Brand Reality
We occasionally get called to shoot focus groups in London for another company. It usually goes like this:
Researcher: “think of a powerful brand?”
Focus groupie: “Apple”.
Researcher: “you can’t say Apple. Pretend Apple doesn’t exist. Think of another one”.
Focus groupie: “ummmmm…”
Apple’s branding is apparently so powerful it warps the reality that research companies exist in. Most companies don’t have this effect.
Pat Lapointe at Mediapost wrote this piece on the difficulties associated with measuring brand value. Branding has become a terribly complicated thing since the old days of sticking a piece of hot iron against a cow’s arse. For those of us with brands that don’t affect the space/time continuum I think brand value is mostly the first three or four words people think of when they hear your name.
I agree. Apple is so powerful that it has this classic identity that never went out of style. And its just one of those timeless logos that are made date back from the time brands are too complicated to do. Such brands are Virgin and Mercedes. Don’t you agree?
Branding in this time is easier due to the tools and resources of our generation. But sometimes, they compromise the story behind each design.