Apple: it’s all about the brand “Ask marketers and advertising experts why Mac users are so loyal, and they all cite the same reason: Apple’s brand. “
Evan Williams pokes fun at Wired’s not too clever article on Apple, “the silly thing about this article is the notion that Apple’s brand and products are completely unconnected”.
Marketing people often get confused about the difference between a company that offers products that have unique features and one that doesn’t. The most primitive see brand and features but nothing in between.
Pepsi is all about brand and Tivo is all about product. In the middle, however, there are intangibles, things that are not the result of pure marketing spin but do not really offer anything different from competitors from a feature perspective – design elevates these intangibles.
The PC industry is becoming mature and saturated in terms of features, people will buy things like their laptops not because they have more RAM a faster chip and a bigger hard drive, but because they are better designed.
With Pepsi’s Sculley at it’s helm Apple may have been about brand, but Sculley’s startegy was short termist, he diluted what Apple had to make money quickly, whilst squandering its long term future. Brand is what remains as a result of past success and it requires fuel to be maintained. Apple, under the guidance of Jobs, is design driven and the time is right for design in its market.
As design becomes more important in established technology, expect marketing people who can’t understand it to go the way of the dinosaurs.