Apple Cult Brand Profile

Apple Computers is the epitome of self-empowerment and self-fulfillment combined in one brand. How else to describe a Cult Brand whose original slogan for the Macintosh was, “the computer for the rest of us”? Of course, “the rest of us” were those brave individuals who wanted to control their own destinies and break free of the system’s controlling grip and authoritarian ways. In the eighties, Apple painted this dark controlling force as being IBM, while in the nineties it became Microsoft and Bill Gates. As Christopher Escher, former VP of Corporation Communications, noted: “They turned computers, which are essentially a product for business people to crunch numbers with, into symbols of self-realization and liberation against social constraints.”

In the mid-nineties, things were looking pretty grim for Apple. The company was steadily losing money, it lacked strong leadership at the top, and the firm’s overall share of the PC market was continuing to slip. While Apple continued to have millions of loyal customers around the world, it endured this period thinking that any day a large competitor would buy it out, or that it would fail outright. Then, after more than a decade away from Apple, Steve Jobs came back as interim CEO in 1997. Jobs, through a savvy combination of internal cost-cutting, revamped marketing, and new product launches, turned Apple around.

In 2001, Apple announced the launch of the sleekly designed iPod. While not the first digital music player, the market lacked quality and was absent of any standout devices. Apple focused on the small size of the device, ease of use, and the sleek design, and transformed it into the digital music player by which all others are now measured. After the launch of iTunes, the digital download service, in April 2003, Apple started its now famous ad campaign with silhouetted figures rocking out to tunes. These ads injected a human element into a market that focused solely on the boring technological aspects of the devices. Apple realized that people don’t just want to carry music, they want to jam out to songs that reflect their personalities.

This attention to what customers want—form, ease of use, and individuality—has paid off more than anyone could have ever guessed. To date, Apple has sold over 42 million iPods, and passed over 1 billion downloads on iTunes. In the first fiscal quarter of 2006, Apple reported sales of over 14 million iPods, leading them to $565 million in revenue, the highest in the company’s history.

Apple doesn’t just build products, they build products that their faithful want. And, they have a variety of interesting ways of preaching and listening to the choir. For starters, Apple hosts a User Group University at Macworld expo where leaders from Mac User Groups—those essentially independent clubs started by Apple aficionados—meet with each other for a full day of workshops and conversations about Apple’s latest products. Apple showers all attendees with free logo merchandise, as well as employee discounts at the company store. Not only does Apple come away with invaluable feedback from a great group of customers, but it reenergizes the key faithful. Apple also asks individuals who run successful Mac User Groups in their communities to participate and to help Apple work with less successful user groups in the region. They continually gather feedback for Apple and look for Mac success stories to share. By following this game plan, Apple is able to give its customers the product enhancements they really want instead of guessing what the whims of the customers might be.