Chapter 54 Section 7 Brand is Priceless

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said: "Apple is the only lifestyle brand in the computer industry." Indeed, the brand is Apple's most distinctive and most valuable asset. When Apple was in turmoil in 1997, Jobs saw very clearly that if there was anything valuable left in Apple at that time, that thing was the Apple brand. However, when it comes to branding, it seems to be an illusory thing. Not everyone can explain clearly how to measure or increase the value of a brand.Good media always use billions of dollars to evaluate how much a company's brand is worth.For example, before 2011, most media believed that Google was the most valuable brand in the world, with a valuation of around US$112 billion, ranking first in the global brand value list for four consecutive years.However, Apple's brand value miraculously increased by 84% between 2010 and 2011, reaching 153 billion US dollars, surpassing Google in one fell swoop to become the most valuable brand in the world.

In fact, it doesn't matter whether the brand of Apple is really worth that much money. The important thing is that from the day Jobs founded Apple, he seemed to have a strange magic power to turn the brand of Apple into a religion. Let thousands of people in the world get excited when they see the Apple logo.On the global brand value list, IBM’s brand value depends on the quality and reputation of a century-old store. Ordinary people don’t care who the CEO of IBM is; the brand value of McDonald’s depends on the arched “M” all over the world. Mark, children who like McDonald's will never ask who is the current head of McDonald's; however, for the "fruit fans" who love Apple crazily, the word Apple is almost inseparable from the leader of Jobs and Joe. When you think of Apple, you think of Jobs, and when you think of Jobs, you think of Apple. The value of the Apple brand, in a sense, is almost the value of Jobs' personal brand.

The bitten-off Apple logo is the biggest vehicle for Apple's $153 billion brand.When Jobs founded Apple, he put a lot of effort into the logo design.As mentioned earlier, the earliest Apple logo was designed by Ronald Wayne. Although the pattern is elegant, it is very cumbersome and amateurish in terms of modern logo design.When the Apple II was about to be released, Jobs felt that Apple needed a more professional logo. At that time, Apple's marketing and public relations partner, McKinna, sent designer Rob Janov to design a logo for Apple.Jobs didn't make too many demands on Janov, he just said, don't make the logo too cartoony.The first thing Janov did was to go to the supermarket to buy a bag of real apples. When he got home, he faced the apples and drew them for a whole week, thinking about how to simplify the shape of the apples into the most beautiful logo pattern.

Janov drew a round apple with a leaf.In order to make the apple look more balanced, and in order to avoid the association of this pattern with the agricultural products company, Janov drew a shape of an apple with a bite on the right side of the apple.Janov was pleased to discover that the English word "Bite" of the word "bite" happens to be homophonic to the word "Byte" which stands for computer.What a perfect idea. Jobs fell in love with the pattern almost at first sight.The only modification he suggested to Janov was to add colored stripes to the apple.On the basis of the monochromatic design draft, Janov added a rainbow pattern with horizontal stripes to Apple, but the order of the stripes is different from the real rainbow.Janov later recalled: "I didn't know what Apple's selling point was at the time. In fact, one of the most attractive features of Apple computers at the time was its color function. For me, the colorful stripes in the Apple logo are like The color bars displayed on the color monitor are the same. Unfortunately, there is really no special reason why the color bars are arranged in that order, and that is because I like this arrangement. Of course, the green stripes must be To put it on top, that's where the apple leaves are."

The rainbow apple logo with a bite first appeared on the Apple II, and it was used until 1998, after the return of Joe's gang.Many "fruit fans" of the older generation still miss the apple with rainbow stripes. They think that the colorful logo records the green years before Apple really became an IT giant. In 1998, in order to coincide with the release of the color iMac, Jobs changed the color of the logo from color to monochrome while keeping the Apple logo pattern unchanged.Since then, silver-gray or white apples have become the new totem of "worshiping apples".

The color changes to monochrome, which looks less passionate and energetic, but more modern, with more connotation and heritage.Janov commented: "This change represents growth. As you grow older, everything changes. Although the logo has changed over the years, it still remains exactly the same as when I designed it 30 years ago. Shape and concept. I was so lucky to work with Steve Jobs. Watching the Apple logo change was like watching my own child grow. I am proud of my child and proud of the logo. " Various conceptual symbols similar to trademarks can easily become the bearers of brand value.Apple, for example, has named its latest and coolest products starting with the lowercase "i," starting with the iMac.This nomenclature was first proposed by Ken Siegel of ChiatDay Corporation.

At the time, Ken Siegel's advertising creative team was busy with the "Think Different" series of ads.Jobs suddenly called them to Apple headquarters.In a conference room, Jobs lifted the cloth covering the computer on the table in front of Siegel.A small bright blue computer that looked like a transparent crystal appeared in front of Siegel. The entire creative team was shocked, and the conference room suddenly fell silent. "We were all overwhelmed, but we couldn't say it," Siegel recalls. "We were careful, we were polite, but we were actually thinking, God, do they know what they're doing? That's also true." It's crazy!"

