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Apple Marketing

W

whawho

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 7, 2002
134
0
Columbus, OH
I have been a Mac "switcher" for well over a year now and I have to say that the Mac commercials are, while entertaining, not very good. An example is the new G5 commercial, sure its kinda entertaining if your a Mac user, but if you are really trying to sell something it's pretty lame. What, is the G5 going to blow up in your house?

I am stoked about the new G5 and I think it could be a huge hit (not just among Mac users) if marketed decently.

I don't know about any of you but a video of that Photoshop Demonstration from the keynote or any of other demos would (if I was a PC user) gain my attention especially since the G5 soundly whipped Dell. I think just showing a youth on a G5 busting out some Warcraft 3 would at least eliminate the misconception that you can't game on one.

These commericals that Apple does should get more technical and less "cutesy" especially if you want geeks and normal people to take you seriously IMO.

Any thoughts?
 
I liked the new G5 "explosion" ad, but I didn't like many of the Switch ads. Many of the Apple commercials of the past have been excellent, and Apple should make new ads like those or bring the old ads back. One of my favorite commercials to show to other people is Crowd Control. It's about a person who has just installed Windows 95 and is unable to get his presentation running. At the end of the commercial, a voice is heard: "Get a Macintosh!" Whenever I meet people who can't get their Microsoft PowerPoint presentation to work under Windows, I show them the commercial, and give them a free copy of OpenOffice.org and the location of the nearest Apple Store.
 
I thnk the last ad that actually showed how easy the "Macintosh experience" really is was the "1,2,3" ad where Goldblum voices over about the steps of getting started with an iMac. Other than that, lately, the ads are worthless from a marketing standpoint, I believe. I agree that an ad showing a kid on WCIII would be a great ad.

Regards,
Gus
 
I think that Apple needs to show how people use a mac in their lives, and how easy to use OS X. PC users don't know a lot about OS X, but if the commercials told them how easy to use it is, maybe they would give it a chance.
 
Originally posted by MacFan25
I think that Apple needs to show how people use a mac in their lives, and how easy to use OS X. PC users don't know a lot about OS X, but if the commercials told them how easy to use it is, maybe they would give it a chance.
Click to expand...

I agree somewhat. However I think sometimes Apple plays the "easy to use" factor too much. While I agree that OS X is pretty easy to use and the best OS, there's still a learning curve and it's not going to be easier to use for someone who knows windows well or some that's used Windows their whole lives. Basically when they market this "its so easy" and Windows is so hard I think it can make people think only idiots that can't use Windows use Macs. They should market the experience that you get and that it makes computers fun and more productive again.

Apple should try mentioning some more cool features, like for example you can create free PDFs I bet a lot of designers and people that pay for Acrobat on Windows would be interested in knowing this. I know it's not the most feature rich PDF creater but people that pay for Acrobat to make word documents PDFs would be interested.

Basically, I think they should tell why it's better and not just be clever and vague.
 
its time Apple went to a new ad agency or started contacting the Mac Pro's at MacRumors. They have had a couple that were good but apple's biggest problem is getting new user's and when you walk into a store you should be able to find and buy mac software and hardware. Walk into most stores and nothing mac at all and whats a mac? a staple's person asked me one time. Untill apple gets the product outthere the masses will continue to walk into those walmarts and buy wintel no matter how many commercials they run. Interesting my first mac was bought from a wallmart but now they sell nothing mac.
 
The G5 add is okay for the G5, but what apple needs to do is promote OSX. Apple over the past few years has really strengthened its software offerings w/ OSX and the iApps and they need to market this. Who here has switched b/c of the G5? No one, its OSX and the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you move your mouse across the dock. iPhoto and iMovie rock. There isn't an iTunes equivalant on any platform. These are the things that will sell their machines and they need to market them.
 
