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You know you need a brand. But do you know that one of the most effective ways to grow your business is to build on that brand?


In a world of short attention spans and rapidly changing technology Cheap Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys , building your brand is crucial to your survival. The most successful companies understand its importance. Here's one brand building success story:


Music to Our Ears


Do you have an iPod? It seems everywhere you look today, someone is plugged into Apple's portable digital music player. The company knows its audience and shrewdly builds its brand around it. As a result, Apple has sold more than 59 million iPods since their inception in late 2001, with 6,451,000 sold in the fiscal 2005 fourth quarter alone.


In fact, iPod's branding and subsequent popularity have resulted in 220 percent growth of the units over the previous year's same quarter. How did Apple do it?


Finding the Right iName


Apple's premier product was the Macintosh computer. As the internet grew Cheap Bengals Jerseys , Apple shortened the computer's name to iMac. The nickname represented the personal computer's ability to deliver all the features needed to connect with the Internet. The name stuck.


Over the years, the company introduced numerous products. However, none have been as enormously popular as the iPod. Coincidentally, iPod's target market was being born during much of the company's growth in the late 1980's. Today, this key audience has been dubbed the iGeneration.


The iGeneration has been a boon for iMac, and subsequently, iPod. The company has helped define a ?culture? around its brand. The seemingly simple ?i? not only grew to establish the brand for the company but also drove the development of a host of ?i? products like iPod Cheap Clint Boling Jersey , iTunes, iChat, iMovies, iBook and iSight. Today, the company's brand reflects the attributes of being high-tech, ?cool? and creative ? exactly what its products and messaging have attempted to convey.


Creating a Halo Effect?And a Thousand Songs


Although the iPod is both Mac and Microsoft Windows-compatible, Apple's branding created a ?halo effect? Cheap Kevin Huber Jersey , subliminally reinforcing brand loyalty in its Mac users as well as converting non-Apple users. Today, iPod continues to dominate the industry, with more than 90% of sales in the digital music market for hard-drive players and over 70% of the market for all types of music players.


Next, iPod created a tagline, ?A Thousand Songs, in Your Pocket?. You know exactly what the product delivers based on the tagline. Moreover, the tagline is catchy and more likely to resonate in the mind of the consumer. Along with it Cheap Michael Johnson Jersey , iPod created a simple, yet powerful image. Silhouetted people against brightly colored solid backgrounds dance to music via the iPod. The images are strikingly simple, but effectively and prominently focus on the contrasting white iPod and accompanying white headphones. See the white hand-held player and headphone cords, think iPod.


When set to music, the images evoke emotions in the consumer. The classic rock songs iPod uses in its advertisements bring back memories of places, people and times in our lives. We all relate to dancing with abandon to our favorite tunes, and the desire to let loose and dance resurfaces at the sight of the silhouetted dancer.


iPod knows these ads will influence the consumer's psyche. We buy for emotional reasons and then rationalize the purchase with specific benefits like iPod's small pocket size Cheap Shawn Williams Jersey , convenience, cool colors, easy navigation, expanded memory, etc.


Building Buzz and Momentum with U2


Apple could have stopped extending its brand after its initial success. However, the company knows that good branding continues to build on buzz and momentum. Apple expanded its brand on several levels.


First, they introduced special edition iPods featuring the immensely popular rock group Cheap C.J. Uzomah Jersey , U2. The campaign was two-fold. U2 was able to promote its latest CD ?How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb? along with its first single, ?Vertigo?. Apple was able to generate buzz, and sales, by introducing a special edition U2 iPod in black. Next, Apple created an ad campaign featuring U2 silhouetted against a bright, solid-colored backdrop singing ?Vertigo?.


The ads were highly effective and precisely targeted at iPod's demographic. If iPod is cool enough for U2, then it's cool enough for me. They generated plenty of buzz and sales continued to grow. Additionally Cheap Andrew Billings Jersey , the ads tapped into the emotional aspects of a consumer's decision-making process to reach the repressed rocker in each of us.


Expanding on your brand to reflect growth and to keep consumers interested is part of the ongoing process of evaluating and building your brand. Apple understands this and has begun to capitalize on the iGeneration's thirst for ever-changing, more advanced technology by releasing other iPod versions including the Mini, Shuffle, and most recently, Nano. The newest iPod will hold 15,000 songs, 25 Cheap Clayton Fejedelem Jersey ,000 photos and 150 hours of video. Again, it taps into the consumer's psyche by continuously introducing newer, better and cooler versions of predecessors. The company still utilizes cultural icons to tout the product as well, with the latest ad campaign featuring the rapper, Eminem.


Apple also brands iPod in conjunction with iTunes, its music web site where iPod users can purchase and download songs for less than $1 a piece. The iTunes web site also enables users to download pre-released songs, making its appeal even stronger among the iGeneration.


Partnering to Build Brand Awareness?and Sales


Today Cheap Randy Bullock Jersey , Apple is partnering with automakers to continue building and extending its iPod brand. Working with car manufacturers like BMW, Nissan, Volkswagen and Volvo, Apple and its new auto partners will ?create seamless integration between your car and iPod.? iPod-ready head units, self-install options and professionally installed interfaces are available for select 2005 and