Apple Replaces Coca-Cola as World’s Top Brand: 10 Ways It Did It

By Don Reisinger

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs knew what he was doing as the company’s chief executive. He understood that to succeed he’d need to be relentlessly innovative. Thankfully, Apple realized in the nick of time that it needed to bring Jobs back in 1997 if the company was to have a chance to survive long term.

The iPod might have been a major departure for Apple over a decade ago when it launched, but now, it’s looked at as the key reason the company has become so popular. The iPod put Apple back on the map and made the company a major player in mobile.

For a long time, Apple felt like it had something to prove in its ongoing battle with Microsoft. But, then, the bad times came in the mid-1990s and Apple was fighting for its life. After Jobs returned, he realized that Apple needed all the allies and investors it could get. One of them who came on board at a crucial time was Microsoft’s Bill Gates. But the competition continued. But after the iPod launched, Apple realized that it could beat Microsoft in other ways than software. It was a liberating realization for the company and turned out to be a boon for its operation.

When Jobs was trying to figure out what should happen next for his company, one thing became immediately clear: Innovation was absolutely necessary. So Jobs set out to deliver the most innovative products on the market. And most people would agree that he succeeded.

One of the core measures in the Interbrand study is a company’s profits. And on that front, Apple is covered. The company has been able to make hundreds of dollars on every iPhone it sells each year, despite increased competition. If not for the huge iPhone margins, Apple might not be as successful as it is today.

In order to achieve such high margins, Apple CEO Tim Cook became a master at supply chain management. In his former role as chief operating officer, Cook identified ways to cut costs and, in the process, provide Apple with more leverage with suppliers. It was supply chain management at its very best. And Apple is successful today because of it.

Sure, there were tablets before the iPad hit store shelves, but just about no one really cared about slates until Apple’s product came out. Apple proved that tablets could work, and better yet, it made a huge business out of that.

One of the key aspects of Apple’s success was its ability to build hype and spawn secrecy by not talking about, well, anything. The move worked like a charm and only increased the rabid excitement around its product launches. If not for the secrecy and hype, it’s unlikely Apple would have been so successful.

Sure, Steve Jobs was the main brains behind Apple’s rebirth, but Jonathan Ive was arguably its second-most-important figure. As the company’s design guru, Jonathan Ive has popularized all kinds of design conventions that weren’t even dreamed of before he came up with them. Apple let Jonathan Ive be Jonathan Ive. And it’s laughing all the way to the bank because of it.

It’s not always valued, but when an organization can see its co-founder and leader die and be able to pick up where he left off and continue to generate massive profits, that’s saying something. Apple’s ability to move on is nothing short of astounding. And that the company is now the world’s top brand two years after Jobs died says something about its current executive team and prospects for the future.