He’s known as the Ronald McDonald of Apple by industry bods. Steve Jobs, Apple’s enigmatic boss and co-founder, made his long awaited public return on Tuesday, following a six-month break recovering from a liver transplant. His appearance on stage at last week’s new product launch provoked rapturous applause and a standing ovation from those present. Away from the clamour, however, we should not forget the nasty Apple truth that has been exposed by Jobs’ recent ill health; over-reliance.

There exists a fusion between Apple’s brand and its co-founder. Steve Jobs is now an inherent part of the software company’s appeal. It has been his ideas, his innovation, and his vision that have driven the company forward since its inception in 1976. The question his recent health scare posed, therefore, was how would Apple cope without him? The immediate response was not encouraging; the morning Jobs announced his planned six-month break Apple stocks fell a whopping 4.8%.

Ultimately, Apple will outlast Steve Jobs. The spreading of power that will inevitably follow in the next decade, Microsoft style, will help ensure this happens. What is so interesting about this case in point, however, is its relevance to the world of branding. There are a host of examples where the individual behind a business has become central to its brand image. Richard Branson, popping up everywhere from James Bond films to in flight adverts to promote Virgin, and Dyson, whose recent ads simply feature designer James Dyson talking to the camera, are two that spring to mind. Here the business brand’s core values have been so heavily personified that it’s hard to imagine success without each inspired individual.

There appears to be a rising trend in willingness to employ this ‘maker marketing’. Perhaps it is an offshoot of the emerging ‘Age of Celebrity’, where being known takes priority above all else. Or maybe it’s a reflection of the post-Blair British political scene, where the appeal of a leader is increasingly more important to voters than the policies they hold. Whatever the cause, we are at a stage where Reggae-Reggae Sauce can woo the Dragons Den and take the supermarkets by storm not for its taste per se but thanks to the saleability of its guitar-strumming Jamaican creator Levi Roots. If the Steve Jobs episode highlights anything then it is the importance of widening a brand’s appeal beyond this one-man marketing if it is to achieve long term success.

The power of certain statistics never fails to amaze me.  This week, it was a population statistic that got me thinking: in the UK, someone turns 50 every 40 seconds.  After guiltily realising that I mostly read trade press articles relating to iPods (on that note, Dame Vera Lynn - at 92 years old – is number one in the charts right now) and alcohol innovation, I had to ask: why aren’t we targeting the older generation more effectively and what is their money being spent on?

The baby boomer generation has officially grown up: we have the first over 50 generation which can now treated and targeted as consumers – they have been taught to shop, identify their ‘needs’ in a market and trade up to branded products in a way which their parents weren’t.  The over 50s now buy 80% of our top of the range cars, 50% of skin care products and 80% of leisure cruises (but we knew that leisure cruises weren’t for teenagers anyway…)

Beyond a more acurrate understanding of how we can target and help realise The Silver Pound, what are the broader implications of our ageing population?

Some cultural shifts are underway. Euthanasia, for example, sparks a paradox of potential: as our technological ability to prolong life increases to such a point that life expectancies are now pitched at 100-150, so does our acceptance of the need to sometimes terminate life in situations where a person’s quality of life is no longer considered worth prolonging. 

Another area is sex: traditionally the topic of great taboo and many a song lyric, it is now being talked about (and perhaps participated in) by more older people than ever. Viagra sales are rocketing and womens’ magazines have recently run features on the different attitudes towards sex that women over 50, 60 and 70 have. Social networking site such as Friendsover50.com are also giving older people the opportunity to discover online dating, which is perhaps one manifestation of the statistic which tells me that over-50s now account for 33% of the total time spent online.

Finally, the Silver Pound in Healthcare is hitting the shops. ASDA is to become the first national retailer to stock a range of ‘living aids’ products that will include everything from walking sticks to raised toilet seats.  These are products which have until now only been available via NHS prescription or through specialist stores. Where once it was stigmatised to buy pregnancy kits and condoms off the shelf,  it is now collapsible wheelchairs which are breaking the mould and hopefully, as ASDA spokesperson Dermot McLaughlin put it, ‘eradicating the stigma’ around disability.

I look forward to seeing how other mainstream retailers approach the opportunity to make the most of the (lucrative) silver pound and how we as marketers will start to see more of an emphasis and awareness of the over 50s as an important target audience. 

It looks like old is the new young…?

You might have seen the latest BMW TV ad. Narrated by Patrick Stewart it strikes me as a rather bold departure from the ‘ultimate driving machine’ narrative. It ties with the new Z4 ad and goes beyond BMW as luxury, male-focused product. Is this a sign of some potentially long-term brand strategy shift? If so, is it a good idea?

A colleague of mine, Ned Colville, commented that it also marks a shift away from BMW’s traditional “Power Brand” approach to communications (i.e. communicate the top of the range models in the knowledge that you’re going to sell  whole load of mainstream 3-series) to more of a “Brand Portfolio” approach to communications; which although not unheard of, is relatively rare. See this recent Toyota ad:

What we are most likely seing is a shift in brand essence or meaning – i.e. what the BMW brand stands for in consumers’ minds. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you read into it.