* The company has established a "heartfelt connection" with its customers. (So is Target's, or even Wal-Mart's, Gobe said). Its products and advertising are clearly recognizable. * The company has a unique visual and verbal vocabulary, expressed in product design and advertising: This is true of Apple. Its founding ethos was power to the people through technology, and it remains committed to computers in education. Apple, on the other hand, comes across as profoundly humanist. * The company projects a humanistic corporate culture and a strong corporate ethic, characterized by volunteerism, support of good causes or involvement in the community. Gobe cited Nike, which sparked customers' ire when it was revealed the company's products were assembled in sweatshops.Īccording to Gobe, emotional brands have three things in common: "People's connections with brands transcend commerce," he said. Gobe argued that, in some cases, branding has become as powerful as religion. "That's one of the reasons Apple has been rebranded - to rejuvenate the brand."Īpple abandoned the old rainbow-hued Apple logo in favor of a minimalist monochrome one, gave its computers a funky, colorful look, and streamlined the messages in its advertising. "Before Steve Jobs came back, the brand was pretty much gone," he said. At the time, its products were lackluster, its branding a mess. Gobe is of course referring to Apple's financial tailspin during the mid-1990s when the company looked in danger of going out of business. This business should have been dead 10 years ago, but people said we've got to support it." "Apple is about imagination, design and innovation," Gobe said from his office in New York. Other examples are automaker Lexus, retailer Target and outdoor clothing line Patagonia. It's not just intimate with its customers it is loved. Gobe, who hails from France, formulated this view while researching his book, in which he tells how brands have established deep, lasting bonds with their customers.Īpple, of course, is the archetypal emotional brand.
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