The Apple brand in the US is proving bigger than Steve Jobs himself, reports “YouGov BrandIndex” (http://www.brandindex.com/), which tracks public perceptions of brands.
Interestingly, Jobs resignation as Apple’s CEO sent the company’s consumer perception into even more positive territory, says the research group. As expected, the announcement caught the attention of US consumers. Apple’s Attention score jumped from 44% on the day prior to the announcement to 61% on the day after the announcement, says BrandIndex.
But rather than drive brand perception scores down as one might expect, YouGov BrandIndex’s Index score, its key measurement of brand health, rose several points for Apple since Jobs made his announcement on Aug. 24 with Tim Cook taking his place.
The Index score encompasses the consumer perception of adults over 18 of such measurements as quality, value, reputation, satisfaction, impression, and the willingness to recommend the brand to friends. Apple’s Buzz score also improved modestly after the announcement, indicating that more US consumers seemed to react positively to the news than negative, says BrandIndex.