Why does Apple have a great brand?

Good artists copy, Great artists steal. - Piccasso

A good movie to watch would be 'Pirates of Silicon Valley'.

ah ok understood. in the end what i am saying is, dont use historical figures to make your wallet fatter.

Stefan,

I think you're a bit confused. That link is to an Apple memorabilia collector's site. That's why the poster is priced at $200. My point was to show that the Rosa Parks "think different" campaign was an old one, not a new one.

As a African, and a black man, I applaud Apple for this.

Scoble's point is that moves like this get Apple a lasting amount of goodwill.

Plus, she DID make a difference!

Thanks for the heads-up, Robert. I emailed it to all I know.

sorry I am devilsrejection hehe, multiple computers = multiple logins.

I respect what she has done. I just don't like people using her name and face to profit.

That link Todd is for a 200 dollar poster. Do you know anyone in the graphics industry? That thing is cheap as hell to make.

It's like me making Katrina shirts and selling them for 20 dollars. Now if I gave all my profit to the Red Cross that would make me great, but instead using it to buy something to make me happy... Little selfish.

FineJames: This isn't a new ad campaign, it's an old one.

see: http://www.redlightrunner.com/rosparthindi.html

I don't see it as opportunistic marketing. Heck, the marketing folks probably hate resurrecting this old campaign. Personally, I think this is great, and respectable.

Trying to profit off of the death of an icon is abominable behavior

Personally, I've always saw 'Think Different' just as a slogan as being a repetition of a sometimes popular but really limited way of seeing the world. I always thought that a competing company should have used the slogan 'Think Better', because to me being different isn't enough for praise, as it wasn't for people like Hitler, though there has been no opportunity yet where it would be seen credibly.

Even though this tribute, and all the other Think Different ads with famous individuals are tasteful to the point that they don't seem exploitive, as a non-Apple user they also make me think Apple by trying so hard to associate their customers with thinking different, sort of implicity label me as someone not thinking different; this and my disagreement with the message of the slogan, means Apple's ads just have always turned me off no matter how well designed or intentioned they are. I would guess they would appeal most to people who already buy Apple and like being part of the club.

And of course though I am appreciative of Rosa Parks and would salute what she did; I also find the reaction of everyone in the world doing eulogies and praising her a little overdone. We all were taught in elementary school how heroic she was, along with other stock figures used as examples everywhere like Hellen Keller. There's reason to have remembrance now that Rosa Parks is dead, but given that there are many individuals in history that made great and important efforts but were either forgotten or tainted by politics, the level of the reaction to her death really seems knee-jerk and compulsory. Like grown-up school children reciting from their lessons (no offense intended).

I'm not going to add to it by writing another eulogy, I have nothing more to say than other people do. Sorry for being contrarian and adding negativity, but in my defense, I'm just -thinking different.

Since they used her image in an ad a few years back, I think they owe it to her and her family to give back a little respect. That's all it is in my opinion.
Also, I'm a long time windows user and ASP.net developer, but I also have an iPod and use itunes, so I like both companies. But Pat Rice's observation on the MS vs. Apple homepage differences, pretty much sums up the two companies and really shows the contrast of a company that is people focused vs tech focused. I got a good feeling looking at apple.com. Microsoft? not so much. Good or bad, Apple marketing works.

And Stefan, Rosa Parks should mean a lot to anyone. She helped spark a revolution. People don't understand that, really so do more reading of history and less tech blogs. BTW, I'm a white irish american.

I will give someone $10 if you can prove this is some marketing ploy. This is Steve Jobs 100%. Remember when George Harrison died? Not to mention, even if this is 'cashing in on human emotion', if only one kid reads the small autobiography or follows the link to the Civil Rights page then Apple has done something great. Asses.

james -

In that case, good deal, good message, good execution, and good day.

Now I can go back to feeling icky about Miles Davis shilling for The Gap. [disclaimer: I shop at The Gap, I just wish Miles Davis didn't.]

I like the idea that it's the apple brand being co-opted here, and not Rosa Parks. She's the event, not some product launch.

Apply your slogan in unexpected ways to inspire people to...think different...and your brand image goes up, regardless of whether or not people go out and buy six Powerbooks.

Folks, the Think Different campaign ended a few years ago. They have not used the slogan or images since the Switch campaign started in, about, 2000.

Apple has always saluted individuals that their management has been influenced by: George Harrison and several others. They continue to use images in the look of the old ad campaign for this purpose.

How is providing a summary of her life and contributions to the world illegal? All they need is permission from the photographer to use the photo. Otherwise, it's very much like a newspaper article.

Personally, I think it's icky. Rather like the Benetton ads of a few years back. It did nothing to improve my feelings towards the Apple brand. On the contrary, I felt that their marketing folks were cashing in on human emotion. Of course, that's what marketing folks always do, but in this case they overstepped my personal limit. YMMV.

added, They used her image in the late 90's along w/ a bunch of others.

ryan,

The think different campaign has the permission of the people or their heirs.
"As for payment, Olivo said, "everyone has received compensation, but not one has accepted money for personal gain." He and Clow said they were all given money and/or computer equipment, which have been donated to schools, foundations, charities and nonprofit organizations. They declined to discuss the specific amounts."

