The Branding of Apple

The Branding of Apple

by Simon Spence simon@alexanderdunlop.ie

Branding is big business at the start of the 21st century. We are constantly drawn to (or repelled from) images and messages from companies who ask us to believe them, join them, or react to their products in a certain way. A brand at its best is a call to the consumer, a request for us to be part of a style that it embodies.

Few companies have proven as successful at branding as Apple, to the point where the Apple logo was reportedly once the sixth most-recognized in the world - an amazing feat for a company that doesn't have even a tenth of the personal computer market. For better or worse, we Mac users are all participants in Apple's highly successful branding strategy. But because Mac users are generally far more knowledgeable about Apple than are customers of other companies, I think we should also understand just how branding works, how Apple has built their brand, and how this all ties in with Apple's recent forays into retail stores. In this article, I'll look at the role of branding; future installments will look more closely at Apple's approach to branding.

How rational are you when you walk into your local mall? How often have you researched products from rival companies and at the last minute opted to go for A over B based on a gut feeling or instinct? As much as technology companies try to sell you the promise of reliability and quality, very few manage to win the hearts as well as the minds of the consumer. The ultimate goal of the marketer is to inspire consumer confidence to such an extent that potential customers will choose one product above all rivals. When they think about the technology in question, do consumers think of one company first and benchmark all alternatives in relation to this product?

Good branding can help a company ensure that customers return and continue to purchase from them - brand loyalty is the highest reward in an age of fickle decision-making and a dazzling array of merchandise from which to choose. A brand is built up through a range of different elements such as commercials, the retail outlet where the goods are purchased, the way a product works, and the post-sales support.

However, as much as a company will seek to control all these elements to ensure a consistency for the customer, total control is impossible. A company builds and controls a product, but the brand evolves from the interaction between the company and the consumer. The company makes a set of claims and proposals about itself, and consumers react to these messages; the brand lies between the two. Perception is the key to a brand - it starts with what the company says or does, but is inevitably modified, sometimes significantly, by the way customers interpret the message.

Perception can be harsh. A company that attracts bad news or reviews for an aspect of their business can be perceived as failing in all other areas. Through bad public relations, poor customer service, or flaws in basic implementation, a technology brand may build a perception around it that is disproportionate to reality. Microsoft is a good example. Although to date the antitrust legal proceedings have had little or no impact on the structure of the company, they have negatively impacted the Microsoft brand. While the case and its final outcomes are still being debated, the company remains intact with its business and products untouched. However, if in its advertising Microsoft claimed to be open, enthusiastic to competition, or a guardian to fair play in the marketplace, the majority of consumers would reject such a message thanks to Microsoft's brand being tarnished. The products remain unaffected, the company remains unaltered, but the connection between the organisation and the consumer has been damaged. Apart from any legal ruling to date, Microsoft is perceived to have acted unfairly. This view appears to have entered the consciousness around Microsoft's brand and is now part of what it represents in the mind of the public.

Brand Bosses

There is often an uneasy relationship between a strong brand and its custodians, the managers of the company. For a much-loved brand, the custodians are often treated with skepticism by loyal consumers who have bought the products for far longer than the current crop of top employees have been in position. Remember what happened to Coca-Cola in 1985 when they tried to change the formula of the product and altered the taste? The resulting consumer revolt was met with a quick backtracking and release of Classic Coke to accommodate the consumer reaction. Coca-Cola learned that breaking the unwritten contract between brand and consumer risks long-term damage.

If a company plans to alter its products, it should make sure the change fits with the brand. In 1998, British Airways discovered that selling their airline seats at low prices was negatively affecting the company's brand identity, which was about quality, service, and making the passenger feel special. So British Airways launched Go!, a low cost carrier that offered budget seats between European destinations. Go! sought to be fun, youthful, cheerful, and cheap - a very different brand proposition from that of British Airways.

It was essential that British Airways did not blend the two individual brand messages together into one combined entity. Doing so would have led to a perceived diluting of the British Airways brand and its heritage, and as seen in the case of Coca-Cola, perception can have a harsh backlash.

Brands vs. Products

A brand is also separate from the product or company that it is linked to. Apple (the company) builds the iMac (the product), but both of those are distinct from Apple (the brand). Everything Apple does, says, publishes, and advertises contributes to the building of the company's perceived identity, the brand. For many companies, the brand is the corporation's most valuable asset. During the early nineties, at a time when Apple's management was seen to be making poor decisions and when the company had lost focus, a large proportion of users remained loyal to the brand, even if they were highly critical of its custodians.

