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With the long awaited launch of the iPad 2 last Friday causing near mayhem at Apple stores and electrical resellers around the UK, you can't help but question the special love that Apple 'the brand' radiates amongst techies, design geeks (MKT creative team I mean you!) and people like me, far and wide around the globe.
In fact, I witnessed it myself in the office last week with our young designer Craig, desperate for a quick Friday 'dart', not to the pub, but to the local Trafford Centre to queue up for over two hours to ensure he was the proud owner of an iPad 2 on day one of UK launch.
Gen Y in particular has an Apple affinity that is so immersed with their very being that they would probably kill to own the latest Apple gadget. Thinking out loud, I suppose they are the generation to have witnessed Apple's coming of age as world leader of cool, more than any other alive today.
But what drives this passion? This desire to be an early adopter of all things Apple? Is it a love for the product, a love for the brand cool, a love for the technology, or a love of just being in love, with APPLE. I personally think it's a combination of all of the aforementioned. But what fascinates me more so, is how Apple continues to dominate the emotional space in terms of brand loyalty and engagement.
Of course beautiful aesthetic plays a key role, as does continual innovation in terms of technology, lifestyle enhancing products and applications. But more than any other global product brand (Facebook not strictly being a product brand) Apple keeps on keeping on. A leader not a follower, Apple knows its audience better than any other brand on the global stage I would argue. And it develops products highly attuned to the needs, wants and loves of said audience, by listening, taking risks, employing passionate Appleers, being prepared to 'think different' and by reacting to fast shifts in the market, relatively quickly. All quite obvious stuff really - not rocket science. But how many companies of a similar size and scale can claim the same commitment to this path? Not many I would say, despite the promise of advertising propositions and messaging.
So if you're looking to replicate the model in b2b (and many are - I would be a rich lady if I had £1 for every company who claims to want to be the Apple of their sector), then you need to be bold - truly bold! A brand like Apple isn't created in the mind, it's created in the heart. And that's what inspires true brand amore!
P.S. for hard'core' Apple iPad hunters (see what I did there!) good news..... Dixons, PC World and Currys expect to get more iPad 2s in stock today. Most will be going to those who have pre-ordered, but if you hurry you might just be able to buy one over the counter. Argos, meanwhile, has been left woefully short handed. Its 750 stores in the UK and Ireland ran out of stock on Monday – and the store doesn't expect to get any more until 25 April. At Phones4U, which was reported to have been given just one iPad 2 for each of its 500+ stores, the devices are only "down to the last few", according to a spokeswoman. No word, yet, on when more will be available. John Lewis, which is famously "never knowingly undersold", has sold out. The retailer says it will have more of the Apple gadgets in time for the weekend. As does Tesco, which encourages customers to order online.
