There have been two seminal moments in the world this
week. Firstly, Apple added a trophy to its cabinet by becoming the world’s most
valuable brand, toppling Coke’s 13 year reign of Interbrand’s yearly Global
Brands Report. The consequent rise in Apple’s stock price and press furore
surrounding the result illustrate the importance of brand.
Secondly, this week marked my fourth week as a Graduate
Trainee at Woodreed. My time here so far has been a master class on everything
brand, focusing in particular upon Woodreed’s belief that getting the brand
inside the company right is as important as outside.
A company finding their brand and making it clear
to all people within is a great achievement. But one thing that has interested
me is how important it is to have everyone within a company understanding and
living the brand. When I say everyone I don’t mean just a couple of people from
HR, but everyone from the CEO and Managing Directors to the mail boy and person
who cleans the loos. And this is where I am worried about Apple. According to
Interbrand Apple is clearly passing on its brand outside of the company, but
what about the inside?
For the last couple of decades Apple stores have
been synonymous with passionate staff, seeing them cheering and celebrating on
launch days shows how much they are engaged with the brand. Further evidence of
Apple’s past internal brand engagement is Steve Jobs’ Mission Statement for
Apple from 20 Years ago, which read:
‘To make a
contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.’
I N C R E D I B L E, no wonder Apple employees from
the ground up were inspired with this kind of belief from the top.
But what about today? Well the in store staff’s belief
in the Brand is currently so strong that they recently managed to sell the highest
spec iPad to my notoriously frugal Father. But how about higher up within the
company? Steve Forstall and his team with their unfinished map debacle last
year-I’m not sure. CEO Tim Cook? Hmm, how about his Mission Statement for Apple?
‘Apple designs Macs,
the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and
professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods
and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the
mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the
future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.’
To me that is more like an Encyclopaedia
description of the company, not the piece of inspirational writing from Jobs. So
I advise the heads of Apple to have a 4 week training with Woodreed, read the
thought pieces from Woodreed’s website and see the great effects having a full
company of people singing to the same tune can have. Then they can prove that they
are not just a tech company but once again a company making a contribution to
the world that changes mankind.
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