These loyal users are in many ways ambassadors of the brand, and the recent move from the free iTools to the subscription-based .Mac service risks stretching this relationship too far. It strains the goodwill of Apple's brand ambassadors and wastes some of Apple's hard-won brand capital.

In purchasing a computer we consumers are influenced in numerous ways. The machine's technical specifications are of course important, but how many people who purchase based on brand loyalty will justify an already-made decision by quoting specs? Branding and the values that become embodied in a brand can have a decisive influence over us as consumers, whether or not we realize it.

In this first section, I looked at the basics of brands and the way a brand is separate from both the company and the company's products. I'll now look more closely at the Apple brand and show why Apple is unique in the computer industry in the way it has taken advantage of strong branding.

Design Supports the Brand

Throughout Apple's history, groundbreaking design has played a key role. The original Macintosh bore little resemblance to the hulking IBM PC-compatibles of the day, while other attempts to stand out - such as the Macintosh TV and the Twentieth Anniversary Mac - were unfortunately never meant to be mass market products. It was only with the advent of the iMac and iBook after Steve Jobs's return to Apple that style and design came to the forefront in Apple's hardware products. In short, Apple's product design elegance in both hardware and software plays an essential role in the company's brand message.

It all makes a difference. Minimizing windows with smooth animation in Mac OS X, the glossy white plastic used in the iPod and iBook, the clever packaging that comes with all of Apple's products - everything combines to support a message about the brand. Simplicity, attention to detail, ease of use, creative thinking, and an absence of jargon are all messages conveyed through these products. Steve Jobs has said that Apple's position in the computer industry makes it possible to design a product from scratch. By controlling both software and hardware, Apple can integrate their products more tightly, providing an advantage over PC companies like Dell and Gateway. Even when Apple does offer a cross-platform product, the PC version isn't as good. Look no further than the iPod: the Mac version outshines its Windows-compatible counterpart thanks to its tight integration between the iPod hardware, the Mac OS, and iTunes.

Brand messages are supported by other aspects of the company's activities as well. The first-time visitor to the Apple Web site is left with an impression distinct to the Apple brand. The site is clear and easily navigable, and it manages to avoid clutter and technical terminology. Contrast this with the complex and confusing Dell Web site. (Really. Open the links below in two windows, and browse around a for a minute. You'll see what I mean.)

With Apple, the impression you're left with matches the experience of the product. Anyone who has received a new iPod will tell you of the beauty of the packaging, its simplicity and attention to detail tying in with the product itself. Buying from the Apple online store, the purchasing experience, the packaging, and finally the product itself and its functions, all fit into Apple's carefully constructed brand promise. That's one of Apple's major strengths - the company maintains its brand promise from the customer's research phase on the Web site, through the online store purchasing experience, and all the way to the point where he or she unpacks and starts using the product. Arguably, the Dell Web site risks leaving the consumer feeling bewildered by the site's complexity. The relationship between the consumer and the brand is of necessity rather than attraction. Consumers may use and find value at the site, but it is difficult to see how it could appeal to them or inspire brand loyalty.

Brands Go Deeper Yet

This element of promise conveyed by a company's products and Web presence goes well below the surface. Since the 1984 commercial (if you haven't seen it before, or at least recently, it's easy to find a downloadable version) that launched the Macintosh, Apple has overtly challenged convention. The Think Different marketing campaign that Apple started after Steve Jobs returned to the company asked consumers to step beyond conventional wisdom that has resulted in 95 percent of computer buyers looking no further than Windows on Intel-compatible processors. Given its strong base in education and creative content markets, where iconoclastic thinking is commonplace, or at least admired, Apple's approach is correct.

However, I would suggest that Apple's customers should not simply be seen in terms of market segments. Apple's brand message is actually focused on people of a particular outlook, and that may or may not correspond with specific professions. This point is important, because brands deal with people on a level of feelings and instincts that goes beyond role and circumstance. The 1984 commercial epitomizes rebelliousness and the chance for a fresh start, smashing the status quo along with the Orwellian vision of video-induced conformity. In an age when a desktop computer was still a rarity, Apple offered the consumer fire from the gods, giving the individual power and freedom that was at the time nearly unimaginable. Such was the brand promise, and the Macintosh delivered on that promise. Apple's brand has remained remarkably consistent ever since, and that is, to a large degree, the secret of Apple's long-term success. Products change quickly, technology constantly evolves, but the message stays the same. Consistency over time makes a strong brand, especially when it's supported by fresh and contemporary ways of demonstrating the same attitudes and brand promises.

