More brand building mastery from Apple.
Whenever I spot a new piece of inspiring branding from Apple I find myself vexed. As a consumer I’m enraptured, immediately engaged and continue to build-on the loyalty and enthusiasm I hold for the brand. As a writer of articles on brand for business owners, I’m hesitant as to the value in showcasing a new piece of brand communications from a business that is at the peak of it’s game with budgets the size of Everest.
The question I ask myself is; “what is there to be learned from these ads by the average brand owner or marketer?” Surely if we all had this kind of marketing budget, talent and agency roster we’d be doing equally inspiring things for our own brands.
A point well made (If I say-so myself) and the reason I rarely cover the creative work produced for the brand, but on reflection there are some nuggets of gold to be taken from the way Apple go-to-market:
01. Think Different
There is a common thread of wonderment that flows through Apple’s brand creative. It feels like Job’s initial vision for the brand, captured beautifully by their ‘Think Different’ campaign is never far from the inspiration for Apple’s adds and brand design.
02. Budget does not equal brilliance
A quick glance over the brand creative of most of the largest consumer brands in the world demonstrates that there is more to building an inspiring brand than budget. Apple is not the only business with this level of budget and marketing resources, yet they continue to inspire with stand-out brand communications year after year.
03. From little things
Although it seems hard to believe, Apple was a small business too once upon a time – founded just 40 years ago. As one of many things the business did extraordinarily well to achieve their stellar growth, their brand creative has always been a stand-out.
04. The benefit of inspiration
Sometimes there’s much good to come from pure inspiration. Yes for most of us we will never have the opportunity to create this type of branding work, however for all of us there’s the opportunity to take what we’re doing today in our own business to the next level.
Whether you wish to take any branding lessons from this latest Apple offering or just pure inspiration; enjoy…
Dave Ansett
David is the founder of Truly Deeply, a Melbourne branding agency with 25 years experience working with brands to position them for growth. His deep expertise is in the creation of high engagement brands that attract the attention of their audience and stand out from their competitors. David has extensive experience working with corporate, retail, food & beverage and entrepreneurial clients. Find out more here
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