How Apple Brainwashes You

Summary

This video delves into the dynamics of brand loyalty, using Apple as a prime example of a company that has mastered customer retention. It discusses two types of brand loyalty: emotional and practical, and how Apple's strategic product releases and ecosystem keep consumers loyal. The video also critiques the superficiality of corporate social responsibility and the power of branding in shaping consumer identity, ultimately urging viewers to seek genuine connections over corporate influence.

Takeaways

• 📱 Brand loyalty, especially among Apple users, is a powerful social tool in modern consumer society.
• 🌐 Apple's success is attributed to its unmatched brand loyalty, which retains more repeat customers than most other brands.
• 🔄 There are two types of brand loyalty: emotional and practical, with Apple excelling in both by creating a strong customer identity.
• 💡 Customer capitalism is an economic concept where keeping customers happy leads to long-term value for shareholders.
• 📈 Apple's business model focuses on customer retention, which is more profitable than constantly acquiring new customers.
• 📊 Publicly traded companies often prioritize short-term profits over long-term customer satisfaction due to shareholder expectations.
• 🔋 Apple strategically integrates new technologies into its products after they've been proven in the market, ensuring quality and reliability.
• 🔗 Apple's ecosystem creates a 'walled garden' that makes it difficult for users to switch to other brands due to the seamless integration of their products.
• 🎨 Apple's branding is so powerful that it has created a distinct identity for its users, differentiating them from users of other brands.
• ⚖️ While companies like Apple claim to support social and environmental causes, these efforts are often part of broader marketing strategies rather than genuine commitments to change.

Q & A

What is one of the most powerful social tools in modern consumer society?

The ownership of certain products and how one spends their money are considered powerful social tools, as they can influence social identity and group affiliation.

Why is brand loyalty significant for companies?

Brand loyalty is significant for companies because it leads to repeat customers, who typically buy 90% more than new ones, and contributes to over half of a company's revenue.

What is the difference between emotional and practical brand loyalty?

Emotional brand loyalty is connected to personal feelings, memories, or family traditions, while practical brand loyalty is based on rational factors such as reliability and trust in the brand's product quality.

How does Apple maintain its customer retention?

Apple maintains customer retention by designing high-quality products that meet consumer expectations, withholding and strategically releasing new features to maximize profits, and creating a strong brand ecosystem that is difficult for users to leave.

What is customer capitalism and how does it relate to Apple's business strategy?

Customer capitalism is an economic concept that emphasizes keeping customers happy to drive long-term value for shareholders. Apple's business strategy aligns with this by focusing on customer satisfaction and retention, which has contributed to its status as one of the most valuable companies.

Why do some companies struggle to prioritize customer satisfaction over short-term profits?

Some companies struggle because they are publicly traded, with shareholders expecting the value of their investments to increase. This pressure leads to a focus on short-term profits over long-term customer satisfaction.

What is the significance of Apple's plan to integrate ChatGPT into Siri?

The integration of ChatGPT into Siri signifies Apple's continuous innovation and adaptation to advanced technologies to improve user experience, despite being typically cautious about adopting new technologies until they are proven.

How does Apple's branding strategy contribute to its customer retention?

Apple's branding strategy contributes to customer retention by creating a strong identity and ecosystem that makes users feel like part of an exclusive group. This, combined with high-quality products, makes it difficult for users to switch to other brands.

What is the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports in shaping public perception of a company?

CSR reports are used by companies to showcase their commitment to social and environmental causes, which can enhance public perception and customer loyalty. However, these reports are often self-reported and may not fully reflect the company's actual impact.

Why might it be concerning if major corporations take on the role of driving social change?

It might be concerning because corporations primarily aim to maximize profits, and their involvement in social change could be more about marketing and public image than genuine commitment to making the world a better place.

Outlines

00:00

📱 Brand Loyalty in the Age of Apple

The paragraph discusses the power of brand loyalty, particularly in the context of Apple users. It highlights how people often identify strongly with the brands they choose, and how Apple has managed to maintain a high level of customer retention. The paragraph also introduces the concept of 'customer capitalism', which suggests that keeping customers satisfied leads to long-term value for shareholders. It critiques the short-term focus of many publicly traded companies and contrasts this with Apple's approach to retaining customers through product design and ecosystem lock-in.

