Apple Brand Management

Introduction Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one producer from those of another. According to the American Marketing association , a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them , intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competition.” However branding is much more; what distinguishes a brand from its unbranded commodity counterpart and gives it equity is the sum total of consumers’ perceptions and feelings about the product’s attributes and how they perform, about the brand name and what it stands for, and about the about the company associated with the brand. Therefore the aim of this assignment is to illustrate how a chosen company has built Brand Equity instilling awareness, reputation, loyalty and prominence in the marketplace.
My choice of brand for evaluation is Apple as it’s a really powerful brand and as an Apple advocate I feel the overwhelming presence of the brand in all my technology based purchases.
Brand Management Defined
In simple terms Brand Management is the art of creating and maintaining a brand. If we explore further we see that it is the process of maintaining, improving, and upholding a brand so that the name is associated with positive results from the market place. Brand management involves a number of important aspects such as cost, customer satisfaction, in-store presentation, and competition. Brand management is built on a marketing foundation, but focuses directly on the brand and how that brand can remain favorable to customers. Proper brand management can result in higher sales of not only one product, but on other products associated with that brand. For example, if a customer loves and is satisfied with their ipod and more importantly trust the brand, he or she is more likely to try other products offered by the company such as the ipad or iphone.
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