Brand Apple and the future

Before you continue reading, I have a confession. I love the Apple brand, so if the mention of Apple and Steve Jobs makes you gnash your teeth and roll your eyes, then probably best click on something else to read this week…

For many people the Apple brand is tightly tied to Steve Jobs and this past week has seen many opinions on what (if any) impact his stepping down from the CEO role will have.

Job’s personal brand aside, I personally think Apple will continue their winning ways. The why of that is pretty simple – they are one of the most rigorous and disciplined brands in the world today (maybe ever).

Their single-minded “hedgehog” like focus on what they stand for has seen them go take the express lane from being a wannabe living on the fringes, to having the biggest market capitalisation of any technology company in the world, and for a brief time the biggest of any company in the world.

You may love Apple products beyond all reason or you may not like them and think they’re over-rated, expensive toys. But what no one can deny is that they have transformed how we think about and use technology.

They have blazed a trail that others can only try and copy – and if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Apple must be the most flattered company around!

That Steve Jobs was at the centre of the rise of Apple is undisputed. He was the front man and cheerleader extraordinaire for the brand. However, as mighty as Jobs is, he didn’t do it alone.

There have been literally hundreds of thousands of actions and decisions by close to 50,000 Apple employees in multiple countries and millions more by customers and partners that have all contributed to building the Apple brand.

And therein lies the reason I don’t hold fears for the future of Apple. The ideology of the brand over the last 20 years is deeply embedded and while Steve Jobs may be one of a kind, the Apple brand is much more than one man.

I think the most important legacy Steve Jobs leaves behind him is he taught Apple how to be Apple – and that lesson once learnt is hard to forget.

For businesses big and small, to study Steve Jobs’ brand leadership of Apple is to take a graduate level course in how to build a brand.

Know what you stand for. Have the discipline and focus to stay true to that. Make decisions and promises that stem from it. Keep the promises. Repeat, repeat and repeat again.

See you next week.

Michel is an independent Brand adviser and advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States, she helps organisations make promises they can keep and keep the promises they make, with a strong sustainable brand as the result. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment. You can follow Michel on Twitter @michelhogan