Anyone who has seen an Apple ad or interacted with an Apple product would say that title of this piece is obviously clear. Apple are masters of what it takes to create desire and at the same time produce good products.

But Apple knows where to lever better than anyone else

When the late great Steve Jobs came back to Apple again in 1997 he made a profound statement of intent, where he stated that Apple couldn’t win a battle of function with IBM, their main rival at the time. IBM had better processor speeds, better machines. What they could win would be the emotive battle. This flow of thought follows Apple to this day.

If you look at Samsung Galaxy, many would say it is a superior product to an iPhone. For many years Samsung used a functional argument to attract customers. They slowly caught on to the idea that if I make you laugh, if I make you go wow, I don’t really need to talk about my product so much.

If you love the brand you end up wanting to interact with the brand, hence you buy a product.

Check out Apple’s latest ad

This is the campaign Apple are currently running for their Air Pods, their wireless earphones, which came under lots of criticism as the new iPhone didn’t have a headphone connection, based on the fact they wanted people to spend an additional £150 on a set of Air Pods. I recall at the time I was thinking this is silly, why give up such an important and basic element of functionality.

Then Apple release an advert like the one below and any logical argument you had in your mind kind of disappears as emotions are played upon. You just think it is cool and you want a set.

Analyse the advert, no message about quality, how they work, how much they cost, or where to get them. Instead, it plays on an overarching theme of freedom. It inspires, it most importantly entertains, and it plants a seed of desire. This is what all brand communication is about. It is a not about direct sales, it’s not presenting an offer, or solving a problem. It reaffirms what you believe about Apple and is another impression that builds it’s brand equity in the minds of consumers.