Stefan: You comments sound too angry – Rosa Parks, actions changed history and Apples unexpected and prominent use of her imagery simply adds it’s perception as a company with personality and sentiment. I think the primary target group is pretty obvious

I think there's something a little screwy (read: illegal) about slapping your logo/slogan on a picture of a public figure without their permission -- I love the message, but I hope they have permission from the Parks family to do this - otherwise it's a pretty clearly illegal appropriation of her likeness...

Sorry to split hairs, but I'm in a Media Law class this semester... Just talking about the existing law, not what I think it should be :)

Removing their logo/slogan from the image would be good enough for me.

There are more than one Flickr sets that track Apple's home pages. Here's one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kernelpanic/sets/2...

Looking through, you see Apple saluted George Harrison on his death and Jimmy Carter on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. A recurring recognition on significant occasions.

Here's a link to a site that sells posters from the old ad campaign with a Rosa Parks poster: http://www.redlightrunner.com/rosparthindi.html

Rosa Parks also worked for the honorable Congressman John Conyers and her act inspired an entire generation of civil right leaders. She started something that was bigger than herself and the world is a better place because of it.

Stefan: I think you should care about Rosa Parks especially because you are a white male raised in Europe. After all, our ancestors were the scum that exploited black people for centuries.

well it just fits in with their think different branding. they're just using her to milk in some publicity. i don't think she cares now that she is dead.

now this is all taken in context, rosa parks doesn't mean anything to me as a white european raised male. now to black people in america then yes she might be a big deal.

same thing as saying a starving kid in africa knows who bill gates is and his significance in the computer industry. that little guy has no clue, yet we see that bill gates is a common house hold name here in the states, and any othe technologically advanced nation.

sure apple, way to go on the slick marketing, but in the end they are just using her to get hits on the website which make people browse the store so they can get that extra 1% market share.

sorry to sound mean and crude, i am sure what rosa parks did was significant in her time, but you have to admit apple didn't do this out of repsect.

Looks like Apple can look a bit better because they happen to have lucked out with a company slogan that happens to fit well with Rosa Parks. Imagine MS' front page with the same pic, but they use one of their slogans instead ("Start Me Up" or "Where Do You Want To Go Today?"), and it's perceived as exploitation at best and a historical insult at worse.
BTW: Apple saluting Rosa Parks changes my opinion of Apple neither positively nor negatively and thus has little to nothing to their image as a company in my eyes, much like similar salutes on my local news station didn't make me think, "Wow, Ron Burgundy really *cares* about people and civil rights!"

On microsoft.com today: "Codecs: what they are, why they matter".

whoops, talk about not reading all the details!

True you are right, my comment isn't warrented.

Thanks Kevin

Stefan:

Scoble's post didn't have anything to do with the quality of Apple's products. He was simply pointing out the quality of their branding and saluting them for their tribute to Rosa Parks. I find your comment to be totally unwarranted.

The simple fact that they appeal to thr right crowds. What seperated them from everyone else is when they launched the ipod they had itunes which let people buy music for their ipods.

People don't buy mp3 players and go... hmmm how do i get my mp3s on this thing... what is an mp3?!?

i know so many people with ipods and they literally have no more than 3 or 4 cd's on it. it is really sad.

also sex sells, tell me you look at an ipod and don't go wow. the problem this presents for microsoft is kids say "hmmm what else does apple make?" they go to apple.com and see these sexy as hell ibooks, powerbooks, and macs. as well as the screenshots of os x. they start going crazy and want to have it NOW.

apple doesn't sell products, they sell platforms. they want you to have an apple computer, with an apple mo3 player, using apple software to get music. microsoft is a software company, they have to push OEM's to offer sexy form factors, great advertising. Microsoft can only go so far into pushing their OS.

Personally I am not looking forward to Vista as enthusiastically as I am looking forward to Blackcomb. I hope blackcomb makes steve jobs go bald(er).

it's like asking why nike is a very popular brand. they not only sell sneakers, they sell shirts, shorts, even mp3 players. concentrating on the entire outfit. microsoft is just selling underwear.

on the reverse side of this, if MS starts selling their own hardware then they get the OEM's all pissed off, so i don't know how Micorosft can really push their brand. what annoys me, and you see this happen often, you walk into a store: 4 computers, each the EXACT SAME SPECIFICATIONS. people will buy the sony viao, not the hp, not the gateway, not the emachines. why? viaos look freaking awsome! and sony sells tv's steros, speakers, dvd players, everything, they offer the platform of a digital lifestyle.

why is sony doing so bad in the mp3 player market? technically they didn't have any mp3 players out lol, they were pushing that ATRAC format that no body cared about. not to mention their software wanted to make people stab their friends. there was also no online store that sold sony music.

in the end, microsoft needs to concentrate and work with vendors to push MICROSOFT software working with AMD OR INTEL HARDWARE will give you the ULTIMATE experiance.