“Apple has always had a loyal, albeit small, base of dedicated followers. However, the increased brand conscious 18 to 25 market have made Apple the must-have label. The growing iPod craze has spurred this move with technology occupying the same space as clothing used to just ten years ago. The phrase ‘well heeled’ has now been replaced with ‘well connected,'” Robin Olivier writes for Bizcommunity.com.
“The strength of the Apple brand has been achieved by an aggressive international marketing and advertising campaign and the results are clearly being felt in the local market,” Olivier writes. “Take a quick trip round the Net and the number of sites exclusively covering all things Apple is testament to the astonishing loyalty and support of the true Apple aficionado. The incredible desire of the hip young thing to blend in with their international counterparts has led to a growing global brotherhood, united in tech brand heaven. The Apple brand has truly moved from the exclusive domain of the geeks and design and advertising creatives to the mainstream.”
Olivier writes, “Apple was voted the hottest brand by American advertising executives in January this year – proof positive that the company’s branding has cracked the nod at the highest levels. What is astonishing is that just six years ago the industry was predicting the imminent demise of the Apple empire and most local [South Africa] retailers were turning to PC sales to bolster their flailing Mac business. The turnaround from the brink of disaster to global success was achieved by more than just R and D investment: Apple took an holistic view of its target market and aggressively marketed a Mac Culture and an Apple lifestyle. In the second quarter 2005, Apple shipped 1.07 million Macintosh computers and 5.31 million iPod players. That’s up 43% year-on-year in computer shipments and up 558 percent on the iPods.”
Full article here.
Advertisement: Apple iPod nano. 1,000 songs. Impossibly small. From $199. Free shipping.
Related articles:
Apple Computer among top gainers in BusinessWeek’s 2005 Top 100 Global Brands list – July 22, 2005
Apple Computer is the fastest growing brand in the world – June 14, 2005
What happens when world’s No. 1 Apple brand is combined with No. 5 Intel brand? – June 13, 2005
Apple ousts Google as top global brand – January 30, 2005
Hot.
“Take a quick trip round the Net and the number of sites exclusively covering all things Apple is testament to the astonishing loyalty and support of the true Apple aficionado. The incredible desire of the hip young thing to blend in with their international counterparts has led to a growing global brotherhood, united in tech brand heaven.”
———
Finally, our loyalty is not derided as a “cult.” I’m so sick of that. One of my oldest friends constantly berates me for being a “lemming” who “drank the Kool-Aid.” With friends like these, who needs enemies? Anyway, it’s nice to see a positive spin on customer loyalty.
TO EVERYONE WHO THINKS APPLE NEEDS TO ADVERTISE
Advertising is more than sticking billboard posters up. Word of mouth is the best advertising there is, and it’s working at a rate that Apple can cope with. Apart from the guy with the .Mac website complaining about some scratches, the grass roots of Apple (OS X) is a BEAST and I’ve switched 5 people today. They all have their iBooks on order.
MW: last, Apple will have the LAST word.
Keep going Apple.
Winston,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Ironic that you get called a “lemming” when you have made the conscious choice of a superior product while the millions of Windows users continue to eat up an inferior product that walks them off a cliff of computer crashes, viruses, and a total lack of innovation that is astounding for a successful company.
You’d think windozers would get a clue that maybe, just possibly, there might be a REASON people who use Macs are so into them. As Winston said, it’s nice to see someone actually “getting it” for once.
Yet somehow I still hear these things:
“Apple, they’re just for artists, right?”
“Apple, didn’t Microsoft buy them?”
“Macs are expensive and slow.”
“Macs don’t work on the Internet, do they?”
“My Mac has a virus.”
“Why doesn’t Mac just run Windows?”
etc.
etc.
etc.
thelonius…
I actually had a co-worker (who is shopping for a computer) say, “I couldn’t find any Macs on Dell’s site.”
She knows I use Macs at home, and was thinking Dell = All Computers.
