Thread by @brett_byron

A long time ago I worked in #Apple HQ’s retail org, which oversees everything about the stores. From my 6 years at Apple, this unexpected lesson on branding has stuck with me the most.

A peek under the mothership hood 👇

Every single Apple store in the world (now 500+) has identical stone floors and wood tables on which the hardware is displayed. The stone comes from a quarry in Italy. When Apple needs more, they pull massive stone slabs from the quarry and with a crane...

and compare them to a master slab they know perfectly matches the existing store floors. Apple rejects all the slabs from the quarry that aren’t identical to the master.

The wood for the tables is winter-harvested at the same time each year from...

a specific forest in Canada. This not only ensures the tables are made from the same type of wood, but also that the width of the grain is always consistent. The shape of wood grain changes in different climates, and Apple believes their hardware looks the best on this specific..

width of this specific type of wood.

You can imagine the expense and level of effort this requires, which is substantial. But the reason for this is something anyone who’s visited Apple stores subconsciously knows. Every single store in the world, and especially those in...

foreign countries with different languages, feels familiar. Think about it.. it’s remarkable. Apple’s belief in “One Apple Everywhere” goes beyond hardware and software, and extends to how you subconsciously feel in physical retail stores.

Stories like this are actually...

fairly common at Apple. This attention to detail permeates through everything Apple does, because they know that every single touch point consumers have with them, whether conscious or subconscious, affects how Apple’s brand is perceived. For a company...

who sells a premium product in a crowded market, brand is everything.

/End