I love everything Mac — from my iPhone to the computers I use, I can’t imagine working or playing on anything else. For those of you who also utilize a Mac product for everything important, you’re nodding your head. My creative business persona basically picks apart their advertising — which transforms my thought process to the evolution of their brand. My position within McKain Performance Group, Inc. then processes and attributes the company’s growth to their ability to differentiate their products and brand AND provide the experiences that make their customers (ME!!) loyal.

For those of you playing along at home, here’s how it goes…brand image is closely related to graphic style, and graphic style is chosen based on the high concept of the company. (If you’re in business and you don’t know what a ‘high concept’ is, you absolutely need Scott McKain.) Although graphic style and a cool logo are not the only attributes that make up brand admiration, they are certainly a big part of a company’s image and reputation. Take Apple for example…

You probably know that Apple was recently named the “Most Admired Brand in America” by Fortune Magazine. What you probably don’t know is that their first logo was designed by Ronald Wayne, one of the three original Apple Computer partners (along with Jobs and Wozniack), who owned 10 percent of Apple’s stock and bailed out of the company after only two weeks — selling his stock back for a one-time payment of $800. But that’s just the beginning of the story…

In 1977, Apple rolled out their first brochure based on the company’s ‘high concept’ that included the headline tag, ‘Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication’. Do you think Apple would still be the admired brand it is today if Jobs and Wozniack would’ve stuck with what they had? It’s that Scott concept in my head that keeps saying, ‘you can’t differentiate what you can’t clearly define’ (not the exact quote, but it’s close enough) that surfaces and makes this Apple story the perfect example of why he’s right.