How Apple can teach us about brand equity

So the iPhone 7 has been out for roughly a month now and reception has been overall positive. In Apple’s Keynote event back on September 7, the tech giant released the two iPhone variants with the initial release to 28 different countries. This means the lucky people in these countries get to have the iPhone in the first round of release. Here in Australia, we were in the first round of release with the top of the line iPhone 7 Plus 256GB priced at AUD 1569. For countries like Indonesia that aren't in the first or second round of iPhone releases, iPhone lovers in the country have to find alternative ways to get their hand on the phone.

Many people would travel to Singapore — a part of the 28 countries in the initial round of release — and bring multiple phones back to sell back in Indonesia. Because of the effort they have gone through and also the want to gain profit, they would sell the iPhones at a price premium. Prices as high as Rp 25,000,000 (AUD 2520) have been seen on the market and received positively with sticks selling out instantly. This trend happens in Indonesia each year after the release of the new iPhone.  

Source: https://www.dpreview.com/news/5689446804/dont-care-about-the-iphone-7-ten-reasons-why-you-should

This is a very interesting case where brand equity plays a significant role to a business. Here are the factors that affect brand equity:

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is possibly the first factor to build brand equity. With consumers knowing that your brand is out in the market, they will understand what your brand is all about. With no brand awareness, consumers will disregard your brand as it has never come across their mind. Apple didn’t start out as big as they are now. They started in a small garage calling investors up to make them aware that their brand existed. Over time as people start to realise and know your brand, that’s when it becomes a “Top-of-mind” brand.

Brand Loyalty

It would be useless if consumers were to trial the brand and never come back for a second time. Customer retention and brand loyalty is essential to what keeps your business running. In the case of Apple and their iPhones, they have a very loyal customer base and as mentioned above, would pay almost twice the price to get their hands on the phone. We guess that’s how “Apple Fanboys” emerged!

Perceived Quality

A customer’s perception of the quality of the product that you are selling is crucial. No one would purchase goods that they feel are of low quality. Quality is something that you need to have from the start, especially when you are new to the market. There are many boutique brands that are out in the market today which have high quality. When you are new in the market and have little to no brand awareness, one of the things you can do to stand out is to have good quality. When you have a product of high quality it is only a matter of getting consumers to trial your product. Apple iPhones are renowned for their quality. Consumers can see and feel it, with time this gets them to trust the brand and lead to better brand equity.

Apple is a “top-of-mind” brand that everyone recognises. They didn’t achieve this overnight and it took endless hours of blood, sweat and tears to become what they are today. Stay persistent and hopefully these 3 factors can help you get that little extra edge to gain brand equity.

Stanley Ritz Kurniawan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School