The Apple of Everyone's Eye

After 13 years as the Best Global Brand, Coca Cola has lost a bit of its fizz.  In the last week, international branding and marketing company, Interbrand, who evaluates companies on their global brand appeal, has named Apple as the Best Global Brand.  Interbrand looks at a number of factors, including financial success and market influence in making their list.  Tech companies tended to dominate the list this year, with Google taking the second spot, IBM in fourth, Microsoft in fifth and Samsung in eigth.

In separate news, Emily Chasen of the Wall Street Journal reported that "U.S. nonfinancial companies held $1.48 trillion in cash as of June 30, according to Moody’s review of the more than 1,000 companies it rates. Cash stockpiles have grown by about 2% from $1.45 trillion at the end of last year, and up 81% from $820 billion at the end of 2006."  What makes this relevant to the story about Apple being the top brand is that 10% of those cash reserves, or about $147 billion, belongs to one company...Apple.

So Apple, well known and with lots of cash on hand, is like that kid you resented in high school...more popular and richer than anyone has a right to be.  

And just like that kid in high school, the future looks bright for Apple.  Their massive cash reserves will afford them the ability to develop or acquire the technology that they need to keep their stable of products popular and in demand.  Their ubiquitous name and logo will keep them in the minds of tech-hungry populous.  Their aura and mystique and money will provide them some ability to survive the occassional stumble or misstep without losing customer loyalty.

It is somewhat amazing that Apple is on the top brand list at all.  In the 90s, the company appeared to be gasping on fumes.  Swallowing its pride, the Board of Directors wooed Steve Jobs back to the company he started and the rest, as they say, is history.  The other remarkable thing is that Apple has hit this high water mark two years after Jobs' death.  Given past history, some pundits speculated whether Apple could grow, thrive or even survive without Jobs at the helm. 

I don't expect that Apple will repeat Coke's 13 year run as Best Global Brand.  For one, I suspect Coke's longevity as Best Global Brand had a lot to do with more than a century of strong branding and marketing throughout the world.  Apple hasn't been around that long, nor as consistently successful or global.  Second, Google is nipping at Apple's heels.  Coca Cola, at number three, is significantly behind the two tech giants in Brand Value as calculated by Interbrand.  More than any other company on the list, Google also has impressive cash reserves and reputation that will allow it to almost compete with Apple, if it chooses, in growth and branding games.

Regardless of what happens in future years, right now, its good to be Apple!

Smoke Signals

For three days last week it seems as if the world was obsessed with black and white smoke.  According to wiki.answers, 18% of the world is Catholic.  So why were any of the other 82% of us paying any attention to who would be the next Pope?

In the 1980s, a company called Pencept released what is commonly considered the first tablet computer.  No one noticed.  Despite many other attempts to develop and market the devices, the market ignored tablet computers until a few years ago when Apple released the iPad.

The connection, as I see it, is that both the Pope and Apple, demand our attention.  While their messages are ostensibly delivered to their respective faithful, they are in fact speaking to all of us.  They are speaking to all of us because what they do, what they say, impacts all of us.  They impact us because they influence the public conversation.

Pencept marketed a tablet computer and no one noticed.  Apple came out with one and all of the sudden everyone had to have one.  If the Pope and the Catholic Church even signal that they are considering a change in a church custom or rule, they send shock waves throughout the spiritual, cultural and political worlds.

I don't know that I would recommend that every company try to become an influencer like Apple.  That takes years, amazing amounts of effort, resources and luck, and a singular leader, like the Pope...or Steve Jobs.  But at the very least, you should pay attention to the smoke signals.

The Many P's of Marketing: Perfection

Marketing has gotten more and more nuanced, as new technologies and strategies have opened up many options for marketers.  It is my contention that today, the marketing mix contains much more than the traditional four or five P's that are taught in school.  In this series I am exploring the Many P's of Marketing.

Perfection:  There are few things I enjoy more than a perfectly ripened peach.  It is firm yet juicy, sweet and tangy, an adventure to eat and simply delicious.  It is fruit nirvana!  The problem with peaches is that they are perfectly ripe for such a short period of time that is almost impossible to experience this state of perfection very often.

Despite this, farmers still grow, harvest and ship peaches.  Grocery stores still stock them and sell them.  And I still buy them, hoping for that rare occurrence of a perfect peach.

The point is the great peach infrastructure isn't letting the difficulty of delivering their best, get in the way of delivering good.  They do not throw in the towel because they know only rarely will a piece of fruit hit the table at the perfect time.  Instead, they work to get the peaches they sell as good as they can.  And then they sell them.  Voltaire stated this more simply in his poem La Bégueule or The Prude Woman:  "The best is the enemy of the good."

In marketing terms, this means that there is an opportunity cost to waiting for perfection.  An imperfect ad that is placed in the media always generates more sales than the "great idea" that is still on the drawing table.  A product that is in the market, being purchased, used and tested by consumers will outsell the product that never gets released because the designers or the engineers or the factory "just can't get it right."  You can read more about this in a blog I wrote last summer, titled "Don't Wait For Perfection" here.

We have all read countless articles and blogs about the late Steve Jobs' obsession with perfection.  I would argue that even Mr. Jobs realized that perfection is the enemy of the good.  Eventually, Apple released the iPhone, the Macbook, the iPad.  They put each item out on the market and learned how they could make it better and did.  If the iPhone had been perfect when it was first released, Best Buy would not be selling iPhone 4, 4S and 5 right now (with another version right around the corner!)

I am not saying that you shouldn't strive for perfection.  Every marketer should.  But like growing peaches, if you wait until you have perfection before you go to market, you are probably going to be too late!