During the early 1990s it could be argued that Apple stopped rebelling and tried to compete with the PC world on the unfamiliar ground of the corporate market. The company lost touch with its origins, and only with Think Different in late 1997 did Apple return to its beginnings and rediscover what made the company and its products special. With its release in 1998, the original iMac delivered on the promise of Think Different. What most people miss in all of this is that the suggestion Apple needs to sell to the corporate market to succeed is flawed, because Apple's carefully cultivated brand image will never appeal to the bean-counters of the world. From a brand point of view, Apple sells to the Think Different market irrespective of whether the particular customer works in the corporate sector, in design, in film production, or in education. Apple appeals to an attitude choice and not a market segment. Market segmentation is a conservative marketing tool that fails to recognise the strength of brands working at a deeper level.

Of course, there were limitations in Apple's approach with Think Different. The message could inspire consumers, and it was a call to reject conformity and bland establishment values. However appealing it may have been to some people, that message was also tremendously threatening to others. Choosing to think in a different way could be risky, and Apple's attempt to make a virtue out of difference could equate to isolation. Plus, the brand promise of difference could translate into incompatible to a potential purchaser. That's the downside of having a brand as strong as Apple's - it can generate both positive and negative instinctual reactions.

The new Switch campaign refocuses Apple's primary message on ease of use and represents a new tone for Apple. Think Different was necessary for Apple to re-establish their mark of differentiation as a way of regaining lost confidence amongst the Mac community. But that's done - Apple is now a reinvigorated organisation and can move toward using more subtle, less confrontational tones in attracting new users. Less confrontational doesn't necessarily mean safer, however. There's nothing wrong with pushing the view that it's easy to switch to a Mac, but at the same time Apple must take care not to blur the lines it has spent so long defining. Consumers intuitively see through mixed messages, so Apple must avoid suggesting that ease of switching is equivalent to compatibility - doing so would damage all those years of praising difference. It's a fine line to negotiate.

Still, Switch carries a powerful message. Ease of use is as relevant today as it was at the introduction of the Macintosh, when the world realized there was more to computing than the DOS prompt. Switch points to how much simpler it is to use a Mac, a territory both Mac and PC users associate with the Apple brand. Windows has never been able to make a strong claim to this space, and Apple's promotion of new technology such as Rendezvous promises new simplicity when it comes to complex computing tasks (even if long-time Mac users know that in some senses Rendezvous merely brings to TCP/IP what AppleTalk had provided all along on the Mac). Apple needs to gain the confidence of potential buyers, and since ease of use is a constant gripe for PC users, this new, softer approach may produce results.

Looking Toward Retail

As a brand, Apple is strong, and the company's brand promise is currently matched by the user's experience online, with Apple's products, and in marketing campaigns. The main place where Apple's brand suffered was in the retail space, where buying a Mac was often a frustrating, unsatisfactory experience. In the final section, I'll focus on Apple's retail strategy and the role the Apple retail stores play in confirming the brand in the mind of the consumer.

I discussed how Apple's brand promise - the way it attempts to portray itself through commercials, its Web site, its products and packaging and so on - has resulted in a strong brand that can evoke a range of reactions from different consumers. Overall, Apple has managed to build a clear perception of what the company's brand represents. As I suggested in the first of these articles, The Branding of Apple: Brands Embody Values, a brand is a mix of what the company would like us to think of their products and how we receive and interpret these messages. Perception, the way in which consumers, developers, and the media see the company, completes the brand picture.

The Retail Link

Although Apple has done a good job creating its brand image, there was one major gap which threatened the delivery of this message to the consumer. Until 2001, Apple found that the final link for many people, the retail experience, fell well short of the brand promise. The crafting of beautiful equipment, the attention to detail that went into the design, and the simplicity and ease of use of the end product were usually overlooked when a consumer walked into a computer store and faced poorly displayed goods, not to mention untrained or even hostile sales assistants.

For Apple, asking a consumer to buy into the idea of thinking different is a challenge. I wonder what proportion of consumers toy with the idea of purchasing a Mac, only to change their mind at the last minute due to incorrect advice or perhaps just the fact that they are unwilling to take a leap into the unknown? Never underestimate the importance of the point of sale as a part of a brand's success! Coca-Cola and Pepsi constantly vie for shelf placement in stores to ensure that their brand has the best position, and it's absolutely standard for companies to pay stores for so-called end cap positions on the ends of shelves. Put bluntly, the merchandising of a product can have a huge effect on whether or not a consumer even considers it in their purchasing decision.

In its advertising, Apple challenges and inspires consumers and then offers integrated solutions through its products. Think Different was a call for a leap of faith to those who had not used Macs, and even now, Switch requires from users a change of allegiance and a change of mindset. Explaining your purchase of a Macintosh to a PC user is a more difficult obstacle to overcome than explaining buying a Dell or a Compaq.