05:01

🌐 The Influence of Ground News and Customer Retention

This paragraph introduces Ground News, the sponsor of the video, which aggregates news articles to provide full context. It discusses how Apple is planning to integrate Chat GPT into Siri, a move that may not be driven by consumer needs but is indicative of Apple's strategy to evolve with technology. The paragraph also touches on the broader theme of how companies are starting to prioritize customer retention and satisfaction over just profit, as seen in a statement by major company executives. However, it questions the sincerity of these commitments, suggesting they are often more about marketing and public relations than genuine change.

10:01

🔄 Apple's Strategy for Customer Retention

The paragraph delves into Apple's tactics for maintaining customer loyalty. It discusses how Apple designs its products to provide a high-quality experience while strategically withholding features to maximize profits. Examples include the late adoption of USB-C and the removal of the headphone jack. The paragraph also addresses how Apple's ecosystem makes it difficult for users to switch to other platforms, and how Apple's branding creates a strong identity for its users. It critiques the idea that brand loyalty is often more about marketing strategies than genuine consumer satisfaction.

15:03

🌈 The Illusion of Brand Loyalty and Social Change

In the final paragraph, the video script addresses the emotional connection and loyalty that consumers have with brands like Apple. It discusses how brands are becoming more powerful in shaping our identities and social change, and how this can be problematic. The paragraph suggests that consumers should not rely on brands for social change or identity formation, and that the increasing focus on customer retention metrics may give brands even more power. It ends with a call for viewers to subscribe to the channel for more content, highlighting the role of community and genuine human connections over brand loyalty.

Keywords

💡Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty refers to the customer's faithfulness to a particular brand, often driven by emotional attachment or satisfaction with the brand's products or services. In the video, brand loyalty is exemplified by Apple users who continue to purchase iPhones despite minor annual improvements, highlighting the strong emotional connection and trust in the brand.

💡Customer Capitalism

Customer capitalism is an economic concept that emphasizes the importance of keeping customers satisfied as a means to increase long-term value for shareholders. The video discusses how Apple has successfully implemented this strategy by focusing on customer retention, which contrasts with the short-term profit focus of many publicly traded companies.

💡Planned Obsolescence

Planned obsolescence is a business strategy where products are designed to become outdated or non-functional after a certain period, encouraging consumers to buy new versions. The video cites Apple's removal of the headphone jack as an example of this practice, which not only drives sales but also locks users into the Apple ecosystem.

💡Economic Short-Sightedness

Economic short-sightedness refers to the focus on immediate profits over long-term sustainability or customer satisfaction. The video critiques publicly traded companies for prioritizing short-term gains in quarterly earnings over building lasting relationships with customers, which can lead to a lack of innovation and customer dissatisfaction.

💡Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a self-regulatory mechanism where companies commit to contributing to social, environmental, and economic benefits. The video points out that while many companies issue CSR reports, these are often more about marketing than genuine social change, with Apple being noted for its comprehensive yet still somewhat superficial approach.

💡Ecosystem Lock-In

Ecosystem lock-in occurs when a customer is unable to switch to a competitor's products due to the integration and compatibility of a company's product suite. The video explains how Apple's ecosystem, where products and services are designed to work seamlessly together, makes it difficult for users to leave, thus ensuring customer retention.

💡Brand Identity

Brand identity is the collection of visual, emotional, and cultural associations attached to a brand. The video discusses how Apple has cultivated a strong brand identity that conveys sophistication and success, influencing consumer self-perception and loyalty.

💡Rituals and Tribalism

Rituals and tribalism refer to the behaviors and group affiliations that provide a sense of belonging and identity. The video suggests that brands like Apple create rituals and a sense of tribalism among their users, which can be a powerful tool for maintaining customer loyalty and creating a community around the brand.

💡Social Change and Corporations

The video questions the role of corporations in driving social change, arguing that while they may claim to support various causes, their primary motivation is profit. It challenges the idea that brands should be the arbiters of social values or that consumer choices can meaningfully drive societal progress.

💡Brand as Identity

The video discusses how brands can become a part of one's identity, with consumers aligning themselves with brands that reflect their values or desired image. This is particularly evident with Apple users, who often see themselves as part of an exclusive group, which can lead to a strong sense of loyalty and resistance to change.

Highlights

Brand loyalty is a powerful social tool in modern consumer society.

Apple users represent one of the strongest brand loyal groups globally.

Apple's customer retention is unmatched, indicating the effectiveness of brand loyalty.

There are two types of brand loyalty: emotional and practical.

Brands aim to secure loyalty to win the 'consumer Olympics'.

Customer capitalism is an economic concept where customer happiness leads to increased shareholder value.

Existing customers are more valuable than new ones, buying 90% more.

Publicly traded companies are often shortsighted due to shareholder expectations.

