Mac or PC?

"Hello, I'm a Mac."
"...And I'm a PC."
Apple's brilliant ad campaign, which starts with this simple exchange between two actors, attempts to assign personality traits to both Apple's core products (no pun intended) and their competitors' products, such as a Microsoft's recently-released Vista operating system.

It works for two reasons. Apple exploits what has been a foundation of the brand since its inception- it has personality. In fact, Apple's brand essence is so easily defined, practically anyone could tell you. Apple computers are fun, easy to use, well-designed and powerful. That's all they've ever been. That's why they are one of my "Best Brands." In fact, they have so successfully branded themselves in the industry, that they have defined it- bringing me to my next point.

Quick- name another industry that defines itself by whether you have the minority market-shareholder product vs. everything else? I can't do it. Do you use Skippy or peanut butter? Do you drive a Honda or a car? Perhaps in an industry with a dominant leader in terms of mindshare (Harley Davidson?) this is possible, but Apple has done what few companies could ever dream of doing- differentiating themselves to the point of defining the category for consumers. Try to purchase software, a computer game or a peripheral and odds are the first question you'll get asked is "Mac or PC?"

In reality, a computer from Apple is still a PC (remember, that's a personal computer), it just doesn't run Windows (well, except that it can), nor is it a UNIX box, nor can it run Linux, etc. (well...). Anyway, by now you get the point. Macs are different. Apple is different. And they're for people who are different. Which of course begs the question- are you different or are you just like everybody else?