Apple’s forking brands and incredibly efficient ad spending

Writing for Monday Note, Jean-Louis Gassée discusses Apple’s brand-forking strategy when it comes to Beats:

You won’t find Apple logos on Beats headphones, and you won’t find any Apple references in a Beats headphone commercial. The headphones are part of the Beats Music streaming music ecosystem whose goal is to play everywhere, including the Windows Phone Store.

An interesting read, and no doubt the jury is still out when it comes to understanding the purpose/success of the Beats acquisition.

But inside that longer piece is a discussion of Apple’s ad spending habits:

Apple’s reputation, products, and imagery have coalesced into a brand, a mark that’s burned (as in the word’s origin) into the collective consciousness. Last year, Forbes called Apple the world’s most valuable brand. It’s impossible to measure contribution of the name and logo to the company’s success, but a peek at the Forbes’ list shows how little Apple spends advertising its products compared to Microsoft, Google, Samsung, or less technical companies such as Cocoa-Cola or Louis Vuitton.

Here’s a link to the Forbes’ list of Most Valuable Brands. Note that Apple’s brand value is $124.2 billion and their advertising budget is $1.1 billion. Their advertising budget is a mere .88% of their brand value.

The number two most valuable brand, Microsoft, has an ad/brand ratio of 3.65%. Google, number three on the list and not really thought of as a product company, has an ad/brand ratio of about 5%. Coca-Cola, number four, is at 5.8%.

Apple’s ad efficiency is remarkable. That is one powerful brand.