Apple Positioning Statement

Apple is the brand for everyone and anyone that satisfies the need to have the latest technological advances by offering products that look good but are also fun, faster, lighter and thinner. According to Kapferer "Positioning does not reveal all of the brand's richness of meaning nor reflect all its potential" (Kapferer, 2007, p177) His own model, "For What? Whom? When? and Against whom? " (Appendix Two) restricts brands as soon as they begin answering the four questions. This type of strategy has a differential technique more suited to companies relying on their USP to competing against market leaders.

The questions fail to encapsulate a brand fully and take away the identity making it hard to distinguish between brands targeting the same people with similar products, for example Pepsi and Coca cola. The positioning statement, based on Elliot and Percy's model "To (target segment and need) our (brand) is (concept) that (point of difference/benefit. )"(Rosenbaum-Elliot, Percy & Pervan, 2011) was chosen because it is a central positioning strategy which is mainly used by market leaders.

Apple has demonstrated its superiority with boastful statements including, "It's the most amazing iPhone yet" (Apple, 2012) which is why a model that communicates the utmost benefit has been chosen. Although it can be hard to summarize a brand's characteristics into one sentence Apple's outgoing, straight to the point attitude would be more suited to Percy's positioning model. Apple's competition is difficult to pin down because in the past years it would be argued that as a PC manufacturer Apple would be rivalling companies such as Dell.

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Dell's brand positioning appears to be a differential strategy focusing on its USP that you obtain the computer "Direct from Dell. " (Dell et al, 1999) This differs from Apple because Dell focuses its marketing on people who specifically are in want or need of a computer spending limited time and energy on those who are not interested. Apple uses a different technique by having a broader target market advertising that their product is for everyone and anyone. "Everyone should have a notebook this advanced. And now everyone can.

" (Apple, 2012) Although Apple's target market is larger both companies are successful for the reason that they both use their main attribute, reassurance of quality. This psychological acquisition has been obtained through the alleged added value created from good experiences consumers have encountered throughout the years they have been trading. Recently Apple have reached out considerably into online media (iPhones, iTunes) which has put them into a new competitive market with Blackberry and other mobile companies alike all trying to be the best.

To be able to understand consumer's perception of Apple a brief survey (Appendix Three) was handed out to several randomly selected participants of all ages to ascertain their opinions of the brand. As Apple is accessible to all ages there was no limitation to whom the survey was handed out to, except younger children who would not have been able to comprehend what was being enquired. The following information is a tiny sample of the population meaning that the results are not a representation of the population as a whole.

Brand analysis is the process in using theoretical concepts to piece a picture together in understanding what a brand is. Brand analysis looks into different aspects, such as brand identity, culture and mantra, to investigate the brand involved identifying both its strengths and weaknesses. The major concept that is important to all companies is brand personality, which is personifying a brand name which enables consumers to be able to relate to a brand on a personal level.

Example of a brand personality traits include sincere, impulsive and imaginative. Blackston (1992) argues that "a brand relationship includes the two components of trust and customer satisfaction. " (Glynn, 2009) Brand personality enables consumers to reach self conceptualisation through personification of the brand. Therefore customer satisfaction is obtained by the consumer perceiving and reacting to the brand whilst the brand behaves and reacts to the consumer.

Apple is great at reacting to customers because former co founder Steve Jobs focused the company on giving the customers what they never knew they needed. Apple completely changed the way in which we use music players and phone. The personification of Apple is supported within the evidence gathered from question nine in the survey "How would you describe Apple? " All the vocabulary that was used described the brand as if it were a person, such as innovative, stylish and most popularly creative.

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