Building a Brand with a Thousand Songs
You know you need a brand. But do you know that one of the most
effective ways to grow your business is to build on that brand?
In a world of short attention spans and rapidly changing
technology, building your brand is crucial to your survival. The
most successful companies understand its importance. Here's one
brand building success story:
Music to Our Ears
Do you have an iPod? It seems everywhere you look today, someone
is plugged into Apple's portable digital music player. The
company knows its audience and shrewdly builds its brand around
it. As a result, Apple has sold more than 59 million iPods since
their inception in late 2001, with 6,451,000 sold in the fiscal
2005 fourth quarter alone.
In fact, iPod's branding and subsequent popularity have resulted
in 220 percent growth of the units over the previous year's same
quarter. How did Apple do it?
Finding the Right iName
Apple's premier product was the Macintosh computer. As the
internet grew, Apple shortened the computer's name to iMac. The
nickname represented the personal computer's ability to deliver
all the features needed to connect with the Internet. The name
stuck.
Over the years, the company introduced numerous products.
However, none have been as enormously popular as the iPod.
Coincidentally, iPod's target market was being born during much
of the company's growth in the late 1980's. Today, this key
audience has been dubbed the iGeneration.
The iGeneration has been a boon for iMac, and subsequently,
iPod. The company has helped define a "culture" around its
brand. The seemingly simple 'i' not only grew to establish the
brand for the company but also drove the development of a host
of 'i' products like iPod, iTunes, iChat, iMovies, iBook and
iSight. Today, the company's brand reflects the attributes of
being high-tech, "cool" and creative - exactly what its products
and messaging have attempted to convey.
Creating a Halo Effect...And a Thousand Songs
Although the iPod is both Mac and Microsoft Windows-compatible,
Apple's branding created a 'halo effect', subliminally
reinforcing brand loyalty in its Mac users as well as converting
non-Apple users. Today, iPod continues to dominate the industry,
with more than 90% of sales in the digital music market for
hard-drive players and over 70% of the market for all types of
music players.
Next, iPod created a tagline, "A Thousand Songs, in Your
Pocket". You know exactly what the product delivers based on the
tagline. Moreover, the tagline is catchy and more likely to
resonate in the mind of the consumer. Along with it, iPod
created a simple, yet powerful image. Silhouetted people against
brightly colored solid backgrounds dance to music via the iPod.
The images are strikingly simple, but effectively and
prominently focus on the contrasting white iPod and accompanying
white headphones. See the white hand-held player and headphone
cords, think iPod.
When set to music, the images evoke emotions in the consumer.
The classic rock songs iPod uses in its advertisements bring
back memories of places, people and times in our lives. We all
relate to dancing with abandon to our favorite tunes, and the
desire to let loose and dance resurfaces at the sight of the
silhouetted dancer.
iPod knows these ads will influence the consumer's psyche. We
buy for emotional reasons and then rationalize the purchase with
specific benefits like iPod's small pocket size, convenience,
cool colors, easy navigation, expanded memory, etc.
Building Buzz and Momentum with U2
Apple could have stopped extending its brand after its initial
success. However, the company knows that good branding continues
to build on buzz and momentum. Apple expanded its brand on
several levels.
First, they introduced special edition iPods featuring the
immensely popular rock group, U2. The campaign was two-fold. U2
was able to promote its latest CD "How to Dismantle an Atomic
Bomb" along with its first single, "Vertigo". Apple was able to
generate buzz, and sales, by introducing a special edition U2
iPod in black. Next, Apple created an ad campaign featuring U2
silhouetted against a bright, solid-colored backdrop singing
"Vertigo".
The ads were highly effective and precisely targeted at iPod's
demographic. If iPod is cool enough for U2, then it's cool
enough for me. They generated plenty of buzz and sales continued
to grow. Additionally, the ads tapped into the emotional aspects
of a consumer's decision-making process to reach the repressed
rocker in each of us.
Expanding on your brand to reflect growth and to keep consumers
interested is part of the ongoing process of evaluating and
building your brand. Apple understands this and has begun to
capitalize on the iGeneration's thirst for ever-changing, more
advanced technology by releasing other iPod versions including
the Mini, Shuffle, and most recently, Nano. The newest iPod will
hold 15,000 songs, 25,000 photos and 150 hours of video. Again,
it taps into the consumer's psyche by continuously introducing
newer, better and cooler versions of predecessors. The company
still utilizes cultural icons to tout the product as well, with
the latest ad campaign featuring the rapper, Eminem.
Apple also brands iPod in conjunction with iTunes, its music web
site where iPod users can purchase and download songs for less
than $1 a piece. The iTunes web site also enables users to
download pre-released songs, making its appeal even stronger
among the iGeneration.
Partnering to Build Brand Awareness...and Sales
Today, Apple is partnering with automakers to continue building
and extending its iPod brand. Working with car manufacturers
like BMW, Nissan, Volkswagen and Volvo, Apple and its new auto
partners will "create seamless integration between your car and
iPod." iPod-ready head units, self-install options and
professionally installed interfaces are available for select
2005 and 2006 cars. Apple touts these after-market car
integration solutions as a way to customize "your ride,
iPod-style". Japan is integrating iPod systems into their 2006
Nissan, Mazda, Daihatsu, BMW, MINI , smart and Alfa Romeo lines.
Such partnerships expand iPod's geographic reach and certainly
its commercial exposure.
Building Brand One iProduct at a Time
Brand is a work in progress, always evolving. You've got to
check the market's pulse on a regular basis to get a reliable
read on your brand's value and adjust it accordingly to keep it
fresh and in front of the consumer. By continuously leveraging
your brand equity--be it through businesses, musicians, the
media, customers, employees or the public--it will grow strong
and powerful, and will surely resonate with your audience.
So, are you building on your brand? If not, it's time to look at
your brand with fresh eyes. Considering the who, what, where,
when, why and how of your brand and target audience is an
ongoing and essential process. Who are your customers today
(they might not be the same customers you had five years ago)
and who can you partner with to leverage your brand? What has
changed with your customers and what are their needs and wants?
Where is the industry going today, five years from now, ten
years? When should you leverage your brand and when should you
wait? Why do your customers buy your brand? How has the world
and your business changed over the years and how should that be
reflected in your brand?
As we become a more global market, with shorter attention spans,
building brand is critical to your longevity. Build your brand
thoughtfully and its value to your customers, partners and
shareholders will increase. That alone will be music to your
ears.