![\"brand-promise\"](\"http:\/\/www.bmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/brand-promise-300x106.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA brand promise is what a company claims to be and what it pledges to deliver to its target customers and audience. When this aligns a company can build a strong brand with immense brand cachet. When the company or product doesn\u2019t live up to the expectation or what it claims to be there is a brand disconnect and brand confusion; this negatively impacts the customer experience, weakens the brand position and hurts the bottom line.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When a company delivers on its brand promise it is a beautiful thing. The company can enjoy great success and receive industry acclaim \u2013 reaching Interbrand\u2019s vaunted\u00a0<\/span>top 100 list.<\/a>\u00a0Apple has done this. The company has risen to the top of Interbrand\u2019s list and is viewed as the world\u2019s most valued brand. Will Apple start to slip?<\/span><\/p>\n Apple has built of reputation of delivering awesome and beautiful looking products that are easy to used and high-quality. However, now there are beginning to be chinks in the quality of Apple\u2019s products. The most recent bending issues with the<\/span>iPhone 6 Plus<\/a>. Also, there was the questionable purchase of Beats headphones with its\u00a0<\/span>mediocre<\/a>\u00a0sound quality. Will these begin to erode Apple\u2019s quality brand promise? Yes. The company is already losing market share in the mobile smartphone space; according to a\u00a0<\/span>IDC report in 2013<\/a>\u00a0Apple had 15.3% market share, an almost 3.5% decline from the previous year. The latest snafu won\u2019t help matters.<\/span><\/p>\n