Apple has successfully retained customers by integrating technology and manipulating releases.

Ground News is an app and website that gathers news articles to provide full context.

Apple's branding creates an 'Apple person' identity, associating sophistication and success with their products.

Apple's ecosystem makes it difficult for users to switch to other brands.

Brands use strategic marketing to appear socially responsible without significant changes.

Customer retention metrics may become mandatory for companies, increasing brand power.

Brands are forming people's identities, which could lead to reliance on them for social change.

The video encourages viewers to form their identity outside of brands for genuine human connection.

Transcripts

what you own and how you spend your

money is one of the most powerful social

tools that we have invented in our

modern consumer Society people will make

fun of a Ford owner in the comments of a

video and then identify themselves as a

Dodge guy in their Instagram bio but one

of these strongest and most prolific

brand loyal groups in the world are

Apple users and as an Apple user it's

kind of

dumb the huge thank you to ground news

for sponsoring today's video how's my

hair look yeah looks

good at the time of the releasing of

this video the latest iPhone is probably

about to be announced it's going to be

better and greater than any iPhone

before it it's going to sell millions

it's going to be very very popular it's

going to be great it's going to be a

great phone except it's probably not

going to be that great every year when

the newest iPhone is released there is a

predictable w of hype big announcements

and features that get covered across the

Internet it's a phone but it's so much

more it is a camera then quickly after

that the opinions and outrage over how

little has changed how this is just a

facelift from the year before and how

stupid people are for being Apple users

but those are just opinions and let's

not forget that we're talking about the

single most valuable company in the

world and most importantly they retain

more repeat customers than than pretty

well any other brand in any industry

brand loyalty for this company is pretty

well unmatched and it tells us a lot

about why brand loyalty works and how it

kind of doesn't make any sense if you

really start looking into it now first

off I think we need to establish that

there are really two different kinds of

brand loyalty and that there is a

spectrum in between them on one end of

the spectrum we have what I'm going to

call emotional brand loyalty it's

connected to our childhood or our family

or a positive memory a feeling that we

get when we have that thing this is like

you drinking Bud Light because your old

man used to drink it then on the other

side of the spectrum is the Practical

brand loyalty which is supposed to be

more rational but isn't actually this is

you drive a Toyota Prius because your

whole family drives Toyotas and they've

been really reliable and you trust the

brand to make a product that is good the

Toyota reference there is actually mine

I drive a Toyota Prius because my my

parents and most of my entire family

have bought Toyotas so it feels like a

weird part of our family identity at

this point but at either end of this

spectrum there is a lot of mental

gymnastics going on to try and convince

ourselves of the choices that we make

along the way and Brands understand that

if they can get your loyalty they've

basically won the consumer Olympics

which brings us back to Apple Apple is a

3 trillion doll company worth more than

a lot of countries in large part because

they have learned to play the long game

this has a name in the economics world

called customer capitalism and it's

basically the radical idea that if you

keep your customers happy they will buy

more of your product which ends up

providing more value to shareholders in

the long run if you're thinking this

sounds kind of obvious yes it is but you

got to understand these are economists

we're talking about they actually had to

come up with a term and a theory for

just treating your customers properly

because it turns out existing loyal

customers buy 90% more stuff than new

ones well over half of a company's

Revenue typically comes from those

existing customers except in our case um

because we get more than half of our

views from people who aren't subscribed

to our channel so I'll just take a

minute here while you do that please so

why aren't all companies doing this like

why isn't this just standard practice

because the sad truth is that the bar is

on the godamn floor see most modern

businesses today that you would probably

recognize the name of are publicly

traded companies meaning that they have

shareholders like you and me but

probably more so rich people who have

purchased shares with the expectations

of those values in those companies going

up this is basically just the stock

market where your savings if you were

very lucky to have any are invested

every quarter these business businesses

report their numbers to investors and to

summarize a lot of Economics degrees in

four words up good down bad but the

problem with this is that it's naturally

shortsighted you have to prioritize the

profits of today and tomorrow so that

your quarterly earnings can keep going

up in most cases this usually means that

companies are forced to constantly

expand and push into new markets and

develop new technology and buy up their

competitors and just never stop until

they rule theing world I guess I don't

know what the end goal is here and the

truth is a lot of this growth and

expansion has very little to do with the

customer being happy and more so about

making as much money as possible and

apple is different kind of apple has

done a really great job of retaining

customers and if you are an apple person

you might already have some idea of why

that might be when doing the research

for this video we found a couple of

stories about how Apple has been

changing their business model to meet

consumer needs but the most impactful

was definitely this one all about how

apple is planning to integrate chat GPT

into Siri which I don't know if that's a

thing that consumers need but it is a

story that we wouldn't have come across

if it weren't for the sponsor of today's

video ground news ground news is an app

and a website dedicated to Gathering

thousands of news articles all in one

place to give you the full context we

keep working with them them because we

love the platform and we think that you

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at ground. news/ futureproof what's

