Coming in at the top of heap in the branding survey, Apple certainly seems to have a number of people drinking the Cool Aid. But in two of the questions it is just stunning and hard to believe that Apple could come in not just first, but far ahead.
1. What brand, if sent back 100 years, would have the biggest impact on the course of history?
Coming in first with 15.5% is Apple. This, of course, is absurd when Google is coming in third here with only 8.4% of the vote.
And then:
2. What brand can you not live without?
Again, 15.2% chose Apple, making it Number One. 5.5% of respondents told the truth and answered Google. I don’t care how much you love Apple; the brand simply does not do what Google does on a daily basis.
But what does this show about Apple’s brand? To me it demonstrates that Apple is not nearly as powerful as I had once believed. It simply has louder advocates who are devoted on a level so completely that they are blind to answering anything but “Apple” on any survey.
Full disclosure: I sometimes write for Brandchannel. Particularly, I have written about product placement. Apple maintains a special place in the world of product placement in that it is constantly appearing in films. It has benefited from nearly 20 years of on-screen promotion, from 1986 hit films like “Short Circuit” and “Star Trek IV” to a stunning 13 of 2007’s total Number One box office hits.
And yet, despite all of this “can’t live without it” admiration and screen time, the Apple brand controls only 8% of the computer market. These numbers just don’t add up.