Tom Asacker

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World's most admired company

Can you guess who landed at the top of Fortune Magazine's list of the World's Most Admired Companies for the second year in a row?  If you've read any of my books or have seen me give a talk, you know that they get my vote hands down.

"It’s been a rocky year for Apple,” writes Alyssa Abkowitz. “CEO Steve Jobs’ health made headlines, and critics said Cupertino wasn’t being open enough about it. But customers remained loyal to the brand that made white ear buds cool. As much of the computer industry struggled, Apple shipped 22.7 million iPods during its first quarter (up 3 percent from last year), 2.5 million Macs (up 9 percent), and 4.4 million iPhones. No wonder Apple tops our Most Admired list for the second year in a row.”

No wonder indeed!  So how can you become more like Apple?  You can start by asking yourself these kinds of questions:

1. How can we differentiate ourselves and harness “feel” in everything we do to create curiosity and uniquely demonstrate our passion?
2. How can we creatively demonstrate our brand, while encouraging interactions between people so that they influence each other?
3. How do we continuously create energy and word-of-mouth through specific actions that will add value to our customers’ lives?
4. Look at everything you create, from advertising and store design to microsites and packaging and ask: Does this cause people to stop and look and listen?
5. Is it unexpected and desirable?
6. Is it completely different than what they’ve come to expect from brands in our category, as well as from the medium?
7. Does it powerfully tap into their desired sense of self and transfer the feeling of adoption and ownership?
8. Does it fit their lifestyle?
9. Does it demonstrate value at an empirical level?
10. Is it newsworthy? Would people tell others about it, and why?

Apple is No. 1, again, because of their fanatical attention to every detail of the product and retail experience, as well as their culturally relevant, eloquent and entertaining marketing.  Their people have worked long and hard to create a culture of understanding, excellence, and innovation . . .  in that order.  It's not magic. You can do the same things with your brand.  You simply need the vision, relentless drive, unwavering persistence, and guts of a guy named Steve Jobs.

Posted March 2, 2009
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