great about ground news is that you can

take a look at all of the Articles from

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that it tells you not only if they lean

left or right but who they're backed by

being able to take a look at articles

from all sides of the political

spectrums lets us know things like how

the right focuses pretty heavily on the

fact that Apple won't be paying AI for

this integration while the left opens a

broader conversation about what this

means for the company as a whole another

awesome feature is their blind spot feed

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news for sponsoring today let's get back

into the video do you remember how

earlier we showed you how economists

defined customer capitalism right like

how to treat customers properly as a

theory by the economists I want you to

apply that same kind of thinking that

invented that term to imagine how these

companies might try and keep you

interested in their product because

customer retention is not the same as

customer satisfaction listen these

companies are not on some sort of vision

quest to try and find out what truly

makes their customer based ticks and to

create something that is fundamentally

great and improves their lives and the

world around them it is about making

money while looking like you're doing

those things today it is not just

outliers like apple that are supposedly

putting the customer first in 2019

nearly 200 execs from major companies

including Amazon Pepsi Walmart and of

course Apple issued a statement that

business is no longer just about profit

for shareholders rather it is about

providing genuine value to customers

communities and employees alike such as

paying reasonable wages and supporting

environmental and social causes I have

to say if I believed anything that any

of these people ever said this would be

an absolutely Earth shattering shift for

the better but when you look at how

their actions play out it tells a very

different story see a lot of their value

that they're providing when it comes to

you know the communities and the

reasonable wages and the environmental

causes or whatever it's usually being

handled by some sort of PR marketing

with a corporate social responsibility

report these are well-designed pamphlets

created by companies to show the

impressive work that they have done to

make the world a better place but mostly

to make people feel like they're not

just exploiting everyone around them in

the effort to make as much money as

possible you can find these reports for

basically any majorly publicly traded

company just by Googling their name and

then putting CSR afterwards and these

documents look really impressive they're

really long and incredibly detailed and

outline how the company is progressing

towards these big important social

justice goals but they're not verified

by a third party and often are built and

rolled out in such a way that makes them

look really good but still allows the

business to basically operate as usual

we talked about this in Greater detail

in our Starbucks episode they have these

sort of showy environmental

announcements that are released

strategically just to appease their fans

enough to make them feel like they can

still keep going to Starbucks even

though they have done insert terrible

blank thing here and listen Apple

probably has one of the most impressive

documents for this and I don't want to

say that they don't care or that these

things aren't real in these documents

they 100% are their headquarters are

100% powered by renewable energy But

ultimately this is just a part of their

broader marketing plan to tell you the

story of who they want you to think

apple as a company company is these sort

of ESG reports have become basically

standard practice for any big business

today but where Apple really stands out

with customer retention is with their

products Apple has done a really good

job of Designing physical Hardware that

gives the customer the desired

experience that they look for with a

high quality product all the while still

withholding and manipulating their

releases to maximize profits a great

recent example of this was the USB

type-c charge port on the iPhone 15

Apple held out on their old lightning

connector as long as they possibly could

until the EU forced them to adopt a more

standardized technology and apple does

this all the time they basically

invented planned obsolescence they got

rid of the headphone jack just to upsell

everybody on their pods and instead of

keeping the design similar year-to-year

to save money each modeler is just

noticeably different to be recognized as

the latest model to command a higher

price tag with things like that you

would think that people would probably

leave but they don't and that's because

Apple does the products really really

well and they have a few tricky tricks

to make sure that you don't leave see

I'm I'm an apple person I I got my

MacBook here and I'm reading this

teleprompter off of my iPhone and I've

tried to go and use Android before and I

just ended up ultimately coming back

because Apple knows what they're doing

those yearly releases with the

underwhelming advancements to each model

year that's actually on purpose see

apple is always the last company to

adopt technology as it comes on to the

market they wait until a technology has

been proven for the most part or at

least been shown to have promise with

consumers and then they aim to improve

upon it and this is actually a pretty

great business model that I

fundamentally believe in Toyota does

this with their vehicles a lot too see I

have all Apple products because they

work the way that they're supposed to

they rarely have technical issues but as

many Apple users know this controlled

approach also keeps you trapped in their