Long way to go, I suppose.
theloniousMac
“Macs are expensive and slow.”
My Mini unfortunately is . It’s slowness has caused my boss to return to Dell after I lobbied for a year to change our office to Mac
Sad but true –
so it has been an expensive exercise
This is always good news to hear, and I think that Apple is probably doing the right thing right now when it comes to advertising. The factories that churn out Macs do have a maximum capacity, and with the “lack” of Mac advertising STILL giving Apple a 43% on CPU sales, imagine what it would be like if Apple did pour a few million dollars into advertising Macs. Spending its advertising money on things like the iPod, and allowing the “halo” effect, to increase Mac sales in a more controlled fashion, is a smart thing in my opnion, rather than advertising the Mac more and then having a supply issue because of it.
Frustration from unfamiliarty can drive some people back to Windows if they don’t make progress fast enough after switching to Apple. I have heard a lot of people say that a certain Mac is slower than their PC at home and they can’t do some particular task on the Mac?? that they can easily do and quickly from familiartiy on their PC. Lots of people don’t like being out of their comfort zone when learning new stuff.
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That is where WE come into it, helping new switchers
Hey stretchpants …
she wouldnt happen to be a blonde … would she ??
anyhoo…. give her this URL —>>
http://www.apple.com/store
and be there to explain the finer points when she gets there !!
Good luck !!
(keep us posted)
AlanD, what was it that your boss couldn’t do on his Mac mini?
Or was it just toooo slow for him?
Apple’s increased use must be felt in some places. I have seen two ads in the New Zealand Herald recently , one for a Mac OS help desk and the other for a Mac OS Operator with 2+ years of experience for a large corporate? Turned out to be an ad for a Mac sys/admin. Still good to see though
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AlanD-
Trust me… the $499 Dells will not be any faster.
Also, you need to look at the following comparing Dells to Apples (Apples V. Lemons):
– TCO (Total Cost of Ownership):
Every Dell should be running the following: AntiVirus ($$); Spyware/adaware
The OS for Mac costs a fraction of Microslob Winblows and gives quantity discounts. Think about future OS upgrades…
(Also take into account that M$ Vista will require 1-2 GB of ram, better graphics, etc. which will render current machines obsolete)
– Customer Service:
Dell has never got this right and Apple is winning accolades. Can’t put a price on that!
– iLife:
The sweet suite….not available for any price on Winblows.
-It just works:
No…really!
What is he trying to run that is sooo slow?
mrw0lf et all
A simple database of 3000 names in Address Book and mailings to 200 people at one time. I have own Macs since 84 and I’m considered a power user. I must tell you that the Mini was slower doing this simple task than my old G3 white iBook. I did not want him to go back but I had to agree with him. At this particular task the f#@ing Dell was faster. 🙁
AlanD,
What were you trying to do that made your tiny little mini not perform like a biggie? Were you trying to make porn again? Mini’s and porn don’t mix.
As I’m well older than the 18-25 age group referred to… the success of Apple is that my mother in law is red hot on her eMac (she just doesn’t know -after a year- where the on/off switch is!) My kids have been on their Macs since age 11 so in my own experience the attraction of Apple is abit wider as in 11 to 75.
Go Apple!!!
AlanD – and the your Mini had -let me guess- 256k of RAM?
Macaday
One gig chip
IDon’t via iPodDailyNews.com
“Were you trying to make porn again?”
I know you are still sore but, I had to kick you off the porn list because of your animal fetishes – We draw the line at that -sorry
AlanD, yes after donkeys minis just won’t do.
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I love you too but you really need to workout more and loose that back hair.
Probably the slow HD on the Mac mini doesn’t help matters. There are possibly other issues like the platform design preference of the data base…? (maybe, maybe not, just guessing…)
I would actually have thought the Mac mini would be faster at accessing a database but you can never tell.
What database are you using AlanD? Do you use MS Access? or something gruntyer like MS SQL