14 DAY TRIAL // From Bill Gates to Steve Jobs, from marketing jabs to product campaigns and from Windows to Mac OS X, the face-off between the Redmond- and Cupertino-based companies is nothing short of multifaceted. And the Microsoft - Apple stand-off has successfully been extended beyond the customers of the two giants to all the persons coming in contact with their brands. In this regard, a study performed by BrandChannel has revealed that Microsoft's junkies have nothing on Apple addicts.
The respondents in the 2008 Brandjunkie Survey pointed to Apple as the top brand worldwide in accordance with a variety of questions compiled by BrandChannel. Those surveyed were asked a number of questions such as: what brand would you most like to sit next to at a dinner party? And what brand, if sent back 100 years, would have the biggest impact on the course of history?
But at the same time, the inquiries focused on dead brands in need of reviving, of the brands that consumers would want to argue with, the most inspirational brand. Participants were even asked to think what brand would they want to be, and which one they could simply live without. At the same time, the surveyed mentioned rebranding and ecology, as well as the brand that will revolutionize the branding industry in the next half of decade.
The top five brands according to the survey are Apple, Virgin, Google, Coca-Cola and Nike. Participants stated that they would dine with Apple, and that the Cupertino-based company could have altered the course of history in the last 100 years. Most of those surveyed said that if they had a choice in the matter, they would be Apple and that this is the brand which they find most inspirational and the one that they couldn't do without. At the same time, they pointed to Microsoft as the brand they would rebrand and argue with.