Think Simple: How Smart Leaders Defeat Complexity by Ken Segall

Author:Ken Segall
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-06-06T14:00:00+00:00

Deepening the Brand, Not Cheapening the Brand

Though former marketing chief Steve Wilhite worked at Apple before the Apple Stores were conceived, he witnessed Jobs’s deep commitment to the brand and how it helped simplify decisions.

Wilhite says he felt like the keeper of the sacred flame. It was his job not only to elevate the Apple brand when possible but also to protect it from damage when he sensed trouble. Part of his responsibility was to keep everyone on the same page in support of the brand, which required constant vigilance.

As an example, Wilhite tells the story of an Apple sales executive who appeared in his office one day in 1998, totally excited after being approached by Pepsi. Pepsi was planning to spend $30 million in broadcast media for a consumer giveaway campaign and was prepared to purchase three thousand iMacs to award as prizes. Pepsi would put the image of the iMac on every can, six-pack, and carton it sold; it would feature the computer on big displays in convenience stores and cover North America with its “Buy a Pepsi, Win an iMac” campaign.

At that time the iMac was just taking off as Apple’s hot new product, and the company’s recovery was only beginning. The idea of selling three thousand computers to Pepsi in one swoop was pretty darn tempting. The sales executive was giddy at the prospect, so he was taken aback when Wilhite gave him a quick and resounding “no.”

He looked at me as if I were from Mars. So I explained to him, “What’s happening here is that Pepsi wants to use our brand equity, our product, as the prize behind door number three to help them sell more of their sugar water. We move three thousand iMacs, but we don’t get to tell anybody who we are, what we stand for, or why it matters. We don’t get to explain our value proposition in any way. We don’t get to say we’re the best computer for the Internet, best computer for design, nothing. We’re just a gift that you might get if you happen to buy the lucky can of Pepsi. So we’re not going to do this.”

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