Jobs told Siegel's team that Apple was betting big on the computer.Apple needs to give this computer a shocking name.Jobs also told everyone that the new computer was a Mac in order to leverage the Macintosh brand image.At the same time, new computers are specially designed for the Internet. Siegel came up with five names.Four of them were submitted to Jobs as a foil, mainly to highlight one of his favorite names - iMac. "The name stands for Mac," Siegel said, "and the i stands for the internet, but it also stands for individual, imaginative, or whatever else is appropriate. The i-starting naming method It can also be used in the naming of Apple's other Internet products."

Unfortunately, Jobs didn't like any of Siegel's five names.Siegel had to go back and think of three other names.But Siegel insisted on telling Jobs that his own favorite name was still "iMac." "I don't hate it anymore, but I still don't like it," Jobs said. In this way, the name iMac, which did not please Joe's 100% favorite, was finally used on the new computer.However, the sales success of the new computer after its launch obviously changed Jobs' view of the name, and he began to prefer the naming method starting with "i" more and more.

In 2000, Jobs officially announced at the Macworld conference that he would no longer continue to use the title of "interim CEO" and when he became the official CEO of Apple, he joked to the audience that maybe he should use the title of "iCEO". After the iMac, Apple's coolest products all use the naming method starting with "i", and names such as iPod, iPhone, and iPad have become the focus of the world time and time again.The application software developed by Apple for the MacOSX operating system has also followed this naming method. Names such as iTunes, iWork, iLife, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD have become frequent visitors on the desktops of Apple users.

For a while, it became fashionable to use names starting with "i".Steve Woz named his autobiography iWoz (i Woz); biographer William Simon named a biography not authorized by Jobs iCon (i idol), and because of this The book annoyed Jobs and was blocked by the iTunes online bookstore. Apple's stores all over the world are actually an important part of Apple's brand strategy. On May 19, 2001, the first two Apple Stores opened in Tysons Corner, Virginia and Glendale, California. Soon, the Apple store became a place of pilgrimage for "fruit fans".Every time Apple releases a new product, almost all stores around the world queue up to buy it.By June 2011, the number of Apple stores worldwide has reached 324, and more than 40 stores will open within the year. Moreover, every Apple store in major cities in the world has both a unified style and its own unique architectural features. Without exception, it is a landmark landscape of the city where it is located. Jobs' personal charm, Apple's fashion products, the eternal Apple logo, and Apple stores all over the world together constitute a huge magnetic field, attracting hundreds of millions of fans all over the world. In Europe, America, and all over the world, not only ordinary people "fan" Apple, but even celebrities from all walks of life are also loyal fans of Apple.In the early days of promoting Apple computers, Jobs paid special attention to using his personal charm, trying to make friends with celebrities, and let these celebrities become Apple's image spokespersons.Jobs even personally sent the Macintosh to the homes of these celebrities and let them try it out for free.Rock singer Mick Jagger, Beatles singer John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, Pop artist Andy Warhol and many other famous people became Apple and Jobs fans. In China, a large number of first-line stars also play with iPhones.The queen Faye Wong often posts photos taken with her iPhone on Sina Weibo. In May 2011, Faye Wong complained on Weibo that her husband couldn't see the pictures she posted because she didn't use an iPhone.Faye Wong asked Li Yapeng: "Can't you afford it?" Li Yapeng explained that he didn't buy it because it was too time-consuming.Faye Wong said disdainfully: "But you wasted my expression, hum!" Li Yapeng finally gave in and said to Faye Wong: "Buy." In film and television, the apple has become a symbol.Some "fruit fans" concluded that in European and American film and television, those who use Apple computers are usually good people, and those who use Windows computers are usually bad people.In the movie "Mission: Impossible", Tom Cruise and his colleagues use Apple computers.At the beginning of the movie, when Schwarzenegger turned on the bad guy's computer to steal information, the operating system of that computer was Windows.What's more interesting is that a "fruit fan" in Virginia carefully watched and recorded every computer in the famous American TV series "24". He found that in the TV series, the agents and detectives used Apple computers. The killers and villains use ordinary PCs.In one episode, a CIA agent swaps out the Mac for a Dell PC.This "fruit fan" thought he had finally found an exception, but soon he discovered that with the development of the plot, the true identity of this CIA agent was finally exposed-it turned out that he was a mole. "Fruit fans" all over the world have also established and maintained a large number of high-quality websites about Apple and Joe.Introduce a few characteristic websites: Chinese website, the most reliable website that provides in-depth analysis and exclusive news: http://apple4.us/ Chinese website, information about Apple and Jobs, blog: http://wwwiappler.com English website, a complete collection of rumors about Apple and Jobs: http://www.macrumors.com English website, Apple information plus rumors: http://www.appleinsider.com An English website that publishes a large number of photos of Jobs in chronological order: http://www.allaboutstevejobs.com English website, Apple history stories, mainly related to Macintosh research and development: http://www.folklore.org English website, Apple history stories: http://www.storiesofapple.net There is no doubt that the 21st century is an era of stars, but also an era of fans.Celebrity companies and individuals who know how to manage brands are good at using various media and interactive channels to attract more and more fans from all over the world, and their brand value continues to grow.Looking at the world, Apple and Jobs are the ones who can use the brand strategy proficiently and handily, and are the best at using the brand to create value.