Apple Inc.: How Creating a Strong Brand Created Long Term Success

Apple Inc: A Long-Time Favorite

      Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company, specializing in technological products such as electronics, software, and online services. Over time, the company has grown rapidly and shows continuous success with the innovation of their new products and reliable quality of products. As of April 2024, Apple has a market capitalization of about $2.603 trillion, making it the second most valuable company in the world according to market cap data. Market capitalization is the total market value of a company and measures how much the company is worth to the market. This number has grown exponentially in the long run from $297.09 billion in 2010 until now, giving consumers hope of continuous increase in the company's value. However, in between 2023 and 2024, there has been an evident decrease in the market capitalization as 2024 has brought a -13.06% change, showing the value of the company is declining (see graph below). 

    Although the market cap of Apple is declining, they are still able to be profitable and hold the second spot in the market. Why is this? Well, this can be attributed to Apple's brand strength. The framework for creating a strong brand includes:

    1. Developing a brand mission

    2. Locating a strong brand position

    3. Establishing must haves

    4. Linking powerful associations

    5. Creating brand visibility

    6. Breaking through with digital

    7. Ensuring brand consistency

    8. Optimizing brand touchpoints

    9. Locking in brand loyalty

    10. Building a brand community

    11. Energizing the brand

    12. Maintaining brand relevance

    13. Leveraging the brand internally

Let's explore how Apple creates brand strength to keep them on top of the competition even when facing uncertainty. 

Apple Brand Vision & Positioning:

    The first step in creating any successful brand is to establish a brand vision, or a clear description of the brand's expected image. This brand vision is directly linked to a company's purpose and differentiates a brand from competitors. For Apple, the brand vision is established to "make the best products on earth and to leave the world better than we found it", according to the Apple website, and they have a mission to "bring the best user experience to customers through innovative hardware, software, and services". With this, the brand position, or communication objectives for the brand, are actively spread to target customers. This allows Apple to differentiate themselves from competitors like Samsung, as they emphasize that their products are guaranteed to be the best in terms of performance and quality. This is clearly communicated to consumers and gives the brand a positive overall reputation while creating powerful linked brand associations among the market. 

What is a Brand Association?

    A brand association is how a consumer links their knowledge about a brand to certain pillars of a brand's identity. This includes a brand's personality, category, breadth of product line, being global, being contemporary, and organizational intangibles. These associations stem from consumer personal experiences with the brand or may stem from media exposure, or word of mouth. Compared to competitors, Apple has created a distinct identity based on how consumers link their brand with certain attributes.

Being “Brand Contemporary:

A brand being contemporary is a powerful brand association for Apple consumers due to the longevity of its positive reputation. Apple has consistently lived up to their brand message of having the "best" products through providing high-quality and customer-centric products from continuous innovation. Because of this, Apple has become a contemporary brand, leading consumers to become loyal to the brand and see their products as reliable, and safe. 

    With the steady releases of new Apple products, consumers anticipate Apple to release the "next best thing" within a certain time frame and keep up with the brand's innovations. From releases of new Apple products, such as the iPhone X, it is evident that consumers purchase from the brand with the expectation that the new products will be better than the last based on prior personal experiences or word of mouth. Because of this, consumers begin to associate emotions and nostalgia motivating them to make this purchasing decision. Overall, from being contemporary, purchasing power created has given Apple the ability to dominate competition in smartphone sales (as shown in the figure below). 

Apple’s Breadth of Product Line

Another association that is linked to the brand by consumers is the of the breadth of the product line. Apple products include devices such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which can all be linked together when used under the same account information. The software Apple provides including iTunes, iCloud, and Apple Music is also compatible on all Apple devices, again providing convenience to the consumers of having everything they need, when they need it, any place. Although the breadth of the product line is narrow compared to competitors, consumers who begin to purchase Apple products are likely to continue utilizing the brand’s products to get the most efficiency and convenience as the hassle of having many accounts is diminished by being loyal to Apple products. It is also convenient for early Apple users who have a large amount of data already installed within software to be able to simply transfer it to another device. Overall, this ensures brand visibility is present as well as brand loyalty becoming locked in

This can be referred to as an “ecosystem” of products for Apple. To understand this, think of an ecosystem in nature: Do the organisms that live in a certain ecosystem leave that ecosystem, or stay in the ecosystem they are adapted to? As a report from CNBC states, “Once a consumer invests in the ecosystem, it’s harder to switch out of it” (Haselton). By continuing in this “ecosystem”, not only is a brand community created, but the brand remains relevant in the market as more benefits are rewarded for consumers the more they invest in it. This is a main reason why the breadth of the product line keeps Apple consumers from swaying toward trying new products or brands and being loyal to Apple. Competitors may attempt to instill this into their marketing strategy but will not exceed the success of Apple as the complexity and longevity of the ecosystem overrules consumers having to start all over again.

Summary:

In summary, Apple’s brand mission and vision to be the “best” in their market is the starting point for their strategy of creating a strong brand. The mission and vision of the company creates an opportunity to entice consumers to remain loyal to them, rather than trying products from competitors due to their overall brand association from consumers. Consumers seem to associate Apple with positive attributes that stem from their personal experiences, media, or word of mouth, keeping them ahead of competitors. The breadth of the product line and being brand contemporary are the major associations linked to Apple’s success. Although there are many other factors in the framework of being a successful brand, the main factors of Apple are the basis of growth and strength, leading to only more positive outcomes if the framework is followed. The question that lingers however is can Apple continue to keep this brand strength as competitors begin to follow their actions? Or is there potential for competitors to take Apple’s spot as one of the strongest brands in the market?

Sources: 
- https://businessmodelanalyst.com/apple-mission-and-vision-statement/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/01/why-people-keep-buying-apple-products.html 
- https://apnews.com/article/apple-sales-slump-iphone-quarterly-earnings-a8e34afb6f6c04610cca638bda1c7443 
- https://brandemic.in/the-power-of-brand-association-how-brands-use-psychology-to-win-over-customers/

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