For the most part, buying a Windows-based PC is seen as a functional transaction, made purely to fulfill the consumer's computing needs. In contrast, and despite the practical benefits of using Macs, purchasing a Mac makes a lifestyle statement. Buying a new iBook in a world of Sony, Dell, Toshiba, and the other PC laptop producers sets the consumer apart, and for many not versed in the ways of a Macintosh, that decision requires a leap of faith.

The Point of Point of Sale

Purchasing, and the user experience in making this transaction, is paramount. If, having decided to buy a Mac, a consumer is faced with Mac-hostile sales assistants or a bewildering set of reasons why a Windows PC would be a better choice, an already difficult decision becomes even more difficult. How many potential users were made to feel stupid for asking about Macs at their local stores?

This is one of the most important reasons why Apple's retail strategy in the U.S. is correct. It helps convey a legitimacy on the decision made by consumers who have decided they want a Mac. The very presence of an Apple Store supports the choice of buying a Mac by making Apple, and all that is promised by the Apple brand, feel tangible and solid. That storefront tells the consumer, You are not the only one, an important message, since being a Mac user can be lonely, especially if you are not working in a Macintosh-dominated area like education or graphic design.

For a long time the committed Macintosh user had been enthused by messages of thinking in different creative ways, challenging the status quo, and rebelling against a world of Windows. However, many of us also had a feeling of being pushed on stage and left out there to perform alone! Without a tangible retail presence the Apple brand, as distinct from the company, felt slightly fluid. For anyone outside of Cupertino, there were few examples of a firm presence to point to and say, There's Apple. The Apple Stores link the brand to the consumer directly to avoid misinterpretation and distortion. Those stores make the promise of the Apple brand tangible.

The physical location and design of the Apple Stores also play a significant role in supporting Apple's brand. They're all located in high traffic shopping malls and districts, and even the people who just walk by them are exposed to Apple's design aesthetic. It may take time, but that exposure adds up. Plus, once you get inside, all the lines are clean, with light wood and lots of light illuminating the products. Shelves aren't overflowing, everything is well-organized, and, to borrow a term from graphic design, there's plenty of white space so the eye isn't overwhelmed. Plus, there's a theatre in every store for regular presentations about Apple's products. Just as with all the other ways Apple communicates with the public, the Apple Stores have become an essential piece of the brand puzzle.

In contrast, conventional computer stores such as CompUSA and Best Buy design their premises around their own brand identity, while still attempting to present a multitude of brand images. They're crammed with products, it's tricky to find what you want, and signs constantly assure you that the prices are as low as they're going to get. Apple products don't fit into these stores well, and they never will - the mismatch between Apple's brand promise and what these stores offer is simply too great. Apple's store within a store concept aimed at addressing this drawback by controlling a section of retail space. However, the new Apple Stores act as pure Apple space, in branding terms, uncontaminated by rival products which detract from the central message.

For proof of their efficacy, look no further than Apple's 100 Minutes of Jaguar launch event. In under two hours, over 50,000 people visited the 35 Apple Stores. That's a lot of traffic, and had Apple continued to rely on other computer retailers, such events would been either impossible or poorly attended.

Brand versus Commodities

Dell, IBM, Compaq, and Gateway (despite Gateway's recent ads attacking the iMac) don't command nearly such power in terms of distinct brand awareness. A Compaq style of behaviour and the emotions evoked by the Compaq brand are firmly linked to Microsoft. Compaq can't legitimately claim that they are innovative or alternative in the PC market because the user experience would not match these claims, and consumers would instinctively notice the mismatch. Because these companies have no control over the operating system and spend little on research and development (or even on design, amazingly enough at this point in history), they have little control over the reactions user experience elicits from consumers. They can't capture the consumers' imagination in the way that Apple can. All that's left to them is to focus on price, value, function, and service - the PC has become a commodity.

The power of the Apple brand, and in turn the perception of it, is that Apple can say they are different and deliver on that promise. In deciding on a computer, the consumer is asked to believe in the brand, to buy into a style or an attitude. Not everyone will want to do that, since many people prefer to fit in or stay well behind the cutting edge. However, Apple uniquely owns this territory in the computer market and it's an invaluable part of the Apple brand. Thanks to the Apple Stores, Apple can bridge that final gap between brand and consumer and no longer be reliant on third-party translation of the messages they are trying to deliver.

[Simon Spence is head of research and information technology at Alexander Dunlop Ltd., a brand consultancy working with multinational corporations to define brand identity. He also provides Mac consultancy to small businesses and educational establishments in Ireland.]

Reprinted with permission from TidBITS. TidBITS has offered more than ten years of thoughtful commentary on Macintosh and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit www.tidbits.com.