Originally posted by skymaXimus
iPhoto and iMovie rock. There isn't an iTunes equivalant on any platform. These are the things that will sell their machines and they need to market them.
Click to expand...
I agree. I think there are a lot of people out there who would love to edit home movies, but just don't know how or don't have the software. If they saw a program like iMovie being advertised this may convince them to look at a mac.
 
I think it comes and goes in cycles. Apple gave very straight forward ads in the "rip.mix.burn." era showing how easily you can make CDs and DVDs on a Mac. Of course Apple is always a few years ahead of the mainstream so I'm sure many average users didn't pay much attention to those ads because they didn't burn their own CDs or make their home movies into DVDs. But now, IMO, making home movies w/a digital camera and burning them to a DVD is going to spur home movie making again like it was when people used 8mm film cameras at home. Anyway...

I think Apple went from a direct selling style, to an indirect selling style. Both of which have thier pro's and con's and as much as everyone seems to hate the switcher ads they created a ton of buzz for Apple and got people talking about Macs that normally never talk about Macs.

Personally I've never been a huge fan of hard or straight forward sells. They seem boring and lacking in creativity, IMO.

Oh well... that's my 1am rant. ;)


Lethal
 
I think a lot of Apple's ads are just to get you interested and over to Apple.com.

Although the newest ad; the sound they used when the guy was smashing through the walls, it doesn't get your attention enough, so I usually miss all of it, up until the point where Goldblum starts talking.
 
I Liked the Macintosh Quadra ad. I saw it as it came on a multimedia starter CD that was with the Quadra someone gave me. It's the one where you're on the road going really fast and all of a sudden there's a turn and you just keep going and you go off of the edge of the ledge and start flying.
 
here has always been something missing. What i think would help is having more specified audiences for each commercial.

What i find most difficult, is when I tell other long time windows users i plan to switch, I get: "but there are no programs for macs"

Switcher part 2 ads:
office: yes
cd burning: yes
online banking: yes
etc etc... to run through the major things you are looking for...and could end on a high note mentioning the cool design

New computer user ads:
plug and play
kids using them easily and happily
ease of making home movies and music *
*the first computer i used when i was 4 or 5 was an apple

Pros:
maybe something to do with speed and performance with a similar tone to the nike commercials with "I can"


But I do believe the commercials need to be more targeted for the different segments of customers. But I have a feeling apple has some interesting things in the pipeline that may solve some of our problems. This year has been a very significant one in terms of Apple's future stategy and direction the products are heading in....I bet there are a few surprises left. :)
 
Re: Apple Marketing

Originally posted by whawho
I have been a Mac "switcher" for well over a year now and I have to say that the Mac commercials are, while entertaining, not very good. An example is the new G5 commercial, sure its kinda entertaining if your a Mac user, but if you are really trying to sell something it's pretty lame. What, is the G5 going to blow up in your house?

I am stoked about the new G5 and I think it could be a huge hit (not just among Mac users) if marketed decently.

I don't know about any of you but a video of that Photoshop Demonstration from the keynote or any of other demos would (if I was a PC user) gain my attention especially since the G5 soundly whipped Dell. I think just showing a youth on a G5 busting out some Warcraft 3 would at least eliminate the misconception that you can't game on one.

These commericals that Apple does should get more technical and less "cutesy" especially if you want geeks and normal people to take you seriously IMO.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...


I agree 100%, if I see a commercial with a dell outperforming a mac 300% and playing doom 3 while the mac isn't, its more likely to make me switch than a G5 blowing up a house.
 
While some overly technical commercial wouldn't work, Apple has already proven you can show what you can do while having an effective ad. Like the iMovie avd iDVD commercials. Those were good.

Maybe they can SHOW Janie save Christmas with iPhoto.
 
You know what was a good ad that showed both the apple hardware and software pretty well? Most people probably forgot, but do you remember an ad where a guy is in a hospital and his wife is having a baby. He's taking photos with his digital camera. Then he copies the pictures to iPhoto on his iBook, and shows them as a slide show to his new kid so he can see his mom. They need more commercials like that, showing Apple technology in action.
 
the current G5 ad is pretty lame. it looks like any other ad for any other product. there's no brand distinction like in the other previous ad campaigns. when all is said and done, you don't get anything from the ad, and the fact that the machine is so 'blah' looking, you're not even left with an impression of 'ooooh, that's real cool'. hopefully apple corrects this as soon as possible. it's a brilliantly powerful machine, but they're not pushing it properly.
 
The only problem is that so many people are both copying and mocking the "all-white" commercials, that they almost ahve to use something new. I'm not saying the G5 ad is what it should be, but they've been doing a pretty similar thing for a while new, and Apple's image is more about freshness, new ideas.

In reference to the WC3 ad, it would be awesome if Apple and Blizzard teamed up to do an ad for the G5 and Frozen Throne. All you see is the action going on in the game for a few seconds, then the camera backs out, and you see that it's being played on an Apple Cinema Display, and as it's backing up you finally reveal that it's being played on a G5. You don't even need any voiceover, just the audio from the game, then it crossfades to "www.apple.com/G5". And perhaps the audio would keep on going as it crossfaded to the web adress, and once the crossfade is completed you hear one of the characters from the game make some remark about being victorious or how they're going to win or something. (I don't know what lines the characters say in Frozen Throne, but you get the idea.)
 
How about a split screen view of PC on the left and Mac on the right installing and downloading pictures from a digital camera for the 1st time. The only problem would be that the PC side wouldn't have time to finish before the commercial is over. While the Mac side is already done and playing a slideshow of Xmas morning w/ a christmas carrol playing from their itunes library. That is the stuff that will sell macs.
 
Agreed ... BUT

I like most of the ideas posted here about ad content ... BUT I don't think the problem is content, it's exposure!

On an average night ( maybe 2 hours of t.v. viewing) I see somewhere around 20 ads from the Wintel side (MS, Intel, Dell, Gateway, Compac etc.). How many ads do I see from Apple? NONE!

When an uninformed Windows user or a non-computer user goes out to buy a new machine what do they have as a reference point? WINTEL! Alot of these people don't even know Apple exists anymore. Don't laugh, there almost isn't a week that goes bye I don't talk to someone who honestly didn't know there was an alternative to Windows machines.

IT'S EXPOSURE, BABY, EXPOSURE!
 
I think a G5 ad should be made with someone running some obscure piece of windows only software, then they get called to dinner/the other room/etc, so they quit Their VPC/real pc and kick on some music with their itunes.

They just need to find a piece of windows only software that VPC/real pc hauls ass on.
 
Re: Agreed ... BUT

Originally posted by macHeaps

When an uninformed Windows user or a non-computer user goes out to buy a new machine what do they have as a reference point? WINTEL! Alot of these people don't even know Apple exists anymore. Don't laugh, there almost isn't a week that goes bye I don't talk to someone who honestly didn't know there was an alternative to Windows machines.

IT'S EXPOSURE, BABY, EXPOSURE!
Click to expand...

EXACTLY!!!

Unless Apple is happy with their current marketshare they should let the world know "we" are here! Here to stay! Here with a shout! Here with a freaking BANG!

We have Mac OS X AND the G5!!!! Let everyone know! Show the possibilities. Heck: on a Dual 2 GHz w/ two monitors show someone burning a DVD on one monitor while playing Spearhead on the other.... do something!
Apple could also show the TOP-50 software titles for Mac OS X in 20 secs. Make people see that there IS Office, there IS Quark, there IS Adobe, there ARE games... and so on.
 
I wonder though, are the Mac commercials meant to switch uninformed PC users? It seems to me that the commercials do a great job of getting potential switchers into the store (worked for me) and convincing the existing Mac users that they made the right decision. I'm not necessarily talking about the switch ads, but ads like the iTMS commercials. They don't seem to be aimed at switching anyone, they depict Mac users being happy in their own world. It portrays the Mac world as a secret shared among those who want to be a part of it.
 
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