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In recent years, some of the world’s biggest companies have discarded depth and detail to “debrand”. But what prompted this landslide of logo debranding? Bloomberg Opinion’s Ben Schott breaks down this trending direction of brand identity.

Ever since the memorable 1984 Super Bowl commercial, Apple has become one of the most exemplary case studies on Brand Identity Design. Understanding why consumers worldwide are willing to pay a surcharge for products carrying the captivating apple logo —products that perhaps nowadays don’t really differ that much from its knockoff counterparts manufactured in Shenzhen, China and sold at a minuscule fraction of the price— is key for building strong brands and profitable businesses.

To me marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world; it’s a very noisy world, and we’re not gonna get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us. […] Our customers want to know who is Apple and what is it that we stand for, where do we fit in this world.

Apple has differentiated itself from its competitors by paying meticulous attention to detail in the design of their products, but most importantly, by emphasising this differentiation through branding. Although, they don’t do that by talking about their product, but by engaging with an audience that shares those values that make Apple different.

The theme of the campaign is “think different”. It’s honouring the people who think different and who move this world forward, and it is what we are about; it touches the soul of this company.

Over time, Apple has cultivated an association between its brand and the creative concept “think different”. This allowed the company to gain an ever-growing base of loyal customers. Customers that are willing to pay extra for Apple’s products because, in one way or another, they identify with the brand and its values.