The annual Millward Brown BrandZ survey was released recently, with Apple holding fast to its number one spot. Apple's brand worth for 2012 actually grew 19% since last year to $183 billion, followed by IBM with $116 billion brand worth, and Google which dropped a down a rank. It's worth noting that telecom and tech brands claimed about 44% of the top 100 chart's value, compared to a third in 2006. Among the carriers, AT&T still claimed a higher brand value than Verizon, but Verizon has a lot more forward momentum. The Brandz survey spanned over 380 categories, and was generated after over 65,000 different brand measurements in 41 countries.

It's not a huge surprise to see Apple's brand value so high, and one would expect the trend to continue well into next year. In fact, the effectiveness of Apple's branding has gotten to the point where competitors can't help but attack the cult-ish mindset in courts. Apple has created an iconic brand with no small help from their marketing efforts, retail locations, and not to mention world-class products. In fact, at this point it's hard to imagine many other companies being able to command the same clout among the masses as Apple has. Seriously, what could other manufacturers even do to  recreate the same kind of mystique as Apple without just looking like a copycat?

Brand value has real tangible returns, and isn't just an indicator of how good Apple is at marketing itself; UBS Research showed not long ago that iPhone users are overwhelmingly the most likely to stick with Apple for their next device out of every smartphone manufacturer. That's part and parcel of having a strong brand.

You can download the full BrandZ 2012 report here, which is actually really, really detailed. Included are a bunch of interesting editorials on marketing across a variety of industries and regional trends.

Source: Reuters

A younger, leggier Steve Jobs briefly schools the industry on how to do iconic, emotional branding by way of introducing the classic Think Different campaign.

Video after the break.

[Digital Daily via 9to5Mac]

Looks like the iPhone topped the 2009 CoolBrands Rankings, coming in at a frigid #1, with Apple itself at #3 and the iPod at #4 (that's 3 out of the top 5 spots, according to our match department). Says Stephen Cheliotis of Centre for Brand Analysis:

The iPhone is something everyone has been talking about. There has been so such a buzz around it and people who haven't got one, want one.

And yeah, with the way they spell Centre and the notable inclusions and exclusions on the list (Xbox 360?) it's likely not a US-based survey. Still, nice to see the iPhone owns international mindshare as well...

Here's the full top 10:

1. iPhone
2. Aston Martin
3. Apple
4. iPod
5. Nintendo
6. YouTube
7. BlackBerry
8. Google
9. Bang & Olufsen
10. PlayStation 3

[via 9to5mac]

Time Magazine has an interesting article up on Apple's ongoing success with the iPhone in not only a poor economy, but in face of competition like Nokia, Palm, Sony/Ericsson, etc. doing badly, even when they offer much cheaper alternatives.

BlackBerry is enjoying similar success with their higher end products, leading Time to speculate that it's based on brand, a multi-factor and mysterious currency that companies spend fortunes earning so they can make even greater fortunes exploiting:

A lot of people think that consumers who buy brand are suckers, the kind people WC Field used to mock in old movies. Samsung builds a smartphone that looks and works a lot like the iPhone. It is called the Instinct and Apple owners think it is junk.

Where the article falls off the rails, however, is in it's conclusion:

All Apple cares about is that their customers have enough money to buy an iPhone, iPod, or Mac. Suckers have money, too.

It would be a mistake -- and likely one other companies are still making -- to assume "suckers" buy on brand absent other factors, rather than brand embodying the factors customers want to buy. (Even when Apple states just this much during every quarterly conference call.)

Could it be consumers are smarter than many companies -- and perhaps journalists -- give them credit for, and in tougher times they tend towards better products? A junk phone that provides daily frustration and requires monthly or yearly replacement is in no way a better value than a highly refined user experience with tremendous build quality that's offered year-after-year free software updates and a previously unimaginable stream of ever-new applications, creating not only great initial value, but great sustainable value as well.

A better closing would likely have been:

"In tough times, smart customers make smarter choices on where and when to spend their money. Apple realizes this and makes sure their products are ready and waiting... in elegant, inviting little boxes."

We know Apple VP of Design, Jonathan Ive loves him some Braun, but who knew he also drew inspiration from Ford? Harrison Ford, that is. Norwegian site Design4Dough spotted the 1982-era Blade Runner iPhone, wall-mount edition:

The likeness is exceptional. The metallic outline, the pictogram-matrix-touchscreen, the black chassie and the designated home-button area at the bottom.

Next up: Take our chrome, it's too bland; modify our Apple brand. We don't care, it's shiny; Russian mod for iPhone 2G! (With apologies to Joss Whedon and our readers!) Says iPhone Alley:

The device was the handywork of the people at GPDA.ru. The mod involves simply removing the chrome logo and replacing it with a glowy one. This video was created of one of a modded device in action.

(Thanks to "replicant browncoat" for the tips!)