ecosystem Apple products only really

play with other Apple products and once

you've used their products it's kind of

hard to go back it feels like a mild

hostage situation but it's not just the

technology that makes it hard to leave

Apple Apple has some of the best

branding out there I mean people know an

apple advertisement before they even see

the logo and with this Sleek modern

minimalist design they have created the

Apple person identity they want you to

feel like a sophisticated successful

well-connected individual when you hold

their product but one of the most

powerful and interesting qualities of an

apple person is that they are not an

Android person you probably remember

those famous early advertisements with

the PC and the Apple guy hello I'm a Mac

and I'm a PC but that ad is a metaphor

for a very real tactical branding

strategy that a lot of brands use

nowadays we see this really clearly with

the Pepsi Coke divide anyone who's

honest with themselves knows that there

is functionally no difference between

Coke and Pepsi blind taste tests have

actually shown that consumers prefer the

taste of Pepsi but Coke is still the

more successful brand and yet nine in 10

Pepsi and Coke drinkers remain loyal to

their chosen drink even people who

hardly consume soda at all have this

weirdly visceral reaction to even the

thought of consuming the other brand and

apple just leans into this 100% they've

gone as far as to make it harder for

iPhone users to communicate with Android

users this branding is so deep in the

Apple lore that now it's like a way to

tell people that they're broke like

you're so poor that you have the green

text bubbles when I'm chatting to you

you have an Android yes an Android never

mind I can't do this I'm so sorry

because I have an

Android wait what this actually makes me

feel kind of bad because I like to Raz

our project manager all the time because

she is like a staunchly py Android

person and you have problems with your

freakin Tech all the time and another

little Sidetrack here that I thought was

just incredible is that this apple main

character energy is so unshakable that

even in movies the bad guy never has an

iPhone Apple they let you use iPhones in

movies but and this is very pivotal if

you're ever watching a mystery movie

bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera

every single filmmaker who has a bad guy

in their movie It's supposed to be a

secret wants to murder me right now

entire videos have already been made on

the absolute Genius of Apple's branding

so we're not going to get too into the

weeds here but the bottom line is it

worked 92% of the people who have

iPhones right now intend to stay iPhone

users almost a third said it was because

they were too tied into Apple's

ecosystem or it was just too much of a

hassle to switch operating systems and

if you think that this kind of

irrational Fierce loyalty to Brands is

powerful now it's actually going to get

worse there is talk from Big names that

some point soonish it will just be the

norm even mandatory for companies to

report customer retention metrics

alongside the usual numbers and there

might be some good that comes out of

this change for sure but it's also going

to give Brands more power across the

board to create products and incentive

structures that keep keep you from

leaving on top of this we seem to be

more blindly brand loyal than ever

before with people feeling more isolated

and more stretched financially and with

so much chaos going on in the world

right now people are running to their

favorite brands for that fleeting

feeling of comfort we offer them the

fruits of our labor and in return we get

rituals that bind us together holy days

and the promise of Salvation we're told

that if we just give enough of our

dollars to the right God we can save

ourselves or our country or the planet

and this is why it hurts so bad when

we're betrayed we think of these Brands

as being on our side part of our tribe

Our Saviors our very identity and then

suddenly they go off script and it's

like we've been stabbed in the back and

our sense of self is sort of shattered

they partner with the wrong influencer

or they break off the partnership with

that said influencer or back the wrong

country or politician so we bring out

the pitchforks and take our businesses

to a different Mega corporation that

quietly hates us just as much as the

other one did they're just a little

better at hiding it because for all of

their talk of supporting values and

those big CSR documents it's not about

us or making the world a better place

it's all about making money just think

about how pretty much every big

International corporate chain flies the

rainbow flag in June except where that's

an unpopular opinion to have they don't

care about any of this stuff and it

shouldn't surprise us when they show us

their true colors or the lack thereof in

this case but we also have to ask

ourselves do we want these people to be

in charge of our social change because

that's where this is headed major

corporations are now openly talking

about how they have a responsibility to

change the world and I don't think that

that's what any of us actually want if

you want real change don't put your hope

into these Brands don't allow them to

form your identity and take the place of

a genuine human connection because

that's exactly what they're trying to do

the more fractured we are the less

connected we are to our neighborhoods

the more that we'll rely on these big

Brands to form our sense of self and we

really really can't afford that so

listen if you enjoyed this video and you

want to see more content from us and our

Channel make sure that you're subscribed

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[Music]

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