Brandchannel announces Readers Choice Awards for 2004

BrandChannel, the online site of Interbrand consultancy has released their list of the top most influential brands of 2004 today. Among the leaders are all the ones you would expect, and obviously have interacted with on a daily basis in some way, shape, or form.

The leader? Apple. Obviously the brand had a meteoric year in 2004, and I can't argue against that. In fact I too am inflicted with the apple bug, though I don't need an Ipod, I am certainly curious about the new MacMini computer, a sub-$500 computer, a first for Apple. Is being number 1 great? I imagine yes, since it means you have had results in the market; but are people forgetting that there could be negative associations?...being on the list of most influential brands means that you have taken over people's lives. It means that you in effect, are so popular that you are everywhere...ubiquitous. The brandchannel article goes so far as to describe the apple ipod brand in this way so there must be some weight to the argument.

The problem with being so popular, is that people eventually despise you and will want to rebel. The reason I know is that I am one of those people who thinks that the original ipod was an achievement in mp3 player technology, but as time has gone on the ipod minis and the new shuffle are simply an attempt to play off the power of the brand. Now, when anyone say's their getting a new ipod product I actually argue against it, citing that the new products offer less value than their parents, and that competitors with less brand power have gone out of their way to develop better products to compete, but are getting blocked out by the giant sequoia that is Apple. For example, for the same price as the ipod minis available today, there is a 5gb player with 20 hours of battery life which is smaller, and will play more kinds of media. This new product featurewise crushes the ipod mini, but has gotten less attention. This is a common problem with popular brands... but my knowledge of this has turned me into a iPod rebel, everyone else has swallowed the apple pill, but some of us...the rebels of the ipod wars; will rise up to educate the masses, and defeat the slavemaster: Apple computers Inc.

You should definitely check out the list. For marketers its the creme de la creme, and an opportunity to see how brands have played out globally, versus in our own minds.