gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

Hi Hugh.

On this one occasion I believe that you're wrong.

Apple has an incredibly loyal user base, many of which are active Apple evangelists. Blogs are not the only way in which people make their views known. Forum participation is still a more widely used outlet for many internet users.

Apple survived the rough times purely because they had this loyalty to fall back on. Sure, Steve Jobs is a the figurehead giving Apple direction but from a branding perspective this is largely a ceremonial post.

The user counts. More so than with any other brand I personally know of.

Oh, Apple are very good, Andreas. Especially at being Apple ;-)

I for one am disappointed at how "branded" all the Apple crap is. Sure they focus on user experience, sure they build in a strong entertainment factor based on the percieved needs of the user, both in their ads and user interface.

Then they go stamp an apple in the top of your lap top. Up yours! This is so heavy handed it's a joke. There are still some late adopters who see the nice metallic Apple and smile and congratulate themselves on getting hold of the golden fleece. But dont tell me Apple's invested in the user. They have invested in Apple, in Apple, in Apple. And Hugh I think youre dead right, Bono would be a good spokesman. A bombastic, has-been rock star, respected by late adopters who need to wrap themselves in a flag.

John:

The reason Apple brands heavily is to allow their user base to publicly show their preference of computing platform. What good would it be if you couldn't tell a Powerbook from your average PC laptop? It might sound silly to you (and the older I am getting the more I agree with you) but it is important to many.

One of the distinguishing features of being an Apple user is that he/she is NOT a PC user. Like a tribal tattoo, the Apple logo stamped into the cover of the laptop makes that point to the world.

Hi Andreas,
I liek your point about tribalism, though I find the Apple brand stamping is needlessly heavy handed. Do they really need to work so hard to have us suckle at their nipples?
Apple Marketing would probably say so. But as a user that's a former Apple booster, when resting in the shelter of Apples's superior arms, more & more I have the creeping feeling of being beaten, bound and branded.

Well, first thing, Andreas- I think Apple is a great company with great products. All their success is deserved.

A lot of the divide I think is generational.

People get older. When that happens the need to express oneself visually- via the transmitting of ciphers- diminishes.

And the need to express oneself verbally increases.

No doubt some anthropologist could explain this better than I could...

Age is a very defining factor, I agree. Younger consumers tend to make buying decisions based on what is external (how does the product make me look to the outside world) whereas older consumers tend to make these decisions on what is internal. (How does this product make me feel). I suspect that all three of us are in our thirties, when that process typically begins.

I forgot where I read this, but somebody said that the whole essence of advertising can be boiled down to the simple fact that every man really is two men: The man he is and the man he wishes he was. (I hope I am not mangling a famous quote here).

PS: I've never used my white iPod earbuds. Ever.

Agreed. And when you're young the person you wish to be- your aspirational self- takes up a lot more real estate.

Apple know this full well and use it to their advantage. I would do the same.

OK this is now an old thread, possibly too old. The aspirational self point is clear. Thanks very much, interesting discussion. I can see the last comments by both of you, though I’m not sure about this observation of Hugh's:

"People get older. When that happens, the need to express oneself visually- via the transmitting of ciphers- diminishes. And the need to express one's self verbally increases."

I guess I’ve never heard of this switch from visual to verbal over time. Where's it from, anyway?

I see it a little differently: symbols of transformation, or ciphers - rock stars, the Cross, the Apple logo - lose their appeal over time because they represent a generalized complex. Over time we become more of an individual. Backed up by: if you screw one 18 year old, another 18 year old is often a pretty similar experience. Older people are weirder, if you like.

Projections are a necessary evil. As we individuate we find the wages of these projections (price markups on cachet name brands, tickets to rock shows, bad Church services) are too steep. Energy must be channeled. A brand can do that. But books like Daniel Boorstin's The Image clearly speak of the degenerate effects from image materialism. So what if a brand should build in both the ability to use its logo-power and also allow the user to separate from its image. For instance, removable logos, configurable design.

It seems to me that would be better. I guess the question that this raises is, would that be more valuable, would that be more valued. Or are brands necessarily self-conscious narcotics? I apologize if I’m railroading ideas here.

Forget Apple: what about the cartoon? That's the truth, man. The cheapest place I've ever been is Huron, South Dakota. Cheapass taps, and nothing to see except dirty carpet.

However, college towns, especially smaller towns with huge state colleges, tend to buck the trend in terms of cheap living versus lots of attractive women.

For someone who tries to promote creativity and individuality, I think that you've seriously missed the boat.

Aside from the iPod being a hugely successful product that has resurected the underdog, Apple is Apple. Plain and simple. We "Mac Addicts" only represent 5% of personal computer users worldwide, and I can tell you that it has nothing to do with the iPod. The Mac is, in all shapes and colors, simply a better product.

And I can qualify that statement because, unfortunately, I am a Windows guru by day, and Mac Addict for life. For some reason, I get paid a lot of money to travel the world installing and fixing our customers Windows network. And before you ask, I do it because I can travel the world on someone else's nickel. And visiting 45 or so different countries in the last 8 years has made it worthwhile. But Windows is, without a doubt, the worst OS within the big four (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, and Unix.) Windows, in its current form, is one giant TPS report, and the constant reminder that it is are the never ending security patches required to keep your boss off your ass!

But enough about that. What Apple represents is the ability to do what you want to do, not to have to do what everyone else is doing. With the power of Unix and Open Source behind Mac OS, the possibilities are limitless because there is no stifling of creativity and development. Apple isn't out there buying or destroying the competition that comes up with a better, or more useful, application. I use freeware and $5 and $10 dollar shareware apps that blow away their $50-$500 dollar competitors. But you don't see Apple on a crusade to stifle them, do you.

If the best course to keep Apple, and the Mac, alive is to ride the iPod like Seattle Slew, then so be it. The iPod is THE best MP3 player out there, so why not? They're not doing it at the expense of the Mac, or the loyalty of the "Addicts", so what's the big deal? Actually, it's only a big deal to the non-believers. So they've got the U2 iPod. Big deal! If that cash brings about a better Mac OS, then hey, ride that nag into the ground baby!!

But if you all would rather suffer through the viruses, spyware, and an OS that gets penetrated more than Jenna Jameson, that's your choice. We're definitely content not to have a single virus for our operating system, and a Unix firewall to keep you out. While you're ensuring that your anti-virus software is up to date, I'll be busy thinking differently.

p.s. I actually blogged about your HTBC a while back, recommending that people check it out.

You can't automatically make a correlation between a brand and a customer's decision to buy the product. People do sometimes make informed purchases based on things like the stability of the underlying kernel.

Also ... no, I wouldn't buy an Apple t-shirt or bumper sticker, but when I carry an iBook somewhere in public I do actually like the fact that people are seeing evidence that there are other options in the world.