Apple Advertisements Part 3: Kids

[arn]

Apple appears to be expanding it's "Real People" ad line to include real kids... According to this Craig's List announcement, Apple is searching for kids 9-15 for future print ads:

Nancy Hayes Casting is currently casting a print ad for Apple Computers. We are looking for boys and girls, ages 9-15, who use a Mac in some creative way. For example, kids who have their own websites, kids who mix or remix their own music, kids who are published writers, kids who use the mac for filmmaking or photography. Or surprise us with your own creative ideas! We are not looking for models, but real kids.


Apple recently launched their "Real People" ad campaign June 10th and were reported to expand this with celebrities in the near future.

[MacAztec]

Well well! I am 13...not too far from cupertino...I use my macs to rip and mix music, and for digital photography!

[Royal Pineapple]

finally my voice can be heard, too bad i just turned 16, mabey they'll bend the rules because i use my mac so much. i never "switched" so to speak, since ive been using macs since birth. but i've been forsed to use Pceese in school and i hate them
i hope they can use me

[Dignan]

I like how at the bottom of the ad it says

"Reposting this message elsewhere is NOT OK."

Looks like someone is breaking the rules.

[kishba]

i'm in midland, michigan and am 17 (a little old but hey )

i switched two years ago and haven't looked back... windows was a pain and with my mac i've been able to work on movies and just recently burn dvds... i love my ipod and i just finally started taking digital pictures and organizing them with iphoto.... i've converted about 4 friends to macs too

i love apple

[eyelikeart]

First hit the regular joes...show the world how easy it was for these people who made the switch to adjust to a Mac...

now go where it counts...children...

it's like marketing toys to kids...u know they are gonna want them...

and computers are being more & more used in younger grades of school...make them all Macs...get the edge in that corner of the market...

plus with all of the new technologies being introduced by Apple...it's gotta be so easy for a child to learn how to be "creative"

[Royal Pineapple]

some of us can be creative without computers thank you very much

[buffsldr]

Originally posted by arn
Apple appears to be expanding it's "Real People" ad line to include real kids... According to this Craig's List announcement, Apple is searching for kids 9-15 for future print ads:

Awesome! Kids 9-15 are 90% of the macrumors regulars. We will do so well, I expect to have at least 2 kids from macrumors in the ads.

This is great.

[JereIC]

Originally posted by buffsldr


Awesome! Kids 9-15 are 90% of the macrumors regulars. We will do so well, I expect to have at least 2 kids from macrumors in the ads.

This is great.

I never imagined I'd feel so old at 19...

[beatle888]

i thought the people at macrumors where atleast in the 20's.

[MikeH]

Sorry, but it sounds a terrible idea.

Aim an advert at kids and instantly turn off the 'young adult' market. People who are 18-24 don't want to be associated with kids and as these are the people with the most disposable cash (no wife, kids, mortgage etc.) they are the last ones you want to turn away.

After some superb Apple adverts in the past (1984, so powerful it's weapon, think different), this latest batch of 'real people' adverts just seem like sickley trash.

Flame away...

[sweetaction]

I have no problem with Apple's latest campaigns. Who wins? Mac users. Who loses? Mac users?

I sure hope not.

If you would quit using a Mac because kids or common folks are using it, you need to just get out now.

Kids grow up to be young adults, and young professionals, and young parents and they too have young kids and I would be very happy to see ore families using Macs.

Supply and demand.

More people use Macs = more demand for Mac apps, tools, hardware, accessories, as well as a demand for more from Apple.

Look at all the innovation Apple has brought into our lives with barely 5% market share? Get more money rolling in, get more great minds involved, Apple users get more.

Apple is going to be everything to everyone, in reality they already are. That means it down to marketing.

Go Apple.

[irmongoose]

Hehe I hope they can use me... I'm 13 (turning 14 in August) and I use my Mac for editing video... is Apple willing to pay for my plane ticket?

BTW, they haven't had a Switch ad in Japan yet... so I'm doubting they ever will... sad



irmongoose

[mmmdreg]

so is there going to be a ad: part 4: oldies campaign now? for all the ex-computer-illiterates who learnt on a Mac?

[jadam]

wooohoooo!!!! im 15!! im getting an ibook today hopefully, so...
but, on my PC right now i download Music, Play Games(that run on a P233), go on the net, and develop.

[Cappy]

Originally posted by MikeH
Sorry, but it sounds a terrible idea.

Aim an advert at kids and instantly turn off the 'young adult' market. People who are 18-24 don't want to be associated with kids and as these are the people with the most disposable cash (no wife, kids, mortgage etc.) they are the last ones you want to turn away.

After some superb Apple adverts in the past (1984, so powerful it's weapon, think different), this latest batch of 'real people' adverts just seem like sickley trash.

Flame away...

No flames. Just pointing out that this is really only an issue if the advertising is targetted at the crowd you describe. Do a lot of 18-24 yr olds hang out on Nickelodeon and such? Read the same mags? If they do, then they have their own issues if they want to not be associated with that age group yet view the same material designed for that age group.

Lastly I think they're on to something with this Switch campaign but they're still missing one piece of the puzzle that is being discussed elsewhere in other threads and that is performance. With some decent marketing taking place people are going to "switch" back if this isn't addressed.

[MikeH]

A fair point given that children effectivly have there own TV channels these days.

It does seem that the current adverts are aimed at the US market (are they being shown elseware?) and that it seems to be working for the majority of Americans who make up most of this forum.

Maybe because I'm from the UK the distinctly American 'feel' of the ads just doesn't appeal to me. I can't see them working over here. (Incedently the UK Apple website doesn't feature the campaign)

Any other non-Americans feel the same way?

[Macmaniac]

I think what Apple wants to do is have kids see these ads then "Nag" their parents to get a mac, u would be suprised how persistant we kids can be
My mom looked interested but, the auditions are today and they are in San Fran which makes us on the other side of the country

[nero007]

I think these ads would be more targeted towards parents, not kids.

With a PC you get your children playing video games. With a Mac your kid can run wild with creativity.

They're most likely going to use kids who are intelligent, but not really on the nerdy side, and parents are going to want that from their children.

Get em a Mac and they'll be creative and smart. Get em a PC and they'll be lazy and wasting their potential away.

[drastik]

<partial posting removed>

[drastik]

Definitely, Pc's are like bad comic books, Macs are the Library. Parents need to see that. also, most of these parents work with PCs all day long, hate the things, but know them. My step father ran a software company for 22 years, had over five hundred employees when he sold it and made a mint. Meanwhile he retires. They made scheduling and forcasting software, and were the only real players for several years. This stuff required a dedicated machine at every level of release, the current pack need a P4. They tried to write it for Apple using (A/Ux), but there was some issue. In the end, Apple just bought a toshiba to run the stuff, but my stepfather met with Jobs (first reign) and was convinced that the mac was perfect for te companies marketing department. And lo and behold, a Mac Plus appears on my desk. Still got it, it still works, boots off this massive 20 meg HD thats louder than my car.
I am 24-years-old, I have three macs right now, Ive had a dozen in the interviening 14 years. I am not ashamed to be associated with kids (anyone who is is being silly, you'd think by eighteen you'd get a grip, I know some 13, 14, and 15-year-olds around here who are ten times as mature as that.) I got a mac when I was kid, worked with PC's in business for years, still do. I never switced, I won't switch.

That's why you get the young users.

[slaboda]

I bought my first Mac when I was 12 years old- it was a Powerbook 180 and it cost about $3200. I had saved for 2 years and cashed in some of my savings bonds, too.

Aside from that personal anecdote, I can say that getting kids to nag their parents about wha they absolutely must have creates huge sales for toy companies. Why not Apple too? After all, my Mac is really just an expensive toy. I can't count how many times parents have asked me what computer to buy for their kid- wouldn't it be great if the kids just asked for a Mac?

[drastik]

sorry, I have no idea how I did that

[G4scott]

I don't think the ad is targeted at kids. The ad is targeted at everyone.

It appeals to parents, because their kids could be doing something more than blow things up with their computer.

It appeals to people who want to do more with their computers. "If a kid can do it easily, so can I"

It appeals to pee-cee users who can't do all of that with a pee-cee, or they can't do it easily.

[wilhelmd]

Originally posted by buffsldr


Awesome! Kids 9-15 are 90% of the macrumors regulars. We will do so well, I expect to have at least 2 kids from macrumors in the ads.

This is great.

So that means ... that Arn is about 12?

Originally posted by JereIC


never imagined I'd feel so old at 19...

"La de små barn komme til meg, hindre dem ikke". That's Norwegian, for those who don't compute it.