Apple has made a great branding success due to some following factors:

1.Building overall brand strategies

Apple has a branding strategy that focuses on the emotions. The Apple brand
personality is about lifestyle; imagination; liberty regained; innovation; passion; hopes,
dreams and aspirations; and power-to-the-people through technology. The Apple brand
personality is also about simplicity and the removal of complexity from people's lives;
people-driven product design; and about being a really humanistic company with a
heartfelt connection with its customers.

2.Designing branding components

a. Brand name
Apple, of course, is the archetypal emotional brand. It's not just intimate with its
customers; it is loved. Apple is about imagination, design and innovation.
Why did Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak choose ‘Apple’ as their brand name?
Surely, this name neither popped out of any creative research nor of any computer
software for brand name creation. It is simply the name that seemed plainly obvious to
the new creative geniuses. In one word, the Apple brand name conveyed the exact
same values as those which had driven them to revolutionize computer science.
Clearly, the brand name had in itself all the necessary ingredients to produce a major
breakthrough and establish a new norm. What worked for Apple, however, did not work
for Apricot. Apple reflected the founders’ values, which materialized into user friendly
computers. This is indeed a far cry from just choosing a similar name without prior
verification that such values as Apple’s could indeed be conveyed by the brand.

b. Logo
The Apple logo is one of the most recognized corporate symbols in the world.
The first Apple logo was designed by Jobs and Wayne in 1976, featuring Isaac Newton
sitting under an apple tree with ‘Apple Computer Co.’ on a ribbon banner ornamenting
the picture frame. That Apple logo was then changed by designer Rob Janoff into a
multicolored apple with a bite taken out off its right side, better known as the “rainbow
apple”.
For the last few years, the Apple logo has appeared in various colors (aqua color
scheme was famous among all).
But now Apple has discontinued the use of bright colors in the Apple logo,
instead opting for white and raw-aluminum color schemes. The polished chrome logo
seems to fit ideally. The silvery chrome finish in the new Apple logo is consistent with
the design scheme and freshens up the icon. For whatever reason Apple Inc. had to
revamp its logo, the new Apple logo got a hearty endorsement by the customers and
critics around the world. It can widely be seen on all Apple products and retail stores;
and has become one of the world’s most renowned brand symbols.

c. Slogan
Apple's first slogan, "Byte into an Apple", was coined in the late 1970s. From
1997–2002, Apple used the slogan Think Different in advertising campaigns. The
slogan had a lasting impact on their image and revived their popularity with the media
and customers, and the grammar caused a bit of discussion (i.e. "think" is a verb, which
is modified by adverbs; therefore the adverb "differently" should be used, not the
adjective "different"). Although the slogan has been retired, it is still closely associated
with Apple. Apple also has slogans for specific product lines — for example, "iThink,
therefore iMac" was used in 1998 to promote the iMac, and "Say hello to iPhone" has
been used in iPhone advertisements. Now is the iPad with “Bite me”.

d. Design and packaging

Apple’s products show some very distinctive characteristics which are typical of
the company
• simple design
• simple user interface
• high quality components
• coherent hardware and software
 3.Registration
Apple has very strict rules about its trademarks and images. They have the detail
guidelines for Apple licensees, authorized resellers, developers, customers, and other
parties wishing to use Apple’s trademarks, service marks or images in promotional,
advertising, instructional, or reference materials, or on their web sites, products, labels,
or packaging:
• Use of the "keyboard" Apple Logo for commercial purposes without the prior
written consent of Apple may constitute trademark infringement and unfair
competition in violation of federal and state laws. Use of Apple trademarks may
be prohibited, unless expressly authorized.
• Apple’s trademarks, service marks, trade names, and trade dress are valuable
assets. By using an Apple trademark, in whole or in part, you are acknowledging
that Apple is the sole owner of the trademark and promising that you will not
interfere with Apple’s rights in the trademark, including challenging Apple’s use,
registration of, or application to register such trademark, alone or in combination
with other words, anywhere in the world, and that you will not harm, misuse, or
bring into disrepute any Apple trademark.
• Only Apple and its authorized resellers and licensees may use the Apple Logo in
advertising, promotional, and sales materials.

4.Promotion
Apple often launches an annual sale Back-to-school: “Buy a Mac for college, and
get a free iPod touch”. It also has “Education pricing” promotion for college student,
teacher or faculty member, which makes people have more chances to use its products.
On January 27, Apple introduced the iPad, which—before it was released—had
already received more press than just about anything ever, except perhaps the
president and the iPhone. It was sold like hot cakes because people were so curious
and attracted that they want to try it as soon as possible.
 Apple always has excellent marketing campaigns with attractive commercial ads,
brilliant PR to make consumers turn their wants into their needs. Therefore, iPod,
iPhone became marker leaders in music player and mobile phone area.

5.Safeguarding and developing the brand

By now there is no doubt the iPod family of products resurrected Apple’s fortunes
by transforming the company from a niche player in personal computers to a market
maker in consumer electronics. Today, no one would question the brilliance of the
strategy. But when Apple unveiled the first generation iPod in 2001, few could foresee
iPod’s revolutionary impact on consumer electronics, music, and the cell-phone
industries.
Fortunately for Apple, that’s not the whole story. The initial iPod and iTunes were
just the first step in its ambitious “Digital Hub” strategy, where the ultimate goal was to
allow users to have all of the entertainment content they want accessible to them
whenever and wherever they want it. With this strategic perspective, the Macintosh-only
digital music player was therefore a low risk and logical entry into this robust new
business space where Apple had limited knowledge.
Apple's current line-up of product families includes not just the iPod and iTunes,
but iMac, iBook, iLife, iWork, and now iPhone, iPad. However, even though marketing
investments around iPod are substantial, Apple has not established an "i" brand. While
the "i" prefix is used only for consumer products, it is not used for a large number of
Apple's consumer products (eg Mac mini, MacBook, Apple TV, Airport Extreme, Safari,
QuickTime, and Mighty Mouse).