Apple

Apple has got to be the greatest example of the Lovemark. It has almost become a religion to both the young and old. My mum is turning 50 next week and guess what she wants for her birthday, an iPad. Why? To me they kind of seem like the most useless objects ever yet people are spending up to $1000 on one. A laptop does the same thing, plus more and only costs a little bit extra. Russel Howcroft (you may know him from the Gruen Transfer) said "Apple understood that success has as much to do with the clothes you wear as the body you are covering". In other words, Apple understood the importance and power of design and positioned the brand in an industry which was full of mp3 players which all looked the same and did exactly the same thing. People want to be seen holding an Apple product just as much as they want to use it. It's all about the image.

It seems to me like not so long ago Microsoft was ahead in this technical battle. I remember getting my first iPod, 6 years ago and my dad making fun of me because I wanted an Apple iPod Nano. "What's an Apple?" he said, "you hate healthy food" (good dad joke). So i did some research, Apple vs. Microsoft. It's not something thats talked about very much but even the name sounds better. Microsoft is confusing and sounds hard or technical. Apple on the other hand, sounds fresh and simple.

Like I said in my previous post, Apple maintains its status amongst its competitors even with the hefty price tag. My brother often says to me "why would you want a stupid MacBook when my computer has heaps more memory and cost half the price?" Well, I don't know, I suppose the 'cool' factor is worth more to me than a bit of extra storage. The status of having a MacBook grabs me, that appeals to me just as much, if not more than any other product attributes.

When I write it out like this, it all sounds a bit ridiculous. But it's the same as say, car brands, some people are Holden, some are Ford. Some are Mac, some are PC. It just shows how brands play a massive part in letting us express ourselves and how we want people to perceive us.