product → Features → Benefits → Offer
Apple flips it:
| Belief → Identity → Worldview → Product
They don’t ask:
| “Do you want to buy?”
They ask:
| “Do you see yourself in this future?”
Now here’s the uncomfortable truth.
Most brands try to copy Apple
without understanding the system.
They run vague ads like:
“The future of X”
“Revolutionary”
“Game-changing”
But they fail because:
❌ No clear belief
❌ No consistent identity
❌ No long-term narrative
Apple can run “productless” ads
because they’ve spent years earning trust.
Apple isn’t advertising products they don’t have.
They’re advertising products they’ve already sold in your mind.
By the time the product exists—
the decision is already made.
Final Thought:
If you’re still asking:
| “Why would a brand advertise something you can’t buy?”
You’re asking the wrong question.
The real question is:
| Why do most brands wait until the product is ready
| before they start shaping desire?
Apple doesn’t sell products.
They sell inevitability.
And once something feels inevitable…
Selling becomes easy.