Brand Positioning Brands and the management of brands have become very important elements of culture and the economy. A brand can increase the product's perceived value and therefore brand management and the marketing techniques used are seen as vital to increase brand equity and the positioning of their products. Marketers see a brand as an implied promise of the level of quality consumers have come to expect from the brands’ products and that future products will meet those expectations. Apple is seen as an ‘iconic brand that delivers revolutionary, beautifully designed and incredibly profitable products.’ (Daye, 2012). The ‘Apple’ brand is in fact Number 1 in brand value according to Forbes, saying it is worth $87.1 billion, up 52% from two years ago (Forbes, 2012). The master of the Apple brand was Steve Jobs who was an excellent brand marketer and core to what Apple is today. He saw the future for Apple which was going beyond computers, therefore his first step was to remove the word ‘Computer’ from their logo. Doing this allowed the company to diversify and expand into the world of mobile devices and more. Doing this allowed the company to diversify and expand into the world of mobile devices and more. Just as the products are very important for competitiveness, the brand is too, and the Apple brand certainly has succeeded in building up a very valuable good: an instantly recognizable and universally respected brand. This makes it easier to promote and sell the iPad. In fact, some brands over time become cult brands: consumers become passionate about the brand and levels of loyalty go beyond reason (Roberts, 2004) and Apple has become a cult brand in some respects. As mentioned in Steve Jobs’ compelling positioning statement in the introduction, he made two important statements about the product. They were that the iPad was between two already highly successful mobile devices, the laptop …show more content…
The Apple brand is an incredibly strong brand hence ‘Promotion’ is mentioned first. Apple, surprisingly, do not spend as much on advertising as one would think. Media such as television and magazines are their main choice but what Apple did and did best were product launch press releases. As mentioned before, keynote presentations were what Apples’ former CEO was extraordinary at. And people who mattered most to promote and place the new product in the media through public relations press releases, were present at these presentations. Secrecy of a product generated interest and added to that the Apple brand which created hype, resulted in enthusiastic anticipation of the iPad launch. Commercials were simplistic but visually pleasing and this enhanced the beauty and simplicity of the design and features of the iPad, exactly what Steve Jobs himself loved about Apple products. This is also mirrored in their shop designs featuring simple but sophisticated look just displaying the Apple products promoting their features. More recently, the iPad has been placed in most good computer electronic stores around the world and of course Apples’ own e-commerce website. It is now as easy to purchase the iPad as it is to buy shoes. The iPad, like other Apple products, is designed and manufactured to the highest standards as always maintained by the former CEO Steve Jobs. The Product is probably Apples’ most important ‘P’ in the communication mix as they believe they have the most a product can offer. "Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings." (Apple, 2004). The products and the brand will push the other ‘Ps’ of the mix for Apple. Price was not as important