Branding – Lifestyle vs product

In her book No Logo, Naomi Klein describes the idea of "lifestyle branding," or the selling of an idea or lifestyle--"something way more profound"-- rather than a product. Companies stopped trying to market "the product itself but...what consumers were thinking and experiencing while they were consuming the product," (Jhally, & Alper, 2003).

 

Emotional branding and brand loyalty
Heath, Brandt, and Nairn (2006) conducted a study on brand relationships determined that advertisements that place an emphasis on emotional advertising are more effective than those that rely on logic:
Certainly it seems to be the case that those who want their advertising to build strong relationships between the consumer and the brand would be well advised to focus more attention on the emotional metacommunication--the creativity--in their advertisements, than they do on the rational message communication. (p. 416)
A 2005 study on brand parity, or "the overall perception held by the consumer that the differences between the major brand alternatives in a product category are small" (Iyer, & Muncy, 2005, p. 222), determined that a company needs to emphasize any perceived differences--a perceived superiority--between two competing products in a category to develop a brand loyalty for that company. Additionally, if a customer is satisfied with his product and the perceived brand parity is low (that is, his product is superior), that satisfaction is attributed to the brand rather than the product.
Iyer and Muncy (2005) advise that:
Firms must find ways to develop unique product attributes and/or help buyers understand why all product choices are not alike. In either case, a strong advertising campaign may be needed to battle brand parity before building loyalty. (p. 226)
Emotional branding and low perceived parity both lead to brand loyalty, which has numerous benefits. 
First, loyal customers may be more willing to pay higher prices for a brand's product because of a perceived superiority of quality of that brand.
Loyal customers of a brand may purchase products from the brand in a greater quantity, or "may like using the brand or identify with its image" (Chaudhuri, & Holbrook, 2001).
Marketing benefits include more new customers, "favorable word of mouth, and greater resistance among loyal consumers to competitive strategies" (Chaudhuri, & Holbrook, 2001).

 

Throughout its history, Apple has continued the use of brand parity shifts and emotional branding to both strengthen the dedication of its followers and encourage new followers to the products, a task made much easier by both increased sales and by product placement.

 

Brand Communities
A brand community is characterized as "a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relationship among admirers of a brand," (Muniz, & O'Guinn, 2001, 412). Members of brand communities feel connections both toward the brand and toward each other--a "consciousness of kind" (Muniz, & O'Guinn, 2001, 418). Users share their stories with other community members and encourage expansion to other members of the community-at-large (Muniz, & O'Guinn, 2001).
Apple is seen as a prototypical brand community both because of the strong connection and awareness its members have, but because of the "oppositional loyalty" they share towards Microsoft and PCs--members are connected not only by their love of Apple but by their hatred of Microsoft.