Well, I guess it’s only fitting that I write this week’s entry for “50 Brands. 50 Weeks” about Apple – my all-time favorite brand – on my iPad the day after getting it. With the exception of Easter, and the 7.2 magnitude Earthquake just southwest of us, it’s been an Apple-riffic weekend!

Where to begin…

*technical note: I’m using WordPress for iPad app, w/Apple Wireless Keyboard, and iPad upright in the iPad dock.

Background

I worked for Apple in their Retail division off-and-on from 2003 to 2008. I was hired as part of the inaugural team that opened the Chestnut Hill, MA store in May of 2003. I also went on to work in the SoHo, NY flagship store, as well as the Chandler Fashion Center Apple store from 2005-2008.

Working for Apple was always a second job option for me – but I always had the intention of making it my primary gig. However, my plan was to make Apple CORPORATE that gig as a natural career path. However, I soon found out that those two worlds rarely crossed-paths.

Goals

Nevertheless, I had 3 main goals in going to work for Apple Retail as a part-time job:

1. Get back to the customer experience of how and why people shop.

I was working for Staples Corporate (a future ’50 Brands’ entry) at the time, and I was starting to lose touch with the customer. Specifically, their buying habits, motivation, and what made them passionate about a company’s product. Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy can only take the story so far.

It was hard to do that with Staples because a) corporate sponsored retail hours only happened once a year, and b) shopping for office supplies these days is NOT exciting. It’s as about as exciting as shopping for groceries. You just want to get in and get out. Hence the tagline switch in 2002 from ‘Yeah, we’ve got that.” to “That was easy.”

2. Be a TRUE ‘Brand Evangelist’

See, the whole “Brand Evangelist Central” concept wasn’t something that I came up with just this past month, year, or DECADE for that reason. In fact, I was learning what it meant to be a ‘Brand Evangelist’ from Guy Kawasaki – starting with his 1998 CNet WebBuilder conference speech on ’10 Ways to be Revolutionary’ and reading his books since. The icing on the cake was that Guy was a former Apple Employee – and he is an amazing storyteller.

Right away, I knew I had to work for Apple in SOME capacity. So, a few years later when they announced the retail stores, it was only a matter of time before one would open up close by to try out my theory. I was honored and humbled to have been selected out of hundreds of applicants to be a Mac Specialist.

3. Work for Apple Corporate one day

Unfortunately, this last Goal never worked out that well. I tried my hardest for the years I was with Apple to leverage my industry experience, web design & management skill set, and my ‘in’ with Apple to no avail. Many a job description came and went, with constant care and monitoring, and not so much as a phone call. In retrospect, I still wonder to this day if working for the Apple Store actually HURT my chances of working for Apple Corporate. I guess I’ll never know.

Learnings

The job was easy. Now, keep in mind, anything is easy when you know what you’re talking about inside and out and actually CARE about what you’re talking about. The best part was, we were never paid on commission and we were simply there to engage the customer, answer their questions, and allow them to ‘drive’ themselves towards making their own decision – by actually trying out the products in the store – brilliant.

Now there is a very carefully thought out, engineered, and thorough training process around this philosophy that I can’t get into in fear of Steve Jobs personally taking my iPad back, but suffice to say it’s still to this day, then BEST training I’ve ever had in ANY company I’ve worked for.

See that’s what many other retailers are just now getting – sometimes walking into a big ticket item needs to be a ‘transformational experience’. It’s no difference when buying a new car. You’re buying the brand as much as the object that gets you from point A to B. Any jalopy (yeah, I said jalopy) can do that for you – but it’s about the brand you’re wrapping yourself inside of that matters. Why should it be any different with a computer or handheld device,

I also learned early one that I was a part of that brand, an evangelist for that brand, because I wanted to share as much about Apple’s products and services as much as the customer wanted to learn and use them.

After all was said and done, my time with Apple instilled 4 takeaways/values that I’ve been able to use in many aspects of my life, both professional and personal:

• Really CARE about what it is your selling.

Now I know Gary V cares more than anyone on this planet, but believe in what you’re selling. You have no choice in this matter, because no matter what the product is, you’re always selling yourself first.

• Stay up on Technology.

It will set you free. If you haven’t noticed, we’re living in the second coming of the technical revolution and I sure as heck don’t see Moore’s Law stopping yet. The device I am using at this very moment to write this post is another game-changer. I predict that in 2 years, more people will have more iPads than iPhones or iPods – and laptops will be going the way that desktops PCs are going now – towards extinction.

This applies to both work and personal living. If you ‘game’ life like I tend to do, then it’s all about efficiency and ‘leveling up’ – not in title sense, but in the getting through levels of life sense. I let technology and all the wonderful toys it provides guide my way. Anytime I can get something done quicker, faster, or better yet, optimize a process that has stood still for too long, I feel like I get another little chunk of my life back – and that translates into cold, hard, FREEDOM. (Betcha you thought I was gonna say something else…)

• Create a ‘transformational experience’.

Your knowledge is your confidence, and they are measured the same way. Keep in mind that no one knows your product more than you do, and no one can SPEAK about your products as well as you can. You are on the hook to create that transformational experience with your brand to build those brand evangelists – who in turn will help sell for you simply by word of mouth – which is the new world of marketing.

Don’t believe me – think Twitter and Facebook when it comes to selling your brand. It’s about the power of conversation. People are making decisions about your brand before, or without even going to your Web site. You need to be where the conversation is taking place. That’s what Apple has created with their stores. An ecosystem of conversation about one simple thing: Them.

• Move the needle.

Yes, I mentioned above that we never worked on commission – but never ignore the fact that everything is, and needs to be, measurable.

Apple would not be the company that it is today without all the wonderful and revolutionary products it designs and builds. We all know them by their household “i” names. However, just as important is what you build around those objects – the services, the accessibility, the knowledge sharing, and most importantly, the PEOPLE. That’s what building one of the world’s coolest and largest brands is all about – and I was happy to have contributed and been a part of it.