Today, we are choosing Apple. But first, let me start from the beginning:
I can say that this is one of my favorite topics, how branding increases sales and how we can demonstrate it with real cases. I feel that there is a great confusion that branding is simply a pretty logo or a color palette and I feel that this is simply a lack of information or knowledge, or perhaps it is a marketing mistake for not explaining it well enough. I want to start by defining what branding is, before learning from any example.
Branding definition in one word: REPUTATION
Branding is everything that talks about the reputation of your brand, how it looks, how it communicates when you are not there, what it represents, and what people think of it. It is not a logo, it is what the logo inspires, it is not a social media account, it is what values it reflects, it is not a color, it is whether it conveys a feeling of being expensive, cheap, elegant, eco, etc. Branding is a set of strategies to achieve the reputation you are looking for and that reputation you are looking for is your branding essence. These brands understood this while working with CREA.
Now, well, let’s see Apple’s branding strategy, starting with the basics, and let me conclude why, from CREA. we think Apple is one of the most spectacular branding case studies.
Apple
The Basics
The product: electronics, entertainment, and media
It is targeted for: premium technology users
And wants to resolve the need of (Job To Be Done): use technology with style and simplicity
Main competitors: Microsoft, Samsung, Google, Amazon, Dell
The Brand
The voice: is matter-of-fact, informative and friendly, very straightforward.
Brand Archetypes:
- Creator: Innovation
- Magician: Power
- Ruler: Control
Brand Positioning, which elements of value the brand gives to its customers
Aspirational: self-actualization, reach your full potential
Emotional: by its design and aesthetics
Functional: with its quality, way of simplifying and integrating,
The promises (benefits):
- Very easy to use, this above all
- Is stylish, modern design that gives us this desire of premium quality and aesthetics
- Connection across a family of devices to integrate your day-to-day life
Simple, right? What can we learn?
I want you to learn two things today. The first is that brand strategy must be easy, and simple, so simple that a 10-year-old child can understand it. And the second is that from this strategy the entire communication campaign of the brand will be deployed, from how it looks to how it speaks, always faithful to what was proposed. If you read Apple’s strategy again and then go to one of their physical stores, you will realize that everything stated in their strategy is executed, for example, their stores are simple and with good design. If you see their products, they all fulfill their promises, they are easy to use, are modern, and you can easily integrate them, like a big family. A brand strategy begins by putting on paper what you want your reputation to be and creating that reputation from there. It will be difficult to convince a client of who you are if you don’t even know it yourself. Apple, for me, is one of the best branding cases we can learn from.
