A phenomenon similar to meaning transference is what Davis Masten, of California-based Chesken & Masten, a firm specializing in image consulting, calls sensation transference. He describes it as a process by which consumers transfer feelings from advertising and packaging to the product itself.
Apple Computer’s early success has been attributed in part to the trendy, forward-looking design of boxes containing the high-tech electronics inside. It was a positive and powerful contrast with Big Blue’s cool, utilitarian product design. Steve Job’s designs resonated with values reflected in the symbols vocabulary of people who would become Apple’s most dedicated users: people in creative design professions, especially advertising. Big Blue’s products were for a stodgier crowd. After being booted out of Apple for awhile, then coming back to try and save what many thought was a dying company, Job’s again drew on his own artistic soul and produced the sensational, multicolor iMac line, once again proving that people often do judge articles by their covers, independent of what lies within. Enough people wanted a colorful new iMac that Jobs successfully reversed the company’s fading fortunes. Cosmetics alone did not save Apple, but they did do much to put new life into a fading